Malawi’s abortion bill pits pro-life against pro-choice

Issued on: 17/10/2020
Laura Angela Bagnetto

Malawi’s members of parliament are due to review a pregnancy termination bill before they take a recess on 23 October, a move that has stirred controversy between lawmakers as well as Malawians.

“We Malawians hide a lot behind the argument that we are a God-fearing nation; we hide behind that in order to run away from the real issue,” says Beatrice Mateyo, executive director for the Coalition for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Lilongwe.

Continued: https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20201017-malawi-s-abortion-bill-pits-pro-life-against-pro-choice

Mistreated pregnant women deserve more than your outrage

A meaningful response to obstetric violence requires political will from policy-makers and accountability for government failures.

Khatondi Soita Wepukhulu
16 October 2020

Global leaders must act urgently to ensure that safety and dignity in pregnancy and childbirth become automatic, integral parts of the maternal health care experience of all women.

On 18 September 2020, a harrowing video appeared on Twitter. It showed a woman, Jackline Faustina, giving birth on the road outside Nairobi’s Pumwani maternity hospital. The woman, it was said and later confirmed by city authorities, had been denied entry into the hospital. It was the second day of a ‘go-slow’ industrial action by hospital staff.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/mistreated-pregnant-women-deserve-more-your-outrage/

Women in Kenya Are Using Knitting Needles to End Their Pregnancies. Blame Donald Trump.

The president has given fringe anti-abortion groups unprecedented influence.

OCTOBER 8, 2020
By NEHA WADEKAR

On a rainy morning in May 2019, Dr. John Nyamu was attending to patients on the cluttered first floor of an office building in downtown Nairobi when he heard raucous shouts from down the street. A caravan of protesters was winding toward him, a few hundred people teeming in the streets, bellowing through loudspeakers, and stopping traffic.

As the crowd reached his building, Nyamu, a well-known gynecologist who performs abortions in a private clinic, peered through his window at the protesters below to make out what they were saying. It turns out they were targeting him. “Abortion is murder! Abortion must go! Nyamu must go!” Some held signs with photos of mutilated fetuses. Others clutched baby-size cardboard coffins with crosses on them.

Continued: https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2020/10/08/abortion-kenya-knitting-needles-donald-trump/

08.10.2020

anti-choice protesters

Austin Ruse

Bethany Kozma

C-Fam

Center for Family and Human Rights

CitizenGO

Dr John Nyamu

Esther Passaris

Family Health Options Kenya

Global Gag Rule

Human Life international

International Conference on Population and development

John Nyamu

Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops

Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board

Kisumu Medical and Education Trust

sexual and reproductive health

Sophie Hodder

Uhuru Kenyatta

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

US Agency for International Development

Kenya split over campaign to give women the right to safe abortions

Kenya split over campaign to give women the right to safe abortions
MP Esther Passaris says lives are being put at risk in a country where 40% of pregnancies are unplanned

Ginger Hervey in Nairobi
Tue 17 Mar 2020

The pills arrived with no instructions. Delivered on a Sunday to Joy’s home in Kayole, an informal settlement in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, by someone she didn’t know.

She had ordered them because she was pregnant, and didn’t want to be. At 19, she said, she couldn’t support a baby, and the father had stopped answering his phone after she told him. Desperate, she had asked an older friend, who said she knew someone who could help.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/17/kenya-split-over-campaign-to-give-women-the-right-to-safe-abortions

Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

Abortion, LGBTI rights stir emotions on eve of Nairobi summit

By Sara Jerving
12 November 2019

NAIROBI — In the lead up to a major global United Nations conference on reproductive and sexual health in Kenya, topics such as abortion, LGBTI rights, and contraceptives for adolescents have stirred controversy among faith communities and conservative advocacy groups. These reactions to the summit illustrate some of the challenges that health professionals face in expanding access to services for women and girls globally.

The Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, which started Tuesday, is being held 25 years after the first International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. At that Cairo summit, a landmark document was agreed upon that is credited with creating a women and girl-centered approach to family planning, focused on human rights and choice. The U.N. hasn’t convened a conference of this magnitude on sexual and reproductive health since the 1994 summit. Over 6,000 people from 165 countries are expected to attend this week.

Continued: https://www.devex.com/news/abortion-lgbti-rights-stir-emotions-on-eve-of-nairobi-summit-96018

The war on African women is supported by foreign activists, with no regard for our lives

The war on African women is supported by foreign activists, with no regard for our lives
I know what life is like when access to sexual and reproductive services is limited. In Nigeria and across the continent, this must end now.

Olutimehin Adegbeye
1 November 2019

In May, police officers raided a Marie Stopes clinic in Lagos, Nigeria’s capital. Witnesses said the officers harassed patients and accused them of illegally accessing confidential documents. It was the latest in a string of attacks against groups that support women’s reproductive rights. Nigerian feminists, women’s rights campaigners and LGBTIQ+ activists came together on social media to ask, “what is going on?”. A consensus was reached: there is a strategic effort to undermine our sexual and reproductive health and rights, with women’s bodies a key battleground.

Nigeria’s patriarchal conservatism is hardly news; women, girls and queer folks in this country are regularly and legally denied autonomy, the rate of sexual violence is high, while sexual and reproductive healthcare is extremely limited. Nigeria accounts for more than 10% of global maternal deaths, despite representing only 2.5% of the global population, and a 2013 study showed that only 16% of Nigerian women of reproductive age (15-49) have access to, and use, contraception.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/war-african-women-supported-foreign-activists-no-regard-our-lives/

Nigeria: Not left out of the global rollback of sexual and reproductive rights

Nigeria: Not left out of the global rollback of sexual and reproductive rights
“What is going on?”

23 July 2019 | By OluTimehin Adegbeye

A few weeks ago, police officers conducted a raid on a Marie Stopes clinic in Lagos. They harassed patients, temporarily detained a doctor, and illegally accessed confidential documents. Immediately following this deeply unnerving attack, which came on the trail of other anti-rights incidents involving state agents, a group of Nigerian feminists, women’s rights campaigners and LGBTQI+ activists came together to ask, “what is going on?”. In the course of the digital conversation that ensued, a consensus was reached: a strategic effort to undermine the sexual and reproductive health and rights of Nigerians is underway, and women’s bodily integrity is on the frontlines.

Nigeria’s patriarchal conservatism is hardly news; women, girls and queer folks in this country are regularly and legally denied their bodily autonomy, and the rate of sexual violence is high.

Continued: https://www.awid.org/news-and-analysis/nigeria-not-left-out-global-rollback-sexual-and-reproductive-rights

Nigeria: Police Accused of Raiding Family Planning Clinic

Police Accused of Raiding Family Planning Clinic

May 23, 2019

Activists in Nigeria have accused police officers of raiding a Marie Stopes clinic in Lagos on May 21. The officers reportedly "harassed the health workers and patients and took away confidential client information".

Marie Stopes Nigeria opened its first clinic in 2009, and describes itself as "becoming one of the few providers of long-acting and permanent contraception in the country".

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/201905230779.html

U.S. investigates spam barrage on UN diplomat at women’s rights conference

U.S. investigates spam barrage on UN diplomat at women's rights conference
Vice-chair of UN conference inundated with 3,000 anti-abortion text messages in 12 languages, disrupting event

Melissa Kent · CBC News
Posted: May 05, 2019

U.S. officials have opened an investigation after a female diplomat faced a barrage of anti-abortion text messages from an advocacy group, disrupting a major UN summit on women's rights.

Koki Muli Grignon, Kenya's deputy ambassador to the UN, received about 3,000 anti-abortion text messages in 12 languages during meetings at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/un-kenya-abuse-women-diplomacy-us-abortion-1.5122382

Abortion in Kenya: Everything you need to know

Abortion in Kenya: Everything you need to know

Author: Pauline Mwabishi
Dec 14, 2018

The ‘Abortion is a Crime’ reggae song is probably one that many of us have heard more than once. The song’s message, which is evident in its title, is that abortion is an act that should be shunned upon. The abortion debate is one that has been going on for a while, not only in Kenya but also worldwide. Various human rights groups, non-governmental organizations, and governments all over the world have not been shy when it comes to stating their stand on abortion. However, what we all ask ourselves when it comes to this topic is, “Is it ethical to legalize abortion?” Let us delve deeper into this debate, mainly using abortion in Kenya as a case study. Read more: https://www.tuko.co.ke/293876-abortion-kenya-everything-know.html#293876

Continued: https://www.tuko.co.ke/293876-abortion-kenya-everything-know.html#293876