Australia – ‘We must be alert to complacency’: inside Victoria’s push to extend abortion access

The state has increased availability of medical and surgical abortions – but a recent symposium has heard affordability and some doctors’ reluctance are halting progress

Benita Kolovos, Victorian state correspondent
Sat 3 May 2025

On a grey Monday morning outside the State Library in Melbourne’s CBD, there’s little to suggest anything out of the ordinary – no protests, no placards, no media. But stream of women – and a few men – are making their way inside for what is, in fact, a landmark event.

“How extraordinary it is,” says former Victorian health minister and MC Jill Hennessy, “to come to a symposium about abortion as healthcare in the state of Victoria, [and] that this isn’t some secret meeting held down in an underground tunnel where women plot to ensure our health rights are recognised.”

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/04/victoria-abortion-access

How a second Trump presidency is likely to threaten abortion rights and women’s healthcare globally

November 15, 2024
Michael Jennings

In the aftermath of the US election, much focus has been on the consequences for abortion rights across the US, and whether this will affect state-led initiatives to roll back restrictive legislation.

What has received much less attention is what will happen next to abortion services, sexual and reproductive health, and health more widely across many parts of the world, as a direct result of a decision President Trump is likely to take on his first day in office.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/how-a-second-trump-presidency-is-likely-to-threaten-abortion-rights-and-womens-healthcare-globally-243346

The Consequences of US Elections for Women’s Health Globally

A new viewpoint by BUSPH and Stanford University researchers highlights the profound consequences of US policy decisions on abortion for women in countries reliant on American global health aid.

October 29, 2024
By Nina Brooks, Eran Bendavid, and Grant Miller

Abortion is on the ballot in the 2024 US presidential election. After the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade, numerous states have voted on ballot initiatives to expand or restrict access to abortion—with seven states voting on such measures in November. But hundreds of millions of women who live in countries that receive global health aid from the United States will also be affected by the November election—despite having no say in choosing the next president.

The Mexico City Policy, so called because it was announced at the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development held in Mexico City, was introduced by the Reagan Administration in 1984. When in effect, the policy restricts international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from discussing, promoting, or advocating abortion to receive US funding (relatedly, the Helms Amendment prohibits US funds from use to perform abortions).

Continued: https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2024/consequences-of-us-elections-for-womens-health-globally/

Reduce maternal death, incorporate abortion-related scheme in school curriculum – Experts to Nigerian govt

June 15, 2024
By Gift Oba

Following the high rate of maternal death and unsafe abortions, the federal government has been advised to incorporate abortion-related topics into the secondary school curriculum in order to educate and enlighten students on the dangers associated with it.

According to the October 2021 Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA) abortion survey, in Nigeria, 4.6% of reproductive-aged women undergo an abortion each year, equating to nearly 2 million abortions annually.

Continued: https://dailypost.ng/2024/06/15/reduce-maternal-death-incorporate-abortion-related-scheme-in-school-curriculum-experts-to-nigerian-govt/

15.06.2024

News

Dr. Kingsley Odogwu

Marie Stopes International

Media Health and Rights Initiative of Nigeria

Performance Monitoring for Action abortions survey

Malta – Forty, pregnant, and seeking an abortion

A trend is emerging in Malta among women aged 40 and over, who already have children and who experience unintended pregnancies despite using contraception. The Journal catches up with Doctors for Choice - Malta’s Dr Natalie Psaila.

The Journal
Jan 16, 2024

If you think that unwanted pregnancies are exclusive to teenagers, think again.
“An emerging trend that we’re observing is among individuals aged 40 and over, who already have children, who say that they have used contraception, but still experience unintended pregnancies,” reveals Dr Natalie Psaila, a Maltese doctor who make it to the BBC’s top 100 inspirational women in 2023.

These women confirm using CE certified condoms but, despite these precautions, they still get pregnant, she pointed out. “These condoms shouldn’t fail easily but no contraceptive is fail-proof. This is why these couples are getting pregnant. Condoms have about 10% failure rate. Something like the pull-out method – a favourite with the Maltese – has a 40% failure rate.”

Continued: https://thejournal.mt/forty-pregnant-and-seeking-an-abortion/

Namibia: Will the 1975 abortion legislation be amended?

By Africanews and AFP
May 29, 2023

When Alejandra Angula discovered she was pregnant, she panicked. She had not unplanned the pregnancy. Dismayed at the lack of options in her home country, Angula flew to neighbouring South Africa and booked into an abortion clinic in Cape Town.

"I was more scared of having a baby and being forced into parenthood than of the procedure," said the 29-year-old IT worker, who asked for her name to be changed for the purposes of this article.

Continued: https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/29/namibia-will-the-1975-abortion-legislation-be-amended/

Governor Sanwo-Olu moves to legalize abortion in Lagos state

By Naija247news Media Nigeria
November 25, 2022

Reports reaching Naija247News that Babajide Sanwo-Olu governor of Lagos state is planning to legalize abortion in Nigeria’s commercial capital.

Naija247News recalled that earlier in the year The Lagos State Government has developed a policy document on safe termination of pregnancy toward guiding healthcare professionals to provide safe and lawful abortion services in the state. Olusegun Ogboye, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Health, said this at a stakeholders’ meeting to launch the document on Tuesday in Lagos.

Continued: https://naija247news.com/2022/11/25/nigeria-moves-to-legalize-abortion/

Women Groups Protest Lagos Continuous Suspension Of Safe Termination Of Pregnancy

By YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE
On Sep 7, 2022

In protest against the delay in lifting the suspension on safe termination of pregnancy in Lagos State, about 150 women groups across various rights and civil society organisations took to the streets to make their grievance known to government.

The Lagos State government had through the Ministry of Health developed a policy document on safe termination of pregnancy in a bid to guide healthcare providers within the state to provide safe and lawful abortion services within the ambit of the law.

Continued: https://tribuneonlineng.com/women-groups-protest-lagos-continuous-suspension-of-safe-termination-of-pregnancy/

07.09.2022

Babajide Sanwo-Olu

Dr. Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi

Lagos State Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications https://tribuneonlineng.com/women-groups-protest-lagos-continuous-suspension-of-safe-termination-of-pregnancy

Marie Stopes International

Population Reference Bureau

Society for Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Nigeria (SOGON)

Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre

Roe v Wade: How its scrapping will affect women worldwide

The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the longstanding abortion ruling will have a chilling effect on reproductive healthcare provision in low income and middle income countries.

BMJ 2022; 378
doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1844 (Published 11 August 2022)
Sally Howard, freelance journalist1, Geetanjali Krishna, freelance journalist

In 2018 a reproductive health organisation in Kenya found that anti-abortion advocates had put the address of its reproductive rights helpline on social media. “It was a veiled threat,” its programme manager, Mina Mwangi, tells The BMJ. “They wanted us to know that they knew how to get us.”

On 24 June 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that protected women’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction.1 Sexual and reproductive health rights organisations across the world, including Mwangi’s, feared the effects of the overturning in terms of funding and potential attacks. “We are heightening our security because of how emboldened the opposition are,” Mwangi says, adding that she dreads a potential withdrawal of funds from US non-governmental organisations: her organisation receives over 50% of its funding from US donors.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/378/bmj.o1844

11.08.2022

Editorial

Featured

2020 Reproductive Healthcare Bill

African Population and Health Research Centre

Legal Action Worldwide

Legal Framework on Abortion

Maputo Protocol

Marie Stopes International

maternal mortality

Maura Daly

Médecins Sans Frontières

Mina Mwangi

Payal Shah

Phonsina Archane

Physicians for human Rights

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Roe v. Wade

Safe Abortion Action Fund

Sally Howard

Sarah Shaw

World Health Organization

More Americans who want abortions are turning to Mexico for help

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Fri July 22, 2022

Verónica Cruz says she's been getting frantic calls from women in the United States.

Abortion clinics have canceled their appointments, and they're scared, she says.

"As soon as the Supreme Court decision came out, they were left without service. There are many people who call us crying, very desperate," Cruz told CNN in a recent interview. "And the majority don't even speak Spanish."

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/health/mexico-abortion-assistance-cec/index.html