NARAL President Ilyse Hogue says the organization is ‘certainly preparing’ for the end of Roe v. Wade

John L. Dorman
Jan 3, 2021

NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue said in a recent Daily Beast podcast interview that the organization is working to protect women's reproductive rights in the wake of a sharply conservative Supreme Court that came to fruition during President Donald Trump's tenure.

During an episode of "The New Abnormal" featuring editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast, the discussion about women's healthcare landed on Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the US and afforded women a constitutional right to the procedure. For decades, conservatives have sought to overturn the ruling, but lacked a lopsided majority on the Supreme Court, one that they now possess with the installation of Judges Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the court.

Continued: https://www.businessinsider.com/naral-president-ilyse-hogue-roe-vs-wade-women-reproductive-rights-2021-01

A Biden Promise About Overseas Abortion Funding Could Prove Difficult To Implement

December 3, 2020
Nurith Aizenman

Among the promises that President elect-Biden is expected to fulfill immediately upon taking office: lifting a ban that President Trump imposed on U.S. foreign aid dollars related to abortion.

Specifically, the ban prohibits foreign aid funding for privately-run overseas-based groups that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" for women. Among the activities that are barred: providing referrals for abortion or offering advice or medical information on the procedure. And this is prohibited even if the group funds their communications around abortions with non-U.S. sources.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/12/03/933052858/a-biden-promise-about-overseas-abortion-funding-could-prove-difficult-to-impleme

Battery acid, cassava sticks and clothes hangers: We must end the global gag rule

Critics say the policy has led to deep cuts in funding for family planning

Nelly Munyasia, Womba Wanki
2 Dec 2020

On 23 January 2017, United States President Donald Trump issued an expansion of the Mexico City Policy, or “global gag rule” (GGR), last implemented under George W Bush. The GGR blocks US global health assistance to any foreign nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) that perform abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or threat to the life of the woman; provide counselling on, or referrals for, abortion; or lobby for the liberalisation of abortion law. This stance is enforced even if the NGOs use non-US funds for these aspects of healthcare.

She Decides — a global women’s rights movement, of which we’re both members — was a direct response to the reinstatement of the GGR and its devastating effect on the lives and freedoms of women and girls. We are, therefore, encouraged by early indications that president-elect Joe Biden is expected to rescind this devastating rule as one of the new administration’s first acts.

Continued: https://mg.co.za/africa/2020-12-02-battery-acid-cassava-sticks-and-clothes-hangers-we-must-end-the-global-gag-rule/

What Joe Biden’s Election Means For Abortion Rights

December 1, 2020
Sarah McCammon

Like many abortion rights opponents, Tom McClusky is feeling good about battles won under President Trump during his four years in office.

"He has probably done more pro-life things than many Republicans who have had two terms," McClusky said.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2020/12/01/935947603/what-joe-bidens-election-means-for-abortion-rights

U.S. Global Gag Rule: Compounding women’s sexual reproductive right in developing countries?

November 22, 2020
By Sam Oditah

A 47-year-old single mother, Jane (surname withheld), lived in her dilapidated family house in a serene neighbourhood in Umuahia, the Abia capital. She relocated from Lagos in 2017 due to economic difficulties.

She lived with her 12-year-old daughter, Ebere, a junior secondary school student, and her aged auntie in a one-room apartment.

Painfully, Jane died on March 10 in rather sudden and bizarre circumstances.

Continued: https://naija247news.com/2020/11/22/u-s-global-gag-rule-compounding-womens-sexual-reproductive-right-in-developing-countries/#.X7rgzGhKhPY

Nigeria: NGOs Unaware of Gag Rule Exceptions On Abortion

19 NOVEMBER 2020
By Hameed Oyegbade, Daily Trust (Abuja)

Osogbo — A 16-year-old student of Osogbo Government High in Osogbo, Osun State, Elizabeth (real name withheld) was allegedly raped by her financial accounting teacher, Gbenga Ayeni on Sunday, February 16, 2020.

She was in her school drama group, and he'd promised to connect her with popular stars so she could venture into Nollywood and become a star too.

Continued: https://allafrica.com/stories/202011190593.html

Biden set to roll back Trump rules on abortion

BY JESSIE HELLMANN
11/13/20

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to roll back several of the Trump administration’s changes to sexual and reproductive health programs, undoing a large portion of the president’s executive actions on abortion and women’s health.

Abortion rights and women’s health care advocates anticipate the Biden administration will act swiftly to reverse a myriad of Trump-era rules including ones that allow more employers to opt out of ObamaCare’s contraception mandate and ban the use of federal family planning dollars for domestic and foreign organizations that provide or promote abortions.

Continued: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/525773-biden-set-to-roll-back-trump-rules-on-abortion

Trump’s anti-abortion limits on foreign aid could have a lasting impact around the world

Joe Biden has pledged to reverse the anti-abortion restrictions on foreign aid. But many changes made in response to the ‘global gag rule’ already may be permanent.

Nov 11, 2020
Sarah Varney, Kaiser Health News

In Ethiopia, health clinics for teenagers once supported by U.S. foreign aid closed down.

In Kenya, a decades-long effort to integrate HIV testing and family planning unraveled.

In Nepal, government workers who once traversed the Himalayas to spread information about reproductive health were halted.

Continued: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/11/11/21559459/abortion-global-gag-rule-trump

Kenyan Reproductive Health Nurse Explains The Chilling Impact Of The Global Gag Rule & How She Defends Women’s Health

November 5, 2020

Since Ronald Reagan first implemented the Mexico City Policy in 1984, also known as the “Global Gag Rule”, every Republican President elected since then has signed this into law. The policy blocks U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide abortion counseling or referrals, advocate to decriminalize abortion, or expand abortion services.

But when Trump took office in January 2017, two days after the historic Women’s March, he not only signed the GGR (which President Obama did not), he implemented an expanded version which impacted not just family planning NGOs, but all U.S. global health assistance, increasing the amount of money affected by the policy from roughly $600 million to about $12 billion in estimated planned funding in 2018. The new iteration covered work unrelated to family planning, including projects related to HIV/AIDS, nutrition, malaria, water and sanitation, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Continued: https://www.girltalkhq.com/kenyan-reproductive-health-nurse-explains-the-chilling-impact-of-the-global-gag-rule-how-she-defends-womens-health/

In Europe and the US, abortion rights are under renewed threat

by Emma Reynolds, CNN
Sun November 1, 2020

(CNN)The Abortion Dream Team usually receives about 400 calls a month, from women seeking advice and information. Last week, the Polish advocacy group had 700 in the space of three days, according to team member Justyna Wydrzynska.

Some came from women who had just arrived at hospital to have abortions because of fetal defects -- only to be told to go home after Poland's highest court on October 22 imposed a near-total ban on abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/01/europe/abortion-rights-poland-us-slovakia-intl/index.html

01.11.2020