A woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth: UN agencies

New data show major setbacks for maternal health in many parts of the world, highlighting stark disparities in healthcare access

23 February 2023
World Health Organization

Every two minutes, a woman dies during pregnancy or childbirth, according to the latest estimates released in a report by United Nations agencies today. This report, Trends in maternal mortality, reveals alarming setbacks for women’s health over recent years, as maternal deaths either increased or stagnated in nearly all regions of the world.

“While pregnancy should be a time of immense hope and a positive experience for all women, it is tragically still a shockingly dangerous experience for millions around the world who lack access to high quality, respectful health care,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). “These new statistics reveal the urgent need to ensure every woman and girl has access to critical health services before, during and after childbirth, and that they can fully exercise their reproductive rights.”

Continued: https://www.who.int/news/item/23-02-2023-a-woman-dies-every-two-minutes-due-to-pregnancy-or-childbirth--un-agencies

Bleeding and in pain, she couldn’t get 2 Louisiana ERs to answer: Is it a miscarriage?

December 29, 2022
ROSEMARY WESTWOOD
7-Minute Listen with transcript

BATON ROUGE, La. – When Kaitlyn Joshua found out she was pregnant in mid-August, she and her husband, Landon Joshua, were excited to have a second baby on the way. They have a 4-year-old daughter, and thought that was just the right age to help out with a younger sibling.

At about six weeks pregnant, Joshua, 30, called a physicians' group in Baton Rouge. She wanted to make her first prenatal appointment there for around the eight-week mark, as she had in her first pregnancy. But Joshua says the woman on the line told her she was going to have to wait over a month.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/29/1143823727/bleeding-and-in-pain-she-couldnt-get-2-louisiana-ers-to-answer-is-it-a-miscarria

Strict new abortion laws ignite debate in Poland and expose kinship with U.S.

“For the for the majority of women, it’s not accessible,” the executive director of Poland’s Federation for Women and Family Planning told NBC News.

Dec. 22, 2022
By Matt Bradley, Ewa Galica and Mo Abbas

WARSAW, Poland — Standing in a near-empty rural cemetery, Barbara Skrobol braced against the cold and a potential confrontation: The local priest, she said, doesn’t like the journalists and activists she regularly parades past her sister-in-law’s grave.

“She just wanted to live,” Skrobol said of her brother’s wife, Izabela Sajbor, who died last year from sepsis at the age of 30. An abortion could have saved her life, she said. “We blame not only the doctors because they made a mistake, but we blame the politicians who implemented this law.”

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/strict-new-abortion-laws-ignite-debate-poland-expose-kinship-us-rcna60654

Women call for tougher EU stance on Poland’s abortion laws

At least six women have died in Poland after doctors refused to terminate their pregnancies due to the constitutional court’s ruling on abortions.

By Priyanka Shankar
Published On 18 Nov 2022

Brussels, Belgium – Fighting for justice and women’s rights in Poland has become an integral part of Barbara Skrobol’s life since September 22, 2021.

This was the day her sister-in-law, Izabela Sajbor, died of sepsis at a hospital in southern Poland after doctors refused to terminate her pregnancy after finding foetal defects, due to Poland’s stringent abortion rules.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/11/18/women-call-for-tougher-eu-stance-on-polands-abortion-laws

Poland abortion ban victim’s family says ‘nobody cared about her life’

By Isabel da Silva
Updated: 18/11/2022

The family of a Polish woman that died due to Poland's restrictive rules on abortion have spoken out about her ordeal.

Izabela Sajbor, 30, died of septic shock last year when she was 22 weeks pregnant.

Thousands took to the streets to protest the victim of the country's near-total abortion ban, which was approved in October 2020.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/11/17/nobody-cared-about-her-life-family-of-polish-abortion-ban-victim-speak-out

By Isabel da Silva
Updated: 18/11/2022

The family of a Polish woman that died due to Poland's restrictive rules on abortion have spoken out about her ordeal.

Izabela Sajbor, 30, died of septic shock last year when she was 22 weeks pregnant.

Thousands took to the streets to protest the victim of the country's near-total abortion ban, which was approved in October 2020.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/11/17/nobody-cared-about-her-life-family-of-polish-abortion-ban-victim-speak-out

Trump Global Gag Rule: Campaign Statement and a Report from PAI

Trump Global Gag Rule: Campaign Statement and a Report from PAI
by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
May 24, 2017

Campaign Statement: Donald Trump aspires to be a mass murderer, especially of women

The Trump government has declared war on women everywhere. We call on the World Health Assembly first and foremost, currently in session, to condemn this death-dealing policy. We call on the United Nations and all governments to commit to funding public health and human rights as a global priority, including for women. Lastly, we call on everyone who works for the US government to refuse to implement this policy, because it will implicate them in mass murder.

Continued at source: International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/6902-2/