Burner phones, aliases, code words: The secret networks that women use to circumvent Honduras’ abortion ban

MAY 20, 2023
Associated Press

Inside a little wooden house among the pine and oak forests of western Honduras' coffee-growing mountains, a woman opened a tiny package of pills, delivered to a nearby town. She didn't know it, but the medication had more than likely entered the country hidden in an activist's suitcase, from Mexico.

The woman, 27, was confident in her decision to have an abortion, but in the moment, she panicked. She knew she was breaking national law banning all abortions and could be prosecuted. Even more, she feared medical complications, or her religious family finding out.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burner-phones-aliases-code-words-how-secret-networks-help-women-circumvent-honduras-abortion-ban/

USA – Young People Don’t Know Their Emergency Contraception Options

Emergency contraception—the ‘last chance’ contraceptive method—is even more important in a post-Roe world, but most young people do not know their options.

4/6/2023
by CYNTHIA HARPER

Access to contraception has been uneven across the U.S. for a long time, and not always affordable—especially for young people. Now that the Supreme Court has overturned the right to abortion, and state legislators and anti-abortion activists have increased their efforts to block any avenue to abortion care, it’s even more urgent that people who want to prevent pregnancy understand all their options and have access to the birth control method that is right for them. That includes knowing about all the types of emergency contraception.

Emergency contraception methods are ones people can use after they’ve had sex and are concerned with becoming pregnant. They work by preventing or delaying the release of an egg from the ovary to prevent pregnancy after the fact.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/04/06/young-people-emergency-contraception-plan-b-college/

06.04.2023

Commentary

Beyond the Pill

emergency contraception

United States

Contraception

Health

Honduras lifts decade-long ban on ‘morning after pill’

March 8, 2023
Reuters

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduran President Xiomara Castro signed an executive order on Wednesday ending a ban of more than 10 years on the use and sale of the "morning after pill," fulfilling a campaign promise long-awaited by feminist groups.

Castro, the country's first female president, took office last year after running on the promise of rolling back the country's restrictive reproductive policies.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/honduras-lifts-decade-long-ban-morning-after-pill-2023-03-09/

08.03.2023

News

clandestine abortions

emergency contraception

International Women's Day

These Women Are Fighting Back Against Honduras’s Incredibly Harsh Abortion Laws

In a country with some of the strictest laws curbing reproductive rights in the Western Hemisphere, a diverse group of women-led activists are taking action, from TikTok to the Supreme Court.

Story by Kaelyn Forde
Photos by Nincy Perdomo
March 7, 2023

Elena was 21 when she went to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain and was told she was pregnant. The news came as a shock. Living in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Tegucigalpa — the sprawling capital of Honduras — Elena (whose name has been changed here to protect her privacy) lacked access to proper nutrition and had received no prenatal care, since she didn’t even know she was pregnant. At the public hospital that day in 2017, she learned she was suffering from an internal infection and severe anemia. Elena was told her fetus had died, and she spent three days in the emergency room.

But what came after the miscarriage was even more shocking.

Continued: https://narratively.com/these-women-are-fighting-back-against-hondurass-incredibly-harsh-abortion-laws/

The Public, Including Women of Childbearing Age, Are Largely Confused About the Legality of Medication Abortion and Emergency Contraceptives in Their States

Feb 1, 2023
Even in States Where Abortion is Legal, Many are Uncertain about Legality of Medication Abortion

More than six months since the Supreme Court issued their Dobbs decision which overturned Roe v. Wade, there is widespread public confusion about the medication abortion pill and whether it is legal at the state level, according to the latest KFF Health Tracking Poll. The poll also finds many are unsure about the legality of emergency contraceptive pills, sometimes called morning after pills or “Plan B,” and whether the pills can end a pregnancy.

Across the country at least four in ten U.S. adults say they are “not sure” whether mifepristone, the medication abortion drug, is legal where they live. Half of women (49%) are “unsure” about whether medication abortion is legal in the state they live in, including 41% of women ages 18-49.

Continued: https://connect.kff.org/the-public-including-women-of-childbearing-age-are-largely-confused-about-the-legality-of-medication-abortion-and-emergency-contraceptives-in-their-states

01.02.2023

Featured

Research

abortion polls

emergency contraception

Kaiser Family Foundation

Quebec woman speaks out after pharmacist denies her morning-after pill due to his religious beliefs

'It's my decision to make ... It's my body," says 24-year-old woman

CBC News
Aug 05, 2022

A young woman from Saguenay, Que., says she left a local pharmacy feeling shamed after a pharmacist refused to sell her emergency oral contraception, better known as the morning-after pill, because it went against his religious beliefs.

"I felt bad, I felt really judged," said the 24-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/morning-after-pill-denied-religious-beliefs-1.6541535

05.08.2022

Featured

News

conscientious objection

emergency contraception

Gisèle Dallaire

morning after pill

pharmacist refusals

pharmacists and conscientious objection

Quebec Order of Pharmacists

Table de concertation des groupes de femmes au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean

USA – How to Make an Abortion Emergency Plan Right Now

So you can get the care you deserve as quickly as possible.
By Korin Miller
July 30, 2022

By now, you’re probably well aware that Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion in the U.S. on a federal level, has been overturned. With that, many people across the country now live in states where abortion is illegal or severely restricted—and access to crucial reproductive health care is only expected to become more challenging.

People are scared, and it’s understandable. There are a lot of changes happening right now and the rights that you had a month ago may no longer exist in your state. That’s why experts say it’s essential to anticipate what could happen if you need an abortion—and what actions you would need to consider taking to get the care you deserve.

https://www.self.com/story/abortion-emergency-plan

USA – The Coming Legal Battles Over Abortion Pills

How will the abortion pill be regulated in a post-Roe country? Four big questions about the looming legal battles.

By RACHEL REBOUCHÉ, DAVID S. COHEN and GREER DONLEY
05/24/2022

After the disclosure of Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion in the Supreme Court’s abortion case, there has been a flurry of commentary about the return to pre-Roe times. Much of that coverage has focused on the expenses and legal intricacies of abortion travel, bottlenecks at clinics in abortion-supportive states and the likelihood of criminal prosecution in anti-abortion states.

These are valid concerns if Roe is overturned, after which about half the states would make abortion illegal. But in one major respect, abortion has changed dramatically since 1973 when Roe was decided: the uptake of medication abortion, the two-drug regimen (mifepristone followed by misoprostol) that ends a pregnancy through ten weeks with pills. In 2020, medication abortion accounted for 54 percent of all abortions.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/05/24/coming-legal-battles-abortion-pills-00034558

Ukraine war: Volunteers deliver emergency contraception pills

By Annabel Rackham, BBC News
Apr 29, 2022

Charities are working to deliver emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as reports of rape rise.

Nearly 3,000 packets of morning-after pills have been sent to areas of the country most affected by the Russian invasion.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has provided the pills, which volunteers are delivering.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61269792

Poland’s Anti-Abortion Laws Obstruct Humanitarian Assistance to Ukrainian Pregnant Refugees and Rape Survivors

As sexual violence on children and young women is increasingly reported, pregnant women, including rape survivors, struggle to access sexual healthcare under Poland’s strict abortion laws

by Mathilde Grandjean
April 20, 2022

Since the start of the war, over 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees – 90% of whom are women and children – have fled their homes to seek sanctuary in neighbouring countries. Poland has received the highest number of displaced Ukrainians, as nearly 3 million refugees have entered the country since February. Amongst them are rape survivors and pregnant refugees in urgent need of medical help, including access to emergency contraception and abortion.

However, Poland’s near-total ban on abortion added to a lack of key sexual and reproductive health medicines and products obstruct humanitarian efforts to provide medical assistance to rape survivors and refugees who wish to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Continued: https://impakter.com/poland-anti-abortion-laws-obstruct-humanitarian-assistance-to-ukrainian-pregnant-refugees-and-rape-survivors/