Is Europe next? Concerns over abortion rights rise after Supreme Court overturns Roe

“The fact it’s become a talking point is a massive step forward. Whatever anyone’s views are on abortion, it’s not helpful if we can’t talk about it,” one abortion rights opponent said.

Aug. 7, 2022
By Patrick Smith

LONDON — Abortion rights opponents have long been stuck on the fringes of politics in much of Western Europe. The Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has many in the movement hoping that is about to change.

That abortion was thrust into the headlines and onto the agenda has been a big step forward, said Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a co-director of March for Life U.K., an annual event in September in London.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/europe-concerns-abortion-rights-rise-supreme-court-overturns-roe-rcna38651

The plan to overturn abortion rights in Europe

The activists taking inspiration — and money — from US anti-abortion groups

BY CARLO MARTUSCELLI
June 28, 2022

When news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court had overturned decades of precedent and opened the door to abortion bans across the country, the reaction from opponents of the procedure in Europe was simple: We can do it too.

With support for legal abortion in Europe polling at the highest in the world, its opponents know they are rowing against the tide. But activists on the Continent got a practical demonstration of how a determined minority can make the impossible happen last weekend, when the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed a POLITICO scoop that it was repealing the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. The decision made, or will soon make, abortion illegal across 16 states.

https://www.politico.eu/article/roe-vs-wade-us-the-european-activists-taking-inspiration-and-money-from-us-anti-abortion-groups/

Malta activists protest, seek to decriminalize abortion

Abortion rights activists have filed a legal protest in Malta’s courts demanding the legalization of abortion

By Kevin Schembri Orland , Associated Press
June 15, 2022

VALLETTA, Malta -- Abortion rights activists filed a legal protest in Malta’s courts on Wednesday demanding the legalization of abortion in the only European Union member where the procedure is criminalized.

Toting banners reading “I decide,” “Abortion is a woman’s right” and “Abortion is health care, not a crime,” the activists protested on the steps of Valletta’s legal courts after filing the complaint.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/malta-activists-protest-seek-decriminalize-abortion-85416949

15.06.2022

European Court of Human Rights

Lara Dimitrijevic

Women's Rights Foundation

Ireland and Latin America Can Inspire the US Abortion Fight

Analysis by Clara Ferreira Marques | Bloomberg
May 30, 2022

For decades, activists across the world have looked to Roe v. Wade, the landmark US ruling on abortion, as a model worthy of emulation. With the Supreme Court now set to overturn that decision, roles need to reverse: US rights groups must now turn to successful campaigns in Latin America and in Ireland for inspiration and advice on mobilizing voters, galvanizing legislators and widening support.

The impact of these popular movements is hard to overestimate. The Latin American marea verde, or green wave, emerged in Argentina in response to high rates of violence against women with the Ni Una Menos campaign, or Not One Less, and mass street protests. It expanded to include a demand for legal and safe abortions, and took its name from the green scarves women began to wear …

Continued: (unblocked) https://wapo.st/3wYPzTZ https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ireland-and-latin-america-can-inspire-theusabortion-fight/2022/05/30/500ffa4c-dfef-11ec-ae64-6b23e5155b62_story.html

How women are resisting Poland’s abortion ban

By Costanza Spocci
26 May 2022

Warsaw, Poland – On a cold, hazy December morning, the Ryz sisters stand on a sidewalk of a busy street in Warsaw.

“Shall we go to church?” 24-year-old Olympia asks her sister, Melania, grinning and holding up a dozen pink, yellow and grey stickers with the words, “Abortion is OK”, and the hotline numbers and social media profiles of Polish pro-choice organisations.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2022/5/26/how-women-are-resisting-polands-abortion-ban

26.05.2022

Abortion Without Borders

Agnieszka T

Aleksander Stępkowski

All-Poland Women's Strike

European Court of Human Rights

FEDERA

Federation for Women and Family Planning

Law and Justice party

Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet

Olympia Ryz

Ordo Luris

Polish Episcopal Conference

registry of pregnant women

septic shock

severe foetal abnormalities

Abortion rights: While the US is on brink of rolling back Roe v Wade, where is Europe headed?

By Luke Hurst
May 6, 2022

Europe is feeling the political shockwaves from the US Supreme Court’s proposed reversal of women’s reproductive rights.

Campaigners have been shocked by the leaked opinion, which suggests it is considering overruling the landmark Roe v Wade case which legalised abortion nationwide in 1973.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/05/06/abortion-rights-with-the-us-on-brink-of-rolling-back-roe-v-wade-where-is-europe-headed

Ukrainian refugees reignite abortion debate in Poland

Tuesday, 19 April 2022
By Liv Klingert

The controversial debate on abortion in Poland has been reignited following the arrival of Ukrainian women refugees who have been victims of sexual violence by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Under current restrictive abortion laws, it is uncertain whether women who become pregnant through rape and seek refuge in Poland can still have legal and safe abortions there, De Standaard reported.

Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/218090/ukrainian-refugees-ignite-abortion-debate-in-poland

The Key Argument on Abortion That Changed Everything in Colombia

March 14, 2022
Catalina Martínez Coral

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — For decades abortion rights activists in Latin America looked to our counterparts in the global north to learn the best litigation and advocacy tools. We considered the incremental gains made in the years leading up to Roe v. Wade in the United States a blueprint for victory in our fight.

But as a feminist green wave, referring to the green bandannas abortion rights supporters wear, sweeps across the region, this summer the United States Supreme Court could roll back abortion rights. Inspiration is now coming from the south rather than the north, thanks to the coordinated efforts of many Latin American activists.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/opinion/latin-america-colombia-abortion.html

Two Polish women died after being refused timely abortions. Many Poles are outraged — and protesting.

Antiabortion organizations are powerful in Poland, but
abortion rights support is growing

By Courtney Blackington, Washington Post
Feb 18, 2022

Last month, the death of a Polish woman known as “Agnieszka T.” inflamed public debate about Poland’s abortion law. She died a month after doctors delayed aborting twin fetuses, which had separately died in utero over the course of a week. Her family blames Poland’s current abortion law for her death. Another woman, Izabela, died under similar circumstances last September. Their deaths may be spurring protests in support of abortion access. In my research, I have spoken to activists to understand what drives them to protest.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/02/18/poland-abortion-protest/

Polish government accused of murder after pregnant woman carrying dead foetus dies

Women’s rights activists took to the streets to protest against the country’s draconian abortion laws

By Matthew Day and Anne Gulland
27 January 2022

Poland’s government is guilty of murder, campaigners said on Thursday following the death of a woman forced to carry a dead foetus in her womb for over a week because of draconian new abortion laws.

The 37-year-old woman, who was carrying twins and was in her first three months of pregnancy, lost one foetus in mid-December but was refused an abortion, according to her family, despite the threat to her health and life. Continued: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/01/27/polish-government-accused-murder-pregnant-woman-carrying-dead/