Abortion in Afghanistan: ‘My mother crushed my stomach with a stone’

By AFP
December 04, 2025

When Bahara was four months pregnant, she went to a Kabul hospital to beg for an abortion. “We’re not allowed,” a doctor told her. “If someone finds out, we will all end up in prison.”

Abortion in Afghanistan is illegal and you can be locked up for having or assisting one.

But Bahara was desperate. Her jobless husband had ordered her to “find a solution” -- he did not want a fifth daughter. “We can barely afford to feed” the girls as it is, Bahara, 35, told AFP. “If it was a boy, he could go to school and work.”

Continued: https://www.mydailyrecord.com/news/national/abortion-in-afghanistan-my-mother-crushed-my-stomach-with-a-stone/article_98859b6c-5ea4-5b4e-93c2-a1638c62c344.html

Kast, the favorite to win Chile’s presidential runoff, could limit abortion access

By Sarah Morland and Nicolas Cortes
November 27, 2025

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's gradual expansion of abortion access is at risk of a dramatic reversal as far-right candidate Jose Antonio Kast, a staunch Catholic who opposes even morning-after contraception, surges toward a likely presidential runoff victory in December.

Abortion in Chile, which was completely banned under the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet, was partially decriminalized in 2017, when it became legal only in cases of risk to the woman's life, fetal inviability and rape.

Continued: https://archive.is/flqrx
(https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/kast-favorite-win-chiles-presidential-runoff-could-limit-abortion-access-2025-11-27/)

27.11.2025

With Friends and At Home

Illicit Abortions in Morocco Decrease by 50%, Says Expert

The staggering decrease points to the impact of stricter law enforcement, while raising concerns about the safety and health of women forced to seek alternatives.

Hajare Elkhaldi
Mar 23, 2025

Rabat – The number of clandestine abortions in Morocco has dropped by 50%, decreasing from over 200,000 to around 100,000 since the crackdown on doctors accused of performing illegal abortions began in 2018.

The new numbers were recently cited by Professor Chafik Chraibi, president of the Moroccan association for the fight against illegal abortion, in an interview with Medias24.

Moroccan women seeking to get an illegal abortions risk a prison sentence from six months to two years, as well as the risk of an added sentence if they are having sexual relations outside of marriage.

Continued: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/03/186865/illicit-abortions-in-morocco-decrease-by-50-says-expert/

23.03.2025

News

Chafik Chraibi

clandestine abortion

Moroccan association for the fight against illegal abortion

Jordan’s Abortion Conundrum

The country’s strict laws leave women with impossible choices and facing financial struggles, stigma and dangerous procedures

Meghan Davidson Ladly
November 29, 2024

Amal watches her children play on the living room floor of her house on a quiet street in a suburb of Jordan’s capital. As dusk settles over the sloping hills of Amman, she sinks into a sofa and lights a cigarette, adjusting her hijab.

“It is illegal, but you can’t know how I feel,” she says. “I couldn’t think of anything except getting rid of this pregnancy. Even my kids — I couldn’t think of them. And I knew I had to make a decision.”

Continued: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/jordan-abortion-conundrum/

Turkmenistan’s Crackdown On Abortion Puts Lives At Risk, Doctors Warn

August 27, 2024
By RFE/RL's Turkmen Service and Farangis Najibullah

ASHGABAT -- Medical sources in Turkmenistan say officials continue to limit women’s access to abortion, threatening doctors who perform them and denying women a consultation to discuss their options for unwanted pregnancies.

Several health-care workers in Turkmenistan told RFE/RL on condition of anonymity that doctors were warned that performing an abortion will cost them their license, even if the procedure was carried out within the limits specified by law.

Continued: https://www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-crackdown-on-abortion--putting-lives-at-risk/33093207.html

27.08.2024

News

abortion law reform

clandestine abortion

The Progres Foundation

New Fact Sheet Examines Sri Lanka Abortion Laws, Policies and Practices

Although the country criminalizes abortion, it is available clandestinely—and unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal deaths.

July 11, 2024
Center for Reproductive Rights

Abortion in Sri Lanka is illegal except for the purpose of saving the life of the mother—resulting in unsafe abortions that place the health of pregnant people at risk. Despite those dangers, repeated attempts to amend Sri Lanka’s abortion laws have failed.

The Center for Reproductive Rights and its partner, the Centre for Equality and Justice (CEJ), recently developed a fact sheet examining Sri Lanka’s abortion laws, policies and practices and the impact of the current legal-policy framework on women and girls. It also outlines recommendations for reforming laws and policies to improve access to care.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/sri-lanka-abortion-laws-policies-practices-fact-sheet/

Nigeria – Voices unheard: Tales of stigma, suffering of women seeking abortion

June 28, 2024
by Adekunle Yusuf

Across Nigeria, abortion remains a taboo subject, cloaked in stigma and silence in both northern and southern regions. Beyond the veil lies a stark reality: women face profound emotional scars, societal stigma and life-threatening risks due to heavily regulated and often unsafe procedures. Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF delves into the harsh realities of women’s experiences, navigating Nigeria’s complex cultural, religious and legal landscape, highlighting the urgent need for reforms to ensure safe and accessible healthcare for all women.

Ada’s story begins in the bustling city of Lagos, where the vibrant energy of the metropolis belies her inner turmoil. At 24, Ada found herself pregnant and unprepared, caught in the throes of an unplanned pregnancy with her boyfriend, who quickly vanished upon hearing the news. “I felt like I was drowning,” Ada recalls, her voice a fragile whisper. “Everywhere I turned, there was judgment, and no one to turn to for help.”

Continued: https://thenationonlineng.net/voices-unheard-tales-of-stigma-suffering-of-women-seeking-abortion/

Nigeria – Police in manhunt for fleeing nurse over failed abortion

25th March 2024
By Uthman Salami

A yet-to-be-identified nurse in Oke-Owa in the Ijebu Ode area of Ogun State is currently on the run after allegedly carrying out an abortion on one Deborah Sokoya.

According to the information made available to PUNCH Metro by a police source, the said abortion failed, leading to serious bleeding and the subsequent hospitalisation of the victim.

Continued: https://punchng.com/police-in-manhunt-for-fleeing-nurse-over-failed-abortion

25.03.2024

Ugandan Women Risk Their Lives to Access Abortion

“Many girls are dying because we have chosen to ignore them.”

Friday, 8 March, 2024
Culton Scovia Nakamya

For Jovia (not her real name), 2023 was the worst year of her life. The 20-year-old business student was gang-raped at a drunken house party in the Kampala suburb of Kansanga and six weeks later realised that she was pregnant.

“I wondered what I am going to tell my parents. For God’s sake, I am just in my second semester of year one, and I didn’t know who did it,” she said.

Her options were limited, as abortion is illegal in Uganda except under rare circumstances. She confided in a female friend, who suggested they visit the Kampala suburb of Nakulabye, an area known as a hub of clinics that administer clandestine abortions, mostly to students.

Continued: https://iwpr.net/global-voices/ugandan-women-risk-their-lives-access-abortion

Library archives uncover long-lost history of Colorado women dying trying to get an abortion before it was legal

By John Daley
Mar. 7, 2024

Abortion access — some states have outlawed it, others have seen scores of patients from out of state — has been in the news since the U.S. Supreme Court repealed the Constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. But looking back through history shows that unplanned pregnancies and access to abortions have been in the news for a long, long time.

More than a century ago, readers of the Rocky Mountain News learned about the death of a young woman who worked in a shop named Maude, who was trying to terminate a pregnancy. A woman named Mrs. Proctor, the wife of the manager of a “remedy company,” was charged with manslaughter in Maude’s death.

Continued: https://www.cpr.org/2024/03/07/denver-public-library-history-of-abortion-access-in-colorado/