May 18, 2025
Rajkot: The 13-year-old rape survivor, who was allowed to abort her 33-week pregnancy by the Gujarat high court last week, gave birth to a baby girl on Saturday evening in a Rajkot hospital.
The girl’s mother approached the HC for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) last week after a Rajkot sessions court rejected her application on May 6 for abortion on the grounds that she was too young and the pregnancy was at a very advanced stage.
Wednesday, May 07, 2025
Women and girls who become pregnant from rape or defilement are avoiding healthcare facilities, instead risking their lives through unregulated procedures due to fear of prosecution and unclear abortion legislation, according to the Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance.
"The perception that abortion remains universally illegal drives vulnerable survivors underground, where they face life-threatening complications, including haemorrhage, infection, and permanent injury. Constitutional ambiguity has also created a healthcare crisis," explains Annet Nerima, programme manager at the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/why-cases-of-unsafe-abortion-are-rising-5031386
Bolivian teens with unwanted pregnancies can be stymied by anti-abortion groups using online sites to spread misinformation.
Nathalie Iriarte
April 23, 2025
SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA, Bolivia - When Kasandra, a teenager in Bolivia, discovered she was pregnant at 15 as a result of rape, her already troubled life fell apart.
The unwanted pregnancy was a horrible milestone in the years of sexual abuse and beatings she had endured at the hands of her stepfather that began when she was 11.
"To have a child was the worst. My stepfather was going to kick me out of the house or kill me," Kasandra, who did not want her real name used, told Context.
Continued: https://www.context.news/big-tech/bolivian-teens-seeking-abortions-meet-misinformation-online
March 7, 2025
By Gift Oba
The Ogun State House of Assembly has said it will assist in providing the necessary legislative backing to protect genuine victims of rape and other vulnerable people.
The Speaker, Oludaisi Elemide, gave the assurance on Friday while receiving a gender-based group, Gender Development Initiative, GEDIN, at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.
The dead foetus, which was buried at a crematorium in Ulhasnagar, has been exhumed for further probe into the case, said officials
March 02, 2025
Police have arrested a man for allegedly raping of a 17-year-old girl and forcing her to undergo abortion on the basis of fake documents in Maharashtra's Thane district, officials said on Sunday (March 2, 2025).
The dead foetus, which was buried at a crematorium in Ulhasnagar, has been exhumed for further probe into the case, they said, adding that a doctor who provided medicines for the termination of the minor's pregnancy has also been arrested.
IPAS
Feb 28, 2025
Early in his career, Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) director Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda, then a coordinator with a refugee agency, was confronted with the plight of women and girls who had suffered sexual violence fleeing Central African Republic for refuge in DRC.
“In my report to the supervisor, I noted that over 60% of the women and girls were rape victims. Many of them, including little girls who could not be more than 12, were pregnant. They were also dealing with sexually transmitted infections and malnutrition,” he explains.
Continued; https://www.ipas.org/news/drc-safe-abortion-care-in-humanitarian-settings/
Friday 28 February 2025
by L.M. Bonato
While various human rights reports show that annually between one and four million Brazilian women have abortions, the right to women’s bodily autonomy remains a major battle. Currently the law allows abortion only in the case of rape or to save the woman’s life. This means millons of women are forced to seek underground abortions.
Given the rise of conservative parties following Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, far-right politicians are seeking to roll back legal abortion even in the case of rape. Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante has introduced Bill PL 190424, which would criminalize abortion under all circumstances after 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Continued: https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8874
Although implementation will depend on each country, these sorts of rulings have a potential for global influence
By Elizabeth Hlavinka
February 19, 2025
The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued a ruling last month with the potential to expand reproductive rights in Ecuador and Nicaragua. Although it’s unclear how each country will implement the UN mandates handed down, the ruling is a step forward for a growing reproductive rights movement working to decriminalize abortion in Latin America.
In 2016, Planned Parenthood Global, Amnesty International, and other Latin American activism groups came together to form the “Son Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) movement. They have filed legal cases before the UN Human Rights Committee against Ecuador and Nicaragua, representative of a regional pattern of girls forced to become mothers due to sexual violence and a lack of access to reproductive health services like abortion in 2019.
Enid Muthoni, Lori Adelman
Jan 29, 2025
Center for Reproductive Rights
Nicaraguan Susana was 13-years-old when she became pregnant by her grandfather, who had repeatedly raped her. When she found out, Susana said she did not want to continue with the pregnancy, and, with the help of her grandmother, pled five times for the complaint against her aggressor to be accepted. In a country like Nicaragua, which totally bans abortion and has normalized human rights violations, voices like Susana's are not heard. She was forced into motherhood, while her aggressor was never prosecuted. However, this month Susana finally got justice on Jan. 20.
On the same day Donald Trump returned to the White House, the United Nations Human Rights Committee delivered three groundbreaking rulings, holding Ecuador and Nicaragua responsible for grave human rights violations against Susana and two other young survivors of rape who were forced into motherhood. The Committee is clear: everyone, and with greater emphasis on girls, has the right to be free from sexual violence and free to make their own choices. Although the decisions are about the cases of Norma from Ecuador and Lucía and Susana from Nicaragua, they set a new international standard for more than 170 signatory countries of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the United States.
The Human Rights Committee recognizes that abortion bans violated the rights of girls who survived sexual violence and were forced into motherhood.
22.01.2025
Center for Reproductive Rights
(PRESS STATEMENT) — In a major victory for girls’ and women’s rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled Monday that Ecuador and Nicaragua violated the human rights of three girls who were forced into motherhood due to abortion bans in those States. In its decision, the Committee recognized that forced pregnancies and forced motherhood disrupts the personal, family, educational, and professional goals of girls, and constitutes a form of cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment by severely restricting their right to a dignified life.
The cases of Norma (Ecuador), and Susana and Lucia (Nicaragua), were brought before the Committee in 2019 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and allied organizations. The girls were 12 and 13 years old when they became pregnant after being raped by men in positions of power and authority whom they trusted (the biological father, the grandfather, and a priest, respectively).
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