A tale of two conferences: women against women as ‘poison of patriarchy’ returns and abortion fight intensifies

Last week, anti-choice campaigners emboldened by current US politics met in New York at the same time as UN delegates gathered to address the widespread inequalities women face. The battle to protect rights has never felt more urgent

Isabel Choat in New York, The Guardian
Sat 22 Mar 2025

In a meeting room on the 27th floor of a swish Manhattan hotel, Denise Mountenay is telling the audience that the right to abortion is “Nazi thinking.” Mountenay regrets her own abortions, and says she has been called by God to spread the word that she and other women “were lied to, deceived, pressured into making the most horrible choice: to choose death instead of life”.

She goes on to list reasons why abortion is “not a safe procedure. [That’s what] they want woman to think – that is a lie.” Many of her claims, including that abortion leads to breast cancer, have been thoroughly disproved by scientific studies.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/mar/22/women-rights-un-anti-abortion-choice-poison-of-patriarchy-returns

22.03.2025

Commentary

69th Commission on the Status of Women

anti-choice bullshit

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice deception

Campaign Life Coalition

International Planned Parenthood Federation

MSI Reproductive Choices

Nelly Munyasia

Oxfam

Pan-African Conference on Family Values

Project 2025

Richard and Helen DeVos Centre for Life

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Sima Bahous

Southern Poverty Law Center

Northern Ireland – Retired pastor denies illegal protest at abortion safe access zone in Coleraine

Clive Johnston disputes the charges on a devolution point and under the European Convention on Human Rights

Paul Higgins
Fri Mar 21 2025

A retired church pastor on Friday denied conducting an illegal protest at an abortion safe access zone in a Coleraine hospital.

Appearing on behalf of Clive Johnston at Coleraine Magistrates Court, defence counsel Aaron Thompson entered pleas of not guilty to the two charges on behalf of the 76-year-old retired pastor, revealing that the defendant disputes the charges on a devolution point and under article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Continued: https://www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/courts/2025/03/21/retired-pastor-denies-illegal-protest-at-abortion-safe-access-zone-in-coleraine/

New threats to abortion rights hit Puerto Rico as advocates share how to fight back

Abortion is legal in the U.S. territory, but a new wave of anti-abortion proponents are pushing for more restrictions, with some success

by Mariela Santos-Muñiz
March 20th, 2025

Nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion rights across the country have been dangerously eroded. But the impact on reproductive rights didn’t affect just the 50 states: The case also altered the landscape in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory in the Caribbean made up of about 3.2 million people.

Reproductive rights are still intact in Puerto Rico, as there are legal grounds to support them. The Penal Code considers abortion a crime, but not if it’s performed in the interest of the pregnant person’s health, and the El Pueblo de Puerto Rico vs. Pablo Duarte Mendoza case established that that standard encompasses both the physical and mental health.

Continued: https://prismreports.org/2025/03/20/puerto-rico-abortion-advocates/

Trump’s pardons spark fresh fights over abortion clinic safety

Democratic state lawmakers are trying to bolster protections, but those efforts are imperiled by legal fights.

By Alice Miranda Ollstein and Amanda Friedman
03/19/2025

Abortion rights supporters across the country are scrambling to strengthen protections for clinics in response to moves by the Trump administration that they believe will put providers and patients in danger.

Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills in Illinois, Michigan, New York and elsewhere to restrict demonstrations outside of clinics, increase criminal penalties for people who harass doctors and patients, or allocate more funds for abortion providers to buy security cameras, bulletproof glass and other protections.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/19/abortion-clinic-safety-trump-pardons-00234319

USA – Pro-life people partly motivated to prevent casual sex, study finds

By Joe Buchanunn
17 Mar 2025

Abortion is murder – the emotive rallying cry popular with pro-life campaigners keen to convert others to their cause. But what if opposition to abortion isn’t all about sanctity-of-life concerns, and instead at least partly about discouraging casual sex?

That’s what psychology researchers found in experiments designed to test what really drives anti-abortion attitudes in the USA. The study, published today in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, challenges how most pro-life individuals justify their views on abortion.

Continued: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/articles/Pro-life-people-partly-motivated-to-prevent-casual-sex-study-finds

17.03.2025

Research

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice sexual repression

Dr Jaimie Arona Krems

Dr Jordan Moon

Anti-choice

A new Texas bill is coming after online abortion pills

The 43-page measure, introduced Friday, may be the most meaningful attempt this year to block the ordering and mailing of medication abortion.

March 14, 2025

Republican state legislators unveiled a new effort on Friday to derail the health care network that has helped people in Texas continue accessing abortion years after the Lone Star State banned the procedure.

The 43-page bill targets tech companies that allow patients to order abortion pills online and nonprofit funds that help them travel out of state for care and gives new power to the state’s attorney general to prosecute abortion providers. Introduced by influential state legislators in the state’s House and Senate and backed by Texas Right to Life, a leading anti-abortion group, this is the most sweeping abortion bill introduced in the state since the fall of Roe v. Wade almost three years ago.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2025/03/texas-bill-abortion-pills/

Louisiana mother pleads not guilty following abortion pill indictment

By: Lorena O'Neil
March 11, 2025

A mother from Port Allen caught up in a landmark abortion pills case pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony criminal charges for allegedly providing her minor daughter with medication to end her pregnancy.

The woman was indicted Jan. 31 for allegedly giving her teen daughter pills she had obtained through the mail. Dr. Margaret Carpenter, the New York physician who allegedly prescribed and sent the pills to Louisiana, was also indicted on felony changes. It’s the first criminal case of its kind in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Continued: https://lailluminator.com/2025/03/11/abortion-pill-10/

USA – The FACE Act was enacted to protect reproductive health clinics − here’s why its history matters today

March 10, 2025
Micki Burdick, Assistant Professor of Women & Gender Studies, University of Delaware

Soon after taking office for a second time, President Donald Trump pardoned anti-abortion activists who had blockaded and restricted access to the entrance of a reproductive health clinic in Washington, D.C., in October 2020.

These protesters were convicted of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Protesting outside clinics is a way for conservative anti-abortion activists to directly influence access to reproductive health care.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/the-face-act-was-enacted-to-protect-reproductive-health-clinics-heres-why-its-history-matters-today-249427

Russia – Anti-abortion campaign urges women to give birth to more soldiers

A petition initiated by the orthodox church calls on regional deputies to adopt a law to ban “inducement to abortion" in the Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Thomas Nilsen
6 March 2025

The proposed law text is posted on the Vkontakte page of a church in Severodvinsk. Churches in Novodvinsk and Arkhangelsk are also collecting signatures aimed at the regional assembly to take action and adopt a new anti-abortion law.

It should not be allowed to propagate abortion, and it should not be allowed to assist with termination of pregnancy anywhere in the Arkhangelsk region, the proposed law text suggest.

In social media, the church has posted a banner of an unborn baby side-by-side with a young child dressed up in combat uniform: "Protect me today, I can protect you tomorrow. Abortion is murder," the text reads.

Continued: https://www.thebarentsobserver.com/news/antiabortion-campaign-urges-women-to-give-brith-to-more-soldiers/425987

06.03.2025