Chilean Government Reactivates Debate on Legal Abortion

The announcement of the bill to legalize abortion up to 12 weeks has revived the debate in Chilean society.

May 26, 2025
By El Mostrador

HAVANA TIMES – In a significant move for reproductive rights in Chile, the government announced it will present a bill to Congress to decriminalize abortion up to 12 weeks of gestation. This initiative, promised by President Gabriel Boric in his 2024 state of the nation address, seeks to expand access to voluntary termination of pregnancy beyond the three currently permitted grounds: risk to the mother’s life, non-viable fetus, and pregnancy resulting from rape.

Minister of Women and Gender Equity Antonia Orellana confirmed that the bill will be submitted to the Chamber of Deputies in the coming days. Orellana noted that after a year of work aimed at improving the implementation of the existing three grounds abortion law, it is now time to open up debate on legal abortion within defined time limits.

Continued: https://havanatimes.org/news/chilean-government-reactivates-debate-on-legal-abortion/

A case of conscience: The Christian feminists fighting Brazil’s anti-abortion laws

A growing movement of Christian feminists are making their voice heard as they oppose threats to tighten the country’s abortion laws. Alice McCool reports from inside their fight.

1 May 2025
Alice McCool

Every month, for 15 days, hundreds of women queue outside a public bank in the town square of Viçosa do Ceará, in rural northeast Brazil. As they wait to receive money from the Bolsa Familia programme – government aid for poor Brazilian families – a woman in her sixties speaks to them through a megaphone.

Liliane de Carvalho is there every single day from 6.30am, unless ‘something unexpected happens’. As a longstanding member of a local Catholic church, she’s preaching – but not about sin or guilt. She’s preaching about the right to abortion.

Continued: https://newint.org/women/2025/case-conscience-christian-feminists-fighting-brazils-anti-abortion-laws

Here’s what the late Pope Francis said about LGBTQ+ people, abortion and other key issues

The pontiff, who died Monday at 88, was beloved by many progressive Catholics.

April 21, 2025
The 19^th

Pope Francis, who as head of the Roman Catholic Church advocated for a greater acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and protection for migrants, died on Monday after a series of respiratory infections, which were particularly dangerous as he was already missing part of one lung due to a serious bout of pneumonia he experienced as a young man. He was 88.

The Vatican announced his death in a brief statement on the social media platform X.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2025/04/pope-francis-dead/

21.04.2025

Commentary

Catholic Church

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Pope Benedict

Pope Francis

sexual abuse crisis

the Pope and abortion

Eva Barrionuevo, a doctor on the frontlines in Argentina: ‘We know that abortion rights don’t last forever and we will have to fight for them’

The physician says misinformation, pharmaceutical shortages and peer intimidation are on the rise during Javier Milei’s presidency

Mar Centenera
Buenos Aires - MAR 11, 2025

Doctor Eva Barrionuevo, 39, says there are women in her northeastern Argentinian province of La Rioja who think abortion is no longer legal. Women who believe that it has been banned by President Javier Milei, because they heard him equate the voluntary termination of pregnancy with “aggravated murder.” That they are coming to her hospital later and later in their pregnancies, some of them already in their second trimester, due to a lack of information. That they have once again turned to the clandestine drugs that were widely used before abortion was legal, which are less effective and more dangerous than those distributed free of charge by today’s healthcare system. Every day, Barrionuevo fights back against these misconceptions and the growing fear among her fellow doctors who also accompany voluntary pregnancy terminations. It is her mission to guarantee a woman’s right to decide whether she will become a mother, a right that was officially won at the end of 2020 in her country, but is now at risk.

Continued: https://english.elpais.com/international/women-leaders-of-latin-america/2025-03-11/eva-barrionuevo-a-doctor-on-the-frontlines-in-argentina-we-know-that-abortion-rights-dont-last-forever-and-we-will-have-to-fight-for-them.html

11.03.2025

Commentary

belief-based care denial

Catholic Church

conscientious objectors

Dr. Eva Barrionuevo

Javier Milei

manual vacuum aspiration

Network of Professionals for the Right to Choose

Abortion in Europe: a right for some, a fight for millions of others

January 21, 2025
A European Perspective, European Broadcasting Union

Reproductive rights have been at the centre of political debates worldwide in recent months. As US President Donald Trump takes office following a campaign where access to abortion was a central theme, Europe too finds itself at a crossroads between liberal policies and restrictive laws.

As pro-life movements gain traction across the globe, campaigners are seeking an EU-wide guarantee to safe abortion access. From Hungary to Italy, France, Switzerland and beyond, we look at abortion rights from A European Perspective.

Continued: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/life-aging/abortion-in-europe-a-right-for-some-a-fight-for-millions-of-others/88749102

Sexual health and reproductive rights: the EU considers its stance

21 December
by Jeanne Antoine, Translated by Tiffany Williams

While the European Convention on Human Rights obliges Member States to protect rights to sexual health, including access to comprehensive information and appropriate healthcare, the European Union itself does not have authority in this matter. This disparity creates concerning gaps in access to healthcare and sex education between Member States.

Sexual health under threat in Europe

The EU does not have exclusive authority in matters of health, allowing each state to manage this according to its own laws. As a result, sexual health in Europe faces a number of threats. A striking example is that of Poland: while in the 20th century it was a pioneer in liberalising abortion, it is now one of the most restrictive countries in this regard. Under pressure from conservative movements, in January 2021 the Polish constitutional court tightened legislation, limiting abortion to cases of rape, incest or danger to the health of the mother or foetus.

Continued: https://www.taurillon.org/sexual-health-and-reproductive-rights-the-eu-considers-its-stance?lang=fr

21.12.2024

News

Catholic Church

European Convention on Human Rights

sexual health education

Europe

Health

Human Rights

Guatemala – Hidden in plain sight: The lobby group restricting rights in Latin America

Founded by members of shadowy Catholic organisation Opus Dei, the AFI has become one of Guatemala’s most influential groups

26 November 2024
OpenDemocracy

In the first half of this year, seven girls aged between 10 and 14 gave birth in Guatemala every single day.

Guatemalan law states that these 1,298 girls are the victims of sexual violence. Medical professionals say their pregnancies pose a high risk to their physical and mental health. But the Asociación la Familia Importa (AFI), Guatemala’s most influential anti-abortion organisation, has focused on preventing such girls from having abortions at any cost – and it is succeeding.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/afi-guatemala-opus-dei-anti-abortion-restrict-rights-latin-america/

26.11.2024

American Convention on Human Rights

anti-choice misinformation

anti-choice misogyny

anti-choice terrorism

anti-choice violence

Asociación la Familia Importa

Beatriz abortion

Bernardo Arévalo

Catholic Church

César Brañas Castillo

comprehensive sexuality education

Elvira Estradé

Enlace

Family Matters Association

Family Research Council

Geneva Consensus Declaration

Guatemala Leaks

Heritage Foundation

Human Life international

Humberto Grazioso

Jordán Rodas

Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

Ligia Briz

Mayra Figueroa de Poggio

Mirna Cardona de González

Mirna Montenegro

Opus Dei

OSAR

Parliamentary Front for Life and Family

Trump’s Abortion Policy Could Go Global

In this year’s U.S. election, abortion is also a top foreign-policy issue.

By Jodi Enda, the Washington bureau chief and senior correspondent for The Fuller Project.
November 1, 2024

Less than two weeks before his 2020 election defeat, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration rolled out a document that purported to promote women’s health and rights while declaring that there was “no international right to abortion.”

“It’s the first time that a multilateral coalition has been built around the issue of defending life,” then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at a signing ceremony, conducted virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda joined the United States in sponsoring the nonbinding directive, called the Geneva Consensus Declaration on Promoting Women’s Health and Strengthening the Family. Another 28 countries, many with authoritarian governments that repress women’s rights, signed it.

Continued https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/11/01/trumps-abortion-policy-could-go-global/

Pro-choice Catholics protest at Vatican after abortion left off summit agenda

Quilt featuring stories of Catholic women who have had terminations unfurled outside event hosted by the Pope

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Thu 3 Oct 2024

A vibrantly coloured, 15-metre-long quilt woven with stories of Catholic women who have had abortions has been unrolled outside the Vatican in protest against the topic being left off the agenda of a major summit hosted by Pope Francis.

Thursday’s demonstration by Catholics for Choice, a US-based abortion rights group, comes days after the pontiff emphasised his traditional views of women while reiterating that abortion was “murder” and that doctors who terminate pregnancies were “hitmen”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/pro-choice-catholics-stage-protest-after-abortion-left-off-summit-agenda

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

30.09.2024