Australia – Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie rebuked for ‘playing politics’ on abortion in debate on stillbirth leave

Experts warn the fearmongering about late-term terminations is straight out of the anti-abortion handbook

Tory Shepherd, Krishani Dhanji and Josh Butler
Thu 30 Oct 2025

A group of Coalition parliamentarians, including Barnaby Joyce and Andrew Hastie, have seized on a proposed new law to give paid parental leave to parents of a child who is stillborn or dies, arguing it should not be available to anyone needing a late-term abortion.

A senior doctor has labelled the comments as “terrible, cynical, awful” things to say about an often heartbreaking decision, as experts point out that the vast majority of later terminations are forced by major health issues and warn fearmongering about the issue is straight out of the anti-abortion handbook.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/oct/30/abortion-stillbirth-leave-barnaby-joyce-andrew-hastie-playing-politics


Pope’s calls doctors who perform abortions ‘hitmen,’ sparking online furore

It was the second time in as many weeks that Francis has been asked about his views on abortion, which remains a hotly-contested issue for the Catholic Church

By Euronews with AP
Published on 30/09/2024

Pope Francis wrapped up a troubled visit to Belgium on Sunday by doubling down on his traditional views on abortion, calling the abortion law “homicidal”.

“Doctors who do this are — allow me the word — hitmen. They are hitmen," Francis said. “And on this you cannot argue. You are killing a human life.”

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/09/30/popes-calls-doctors-who-perform-abortions-hitmen-sparking-online-furore


Wisconsin’s dangerous abortion restrictions threatened my life and will continue to harm women

Hannah Thompson

NOVEMBER 13, 2023

Nearly a year and a half after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban went back into effect, it may be easy for some to forget the harm that the ban has been inflicting. But as anti-abortion lawmakers in our state continue to pass legislation to obstruct and stigmatize abortion, I can’t forget what these restrictions do to women like me.

I was 19 weeks pregnant when I went into previable preterm labor with advanced cervical dilation: Our son had not developed enough to survive outside of my womb.  My husband and I would inevitably lose him. We couldn’t imagine that our state’s laws would create a situation that would nearly cost me my life in the process.

Continued: https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/11/13/wisconsins-dangerous-abortion-restrictions-threatened-my-life-and-will-continue-to-harm-women/


USA – Tuesday’s Election Results Show Women Will Fight for Abortion Rights

Women don't want men making laws getting between us, our families, and our doctors.

NANCY BRAUS, Common Dreams
Nov 12, 2023

It is clear that the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court caught the Republicans completely off guard, even though they have been working to take away the rights of women since before they killed the Equal Rights Amendment.

The right must have thought that stealing the basic rights to bodily autonomy and to determining the size of one's own family would be upsetting at first, but then we would all get over it. The pundits always say that Americans have a short span of attention, especially when it comes to politics, so it appears that the forced birthers didn't have a clue about the buzz saw they were about to confront.

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/tuesday-election-abortion-rights


USA – House Passes Defense Spending Bill That Limits Abortion, Halts Diversity Efforts

July 14, 2023
Associated Press

The House passed a sweeping defense bill Friday that provides an expected 5.2% pay raise for service members. But the bill strays from traditional military policy with Republican additions that block abortion coverage, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care that deeply divided the chamber.

Democrats voted against the package, which had sailed out of the House Armed Services Committee on an almost unanimous vote weeks ago before being loaded with the GOP priorities during a heated late-night floor debate this week.

Continued: https://www.voanews.com/a/house-passes-defense-spending-bill-that-limits-abortion-halts-diversity-efforts-/7181554.html


Majority of Kenyans against abortion, new study shows

Monday, July 03, 2023
By Angela Oketch, Health and Science reporter

Nine out of 10 Kenyan adults say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases,  a new study shows.

A 24-country study by the Pew Research Center found that attitudes varied widely across countries, with religiously unaffiliated adults, people on the ideological left and women more likely to support legal abortion.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/majority-of-kenyans-against-abortion-new-study-shows-4291138


USA – You Cannot Hear These 13 Women’s Stories and Believe the Anti-Abortion Narrative

May 22, 2023
By Michelle Goldberg

It’s increasingly clear that it’s not safe to be pregnant in states with total abortion bans. Since the end of Roe v. Wade, there has been a barrage of gutting stories about women in prohibition states denied care for miscarriages or forced to continue nonviable pregnancies.

Though some in the anti-abortion movement publicly justify this sort of treatment, others have responded with a combination of denial, deflection and conspiracy theorizing. Some activists have blamed the pro-choice movement for spooking doctors into not intervening when pregnancies go horribly wrong. “Abortion advocates are spreading the dangerous lie that lifesaving care is not or may not be permitted in these states, leading to provider confusion and poor outcomes for women,” said a report by the anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/22/opinion/abortion-law-texas-lawsuit.html


How lawmakers made it nearly impossible to legalize abortion in Honduras

By Tatiana Arias, CNN
Sun January 31, 2021

(CNN)This week, lawmakers in Honduras changed the country's constitution to make it virtually impossible to legalize abortion in the future -- an extreme election-year move that critics warn will further endanger women's health.

On Thursday, the country's Congress ratified a January 21 amendment to constitutional Article 67, which now specifically prohibits any "interruption of life" to a fetus, "whose life must be respected from the moment of conception."

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/31/americas/honduras-abortion-ban-ratified-intl/index.html


The Complicated Importance Of Abortion To Trump Voters

September 17, 2020
Danielle Kurtzleben

If President Trump wins Wisconsin again, he'll have Republican stalwarts like Mary Ludwig to thank. "I always vote Republican because I'm so against abortion," she said, sitting next to a lake in the Milwaukee suburb of Oconomowoc on a recent summer evening.

Ludwig has some reservations about Trump; she says that she doesn't like the "offensive" things he says. On the other hand, she also has things she admires about him: She really likes his kids and thinks he's handling the economy well.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/913589176/the-complicated-importance-of-abortion-to-trump-voters


Kenya – Teen pregnancy: Implement dormant health policies first

A problem we'd rather ignore than confront and find solutions to.

by JEDIDAH MAINA

01 July 2020  

It is ironic that the moral police in Kenya tend to speak the loudest about
potential dangers rather than actual moral failures. This is evident in the
current conversations around teenage pregnancy and what we need to do to deal
with the problem.

One red hot coal in the debate is Comprehensive Sexuality Education, and
whether it is the solution or just another doorway to more sexual
irresponsibility.

Continued: https://www.the-star.co.ke/opinion/columnists/2020-07-01-teen-pregnancy-implement-dormant-health-policies-first/