Accelerate action: Reproductive rights and abortion access in Lagos State

—WEWIN
March 11, 2025

Every year on International Women’s Day (IWD), we reflect on progress, celebrate achievements, and reignite our commitment to gender equality. IWD 2025’s theme, “Accelerate Action,” underscores the urgent need for swift and tangible progress in achieving gender equality and reproductive justice.

Nowhere is this acceleration more critical than in the fight for reproductive rights, particularly the right to safe and legal abortion in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Continued; https://businessday.ng/opinion/article/accelerate-action-reproductive-rights-and-abortion-access-in-lagos-state/


Uganda – Unsafe abortions surge at Kigungu landing site

MON 10 MAR, 2025
By Kenneth Kazibwe

In the shadows of Uganda’s fishing villages, a silent crisis unfolds—one that claims lives and exposes deep-rooted inequalities.

At Kigungu Landing Site, unsafe abortions are a daily reality, driven by poverty, stigma, and lack of healthcare.

This pressing issue highlights the critical need for enhanced reproductive health services and support for marginalized populations.

Continued: https://nilepost.co.ug/health/246787/unsafe-abortions-surge-at-kigungu-landing-site


Poland first “abortion clinic” opens amid protest

Mar 9, 2025
Notes from Poland

A facility that reproductive rights activists describe as Poland’s first ever abortion clinic has opened in Warsaw. The launch – held on International Women’s Day – was met with protests by anti-abortion groups.

Critics say that the initiative violates Poland’s strict abortion laws, which allow terminations in only two narrowly restricted circumstances and criminalise those who assist women in obtaining unlawful abortions. However, the group behind the clinic argues that it conforms with all relevant regulations.

Continued: https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/03/09/poland-first-abortion-clinic-opens-amid-protest/


Argentina – Abortion access under threat amid ‘chainsaw’ cuts

Buenos Aires Times
March 7, 2025

Four years after Argentina became the first big Latin American country to legalise abortion, women are finding it hard to access terminations due to President Javier Milei's "chainsaw" economics and anti-feminist diatribes, critics say.

At a women's sexual health NGO in the town of Chivilcoy, 160 kilometres (about 100 miles) west of Buenos Aires, abortion pills are handed out sparingly because of reduced state-sponsored supplies.

Each week, about 15 women in Chivilcoy request misoprostol and mifepristone – two medications used to end pregnancy – but some now leave empty-handed, Cecilia Robledo, a local counselor who runs the organisation, told AFP by telephone.

Continued: https://batimes.com.ar/news/argentina/abortion-access-under-threat-amid-chainsaw-cuts.phtml


As U.S. Faces a Rising Tide of Abortion Bans and Restrictions, France Enshrines Freedom of Access in the Constitution

The U.S. and France offer starkly different environments for women—but both countries share a strong feminist tradition. How do we explain their radically different abortion trajectories?

3/27/2024
by SHOSHANNA EHRLICH and LAURA FRADER, Ms. Magazine

In 2023, seeking “to avoid a U.S.-like scenario for women in France, as hard-right groups are gaining ground,” President Emmanuel Macron promised a constitutional amendment affirming women’s right to abortion and to control over their own bodies. The amendment subsequently passed by a crushing majority of 780 to 72 votes and was inserted ceremoniously into the French Constitution on March 8, 2024, International Women’s Day.

In celebration, the Eiffel Tower was lit up with the message “My Body, My Choice.” This global first came approximately 50 years after the French Parliament first voted to decriminalize abortion with the passage of the Veil Law, named for feminist minister of health Simone Veil, who championed the reform.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/03/27/france-abortion-usa-bans-constitution-right/


South Africa – Abortion: The good, the bad and the unsafe

Zandile Khumalo
11 March 2024

"ABORTION will happen whether society believes it or not, but we need to make sure that women stay alive." This is what activist and founder of Abortion Support South Africa, Gaopalelwe Phalaetsile, said amid the continued existence of illegal abortions.

As the world celebrated International Women’s Day on 8 March, Daily Sun rings the alarm on backstreet abortions, challenges in accessing legal pregnancy terminations and the stigmas that still exist.

Continued: https://www.snl24.com/dailysun/news/illegal-abortions-persist-despite-risks-and-activist-gaopalelwe-phalaetsile-raises-awareness-20240311


France enshrines abortion as a constitutional right as the world marks International Women’s Day

France has inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution, a powerful message of support for women’s rights on International Women’s Day

By ANGELA CHARLTON and JADE LE DELEY, Associated Press
March 8, 2024

PARIS -- France inscribed the guaranteed right to abortion in its constitution Friday, in a world first and a powerful message of support to women around the globe on International Women’s Day.

A woman from Argentina, a couple from Miami and a man from Czechia were among those gathered on the polished cobblestones of Place Vendome in Paris to watch the historic event unfurl in an outdoor ceremony open the public. Women in the crowd recalled their own abortions, or lifelong battles for reproductive rights.

Continued:  https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/france-seal-abortion-constitution-world-marks-international-womens-107914918


IWD: Prioritize Women’s Lives, Reinstate Safe Termination Guidelines- Group Tells Govt

By Titilope Joseph
On Mar 6, 2024

In commemoration of the International Women’s day, the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC), a non-governmental Organization on Wednesday led  over 500 women groups and communities on a Walk to demand the reinstatement of the repealed Lagos State Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancies.

WARDC and  Over 500 women from various groups, communities and religious backgrounds made the demand during a peaceful walk that  was held On March , 2024 in Ikeja, Lagos.

Continued: https://independent.ng/iwd-prioritize-womens-lives-reinstate-safe-termination-guidelines-group-tells-govt/


Chile’s abortion rights movement faces uphill battle

Advocates say fight continues despite rejection of new constitution last year that would have enshrined reproductive rights.

By Charis McGowan
10 Mar 2023

Santiago, Chile – Siomara Molina stands on the steps of the Chilean National Library on a busy street in the heart of Chile’s capital.

Waving fists in the air and wearing green scarves, symbolic of the Latin American movement for abortion rights, Molina and the dozens of women around her chant: “Abortion yes, abortion no, that’s my decision”.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/10/chiles-abortion-rights-movement-faces-uphill-battle


Uganda – Women’s Day: Allow women to choose when to have children and with whom! AWAC wants restrictive abortion laws revised

BY NELSON MANDELA | PML DAILY REPORTER 
March 9, 2023

KAMPALA – Alliance of Women Advocating for Change (AWAC), a Civil Society Organistion that works with female sex workers has challenged the government to loosen up the abortion laws to enable women and girls to access safe abortion services at any point needed.

AWAC had joined the rest of the world to commemorate International Women’s Day. They celebrated the day with less-privileged women and girls of Katanga suburb, one of the slum areas of Kampala.

Continued: https://www.pmldaily.com/news/2023/03/womens-day-allow-women-to-choose-when-to-have-children-and-with-whom-awac-wants-restrictive-abortion-laws-revised.html