Monday, September 26, 2022
By JANE NAFULA
Uganda has joined several other African countries to oppose the contentious United Nations Human Rights Committee’s definition of abortion as a human right.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines abortion as termination of pregnancy prior to 20 weeks gestation.
July 20, 2022
International Rescue Committee
No one should be forced to carry a pregnancy to term against their will. The ruling from the United States Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade strips millions of people of the right to control their bodies and to make the decisions that shape their lives, families and futures.
The toll of this decision will fall heaviest
on already-marginalized people, including communities that the International
Rescue Committee (IRC) serves. Experts project that the U.S., which already has
high maternal mortality rates, will only see more people dying due to
restrictions on abortion care.
Continued: https://www.rescue.org/article/four-reasons-safe-abortion-critical-health-care
By Chinyere Obasi
July 17, 2022
The most prolific human rights organizations in the United States and abroad value equal and unrestricted access to all maternal care, including abortion, as a human right.
At home, the American Civil Liberties Union has fought for the right to abortion since the 1950s, and Physicians for Human Rights has reaffirmed this stance as recently as May of 2022. Abroad, the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the World Health Organization have all argued the same: Access to abortion is a human right. The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the U.N.’s official body designed to advocate for and protect such liberties, wrote in a 2018 statement that “States parties must provide safe, legal and effective access to abortion” when the pregnant person is at risk of harm, physical or otherwise, and that those parties should not take steps toward criminalizing abortion, which would inherently promote unsafe abortion.
Continued: https://harvardpolitics.com/poor-decision-making/
International Safe Abortion Day
28 September 2021
United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner
On the International Safe Abortion Day, a group of UN experts* stress that abortion is essential health care and a human right. Denial of access to abortion services jeopardizes a person's physical and mental health and takes away their autonomy and agency. It unjustly denies them the freedom to live with dignity and on equal terms with other human beings while exposing them to various forms of violence and oppression.
Furthermore, and as Human Rights bodies have long acknowledged, the denial of abortion services through the criminalization of abortion or through barriers and delays in access to lawful services can in certain circumstances constitute cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment, may amount to torture and could lead to arbitrary detention.
Continued: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27549&LangID=E
Abortion in Italy, a Right Wronged
By ILARIA MARIA SALA
NOV. 13, 2017
Late last month, Cosimo Borraccino, a left-wing member of the regional council for Apulia, in southern Italy, proposed passing a local law to require the enforcement of national legislation granting women access to abortion. His opponents on the council, mostly from center-right parties, said the bill was unnecessary and that Mr. Borraccino was “slamming into a wall of self-evidence.”
Yet when it comes to reproductive rights in Italy, respect of the law is anything but self-evident. In fact, 9 out of 10 gynecologists in Apulia refuse to perform abortions, even though the right to obtain one has been legal since 1978. Nationwide statistics are only slightly less staggering: Seven out of 10 gynecologists in Italy won’t terminate a pregnancy.
Continued at source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/opinion/abortion-italy-conscientious-objectors.html
Varadkar announces abortion referendum for next year
15 Jun 2017
Kenneth Fox
Simon Harris will be responsible for bringing forward the legislation
Amidst the news of a new Taoisech in the Dáil and the announcement of his Cabinet, the news that Leo Varadkar had confirmed an abortion referendum, seemed to slip through the cracks.
Yesterday he confirmed that the referendum will take place sometime next year.
He said Health Minister Simon Harris would be responsible for bringing forward legislation to allow for the referendum on the eight amendment, which gives an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn.
Continued at link: NewsTalk: http://www.newstalk.com/Varadkar-announces-abortion-referendum-for-next-year-
Irish abortion law violated woman’s human rights, UN says
Siobhan Whelan forced to travel to UK for abortion after fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis
June 13, 2017
Paul Cullen
A United Nations committee has found Ireland violated the human rights of a woman who had to travel to Britain for an abortion after her baby was diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality.
The UN human rights committee has told the State to pay compensation to the woman, Siobhan Whelan, and to provide psychological treatment to her.
Continued at source: Irish Times: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/irish-abortion-law-violated-woman-s-human-rights-un-says-1.3118145
UN repeats criticism of Ireland's 'cruel and inhumane' abortion laws
Committee finds in favour of Siobhán Whelan, who was denied a termination despite fatal foetal syndrome diagnosis
Henry McDonald Ireland correspondent
Tuesday 13 June 2017
The United Nations has again ruled that Ireland’s abortion laws have subjected a woman to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment.
It is the second time in 12 months that the UN’s human rights committee has denounced the abortion rules in the Irish Republic, which denies women with fatal foetal abnormalities the right to terminate pregnancies.
Continued at source: The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/13/un-denounces-ireland-abortion-laws-as-cruel-and-inhumane-again
UN highlights the shame of Ireland’s harsh abortion laws
13 June 2017
A ruling issued today by the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) that Ireland’s harsh abortion laws violated the human rights of an Irish woman is yet another reminder of the desperate need for reform, Amnesty International said.
The UNHRC ordered that Ireland redress the harm it caused to Siobhán Whelan, who was forced to travel to the UK for an abortion in 2010, including by reforming its abortion laws to prevent similar violations happening to other women.
“This is the second case within a year where the UN has found Ireland’s abortion laws to be grossly out of step with its international human rights obligations. While we welcome this ruling, it is outrageous that women have to go to the UN to have their human rights respected. How many more women will have to suffer before the Irish government opens its eyes?” said Gauri Van Gulik, Amnesty International’s Deputy Europe Director.
Continued at source: Amnesty International: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/06/un-highlights-the-shame-of-irelands-harsh-abortion-laws/
Nov 4, 2016, Center for Reproductive Rights (PRESS RELEASE)
Women in Poland may face risks to their health and lives as a result of the country’s highly restrictive abortion law—according to a report released today by the United Nations Human Rights Committee (U.N. Committee).
The U.N. Committee expressed serious concerns about the high number of women in Poland seeking unsafe abortions, which could put their health and lives at risk, because of the country’s restrictive abortion law. The committee also stressed its concern regarding the serious barriers that women who seek access to abortion encounter, including the lengths women are forced to travel to access services.
[continued at link]
Source: Center for Reproductive Rights
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
LinkedIn