USA — The war against women’s rights

Documentary film: 1 hour 16 minutes
Deutsche Welle
April 28, 2026

The situation of women’s rights in the USA is increasingly dramatic. Radical abortion bans and unequal treatment in the justice system are leading to significant restrictions on fundamental rights.

The documentary reports from the USA, a country where women go to prison for the crimes of their husbands, and a man is allowed to marry a ten-year-old girl. Abortions are illegal even in cases of rape and incest. The documentary sheds light on the mechanisms behind Trump's freedom-restricting policies. The rise of the conservative-puritanical ideology of Christian nationalism has led to a massive restriction of the fundamental rights of US citizens in the USA. In many places, women are dying because of a lack of gynecological care. In states with radical abortion bans, more than 100,000 women have already been forced to give birth to a child after being raped. Since Donald Trump's return as US president, the future for women in the US looks bleak. The documentary looks at the machinations of anti-abortion centers. Through interviews, it reveals how these freedom-restricting and backward-looking policies work. But the film also shows resistance, led by those who refuse to accept these developments.

Continued: https://amp.dw.com/en/usa-the-war-against-womens-rights/video-76966507

Kenyan appeal court overturns ruling that affirmed the right to abortion

By Evelyne Musambi, The Associated Press|
Apr 24, 2026

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A court of appeal in Kenya Friday overturned a ruling that affirmed the right to access abortion, setting up a legal clash that is likely to be appealed again to the Kenyan Supreme Court.

The appeal was based on the 2022 case of a teenager who went to the hospital with pregnancy complications. A doctor who examined her determined she had lost the pregnancy, and provided emergency post-abortion care. They were acquitted by the high court.

Continued: https://halifax.citynews.ca/2026/04/24/kenyan-appeal-court-overturns-ruling-that-affirmed-the-right-to-abortion/

A Public Health Emergency: How Abortion Bans Are Fueling Maternal Deaths in America

People living in states that have banned abortion are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth, or soon after compared with those in states where abortion remains legal and accessible.

Sylvia Ghazarian, Common Dreams
Apr 10, 2026

The maternal mortality crisis in the United States is a national embarrassment, and it’s unfolding in real time. The US continues to have one of the highest maternal death rates among high-income countries, and the situation is getting worse, not better. Behind this trend is a growing body of research showing that state abortion bans directly contribute to increased maternal mortality, especially in communities already burdened by systemic inequities.

Continued: https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/abortion-bans-public-health

Texas – The girls of San Benito, the center where Trump sends pregnant migrant minors

The Department of Health is transferring them to Texas, where abortion is virtually banned, despite objections from officials at the federal agency responsible for them

Jesús Jank Curbelo
Houston - MAR 13, 2026

Since last July, the Trump administration has been sending all unaccompanied migrant girls who show up pregnant at the U.S. border to a single center located in San Benito, a small border town in South Texas, the state with one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. In recent months, more than a dozen girls have been transferred to this facility. At least half of them became pregnant as a result of rape. Some are 13 years old.

In theory, everyone who arrives at the San Benito center has the right to be informed of their options, including abortion, through a notification called a Garza notice. In practice, however, that right is in jeopardy, according to Sarah Corning, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “We remain concerned that doctors will refuse to perform abortions for fear of prosecution, something we’ve seen happen far too often since the ban went into effect” in the state, she says.

Continued; https://english.elpais.com/usa/2026-03-13/the-girls-of-san-benito-the-center-where-trump-sends-pregnant-migrant-minors.html

Polish doctors jailed for denying woman abortion

March 3, 2026

Warsaw (AFP) – A Polish court on Tuesday sentenced three doctors to prison sentences over the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, which sparked nationwide protests and renewed scrutiny of the country's restrictive abortion laws.

The woman, Izabela, whose last name has not been made public, died of sepsis in 2021 while experiencing complications in the 22nd week of pregnancy. Her death came a year after a law toughening abortion restrictions in the mainly Catholic country came into effect and reignited mass protests.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260303-polish-doctors-jailed-for-denying-woman-abortion

State-Enabled Intimidation: How Anti-Abortion Extremism Is Undermining Legal Healthcare in Poland

12.02.2026
ASTRA Network

Poland is experiencing a coordinated and escalating campaign of anti-abortion intimidation and disinformation that directly undermines women’s access to lawful healthcare. This campaign is driven by fundamentalist actors and increasingly reinforced by political figures and state institutions that legitimize and amplify these practices. Together, these dynamics create a climate in which legally guaranteed medical services are systematically obstructed through fear, harassment, and institutional pressure.

Abortion Access in Poland: Law and Reality
Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion legislations in Europe. Following politically captured rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal, abortion is now effectively permitted only when a pregnancy poses a threat to a woman’s life or health, or when it results from a criminal act.

Continued: https://astra.org.pl/state-enabled-intimidation-how-anti-abortion-extremism-is-undermining-legal-healthcare-in-poland/

USA – A Pregnant Woman at Risk of Heart Failure Couldn’t Get Urgent Treatment. She Died Waiting for an Abortion.

In North Carolina, a state that had legislated its commitment to life, Ciji Graham spent her final days struggling to find anyone to save hers.

by Lizzie Presser and Kavitha Surana
January 14, 2026

When Ciji Graham visited a cardiologist on Nov. 14, 2023, her heart was pounding at 192 beats per minute, a rate healthy people her age usually reach during the peak of a sprint. She was having another episode of atrial fibrillation, a rapid, irregular heartbeat. The 34-year-old Greensboro, North Carolina, police officer was at risk of a stroke or heart failure.

In the past, doctors had always been able to shock Graham’s heart back into rhythm with a procedure called a cardioversion. But this time, the treatment was just out of reach. After a pregnancy test came back positive, the cardiologist didn’t offer to shock her. Graham texted her friend from the appointment: “Said she can’t cardiovert being pregnant.”

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/north-carolina-abortion-laws-ciji-graham

Polish police detain father, son over acid attacks on Warsaw abortion clinic

24.11.2025
Polskie Radio

Polish police have detained a father and his 18-year-old son suspected of hurling butyric acid at the country's only abortion clinic in Warsaw in the fourth such attack since March, the first arrests in a months-long campaign of harassment.

News website Gazeta.pl reported that on Friday, Nov. 14, butyric acid was poured for the fourth time outside the Abotak clinic on Wiejska Street, forcing a response by firefighters and a specialist clean-up crew.

Continued; https://www.polskieradio.pl/395/7789/Artykul/3611825,polish-police-detain-father-son-over-acid-attacks-on-warsaw-abortion-clinic

24.11.2025

anti-choice terrorism

“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.

ProPublica has found multiple cases of women with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions. Tierra Walker, a 37-year-old mother, was told by doctors there was no emergency before preeclampsia killed her.

by Kavitha Surana and Lizzie Presser, photography by Lexi Parra for ProPublica
November 19, 2025

Tierra Walker had reached her limit. In the weeks since she’d learned she was pregnant, the 37-year-old dental assistant had been wracked by unexplained seizures and mostly confined to a hospital cot. With soaring blood pressure and diabetes, she knew she was at high risk of developing preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that could end her life.

Her mind was made up on the morning of Oct. 14, 2024: For the sake of her 14-year-old son, JJ, she needed to ask her doctor for an abortion to protect her health.

Continued: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-abortion-ban-tierra-walker-preeclampsia

The Long Shadow of Dr. George Tiller: Abortion Providers Under Attack

9/17/2025
by Jodi Enda, Ms. Magazine.

Julie Burkhart’s clinic was torched.

Burkhart, like Ruth Richardson, has been working in abortion facilities for years. And, like Richardson, CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States, she is no stranger to threats or violence. In 1991, Burkhart was a young clinic worker in Wichita, Kan., when abortion opponents poured into town to participate in the so-called Summer of Mercy, a six-week protest organized by Operation Rescue (slogan: “If you believe abortion is murder, then act like it’s murder!”). They conducted blockades at the city’s three abortion clinics and threw themselves in front of cars to keep drivers from entering the clinics’ parking lots.

In 2009, Burkhart’s mentor, Dr. George Tiller, was shot in the head and killed as he was ushering at his Wichita church. The murder came 16 years after Tiller, one of the few doctors in the nation who performed abortions later in pregnancy, was shot in both arms by an extremist, and 23 years after his clinic was bombed.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2025/09/17/george-tiller-abortion-providers-attack/