Access to abortion services in Ontario rose in five- year period after mifepristone arrival: study

The Globe and Mail (BC Edition)
7 Apr 2025
KRISTY KIRKUP, HEALTH REPORTER OTTAWA

Access to abortion services at the local level in Ontario substantially increased within a five-year period after a drug known as mifepristone became available for use in Canada in 2017, according to newly released findings.

A study published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal sheds light on how mifepristone dispensed by local pharmacies in the country’s most populous province changed access to services.

The drug, approved for use by Health Canada, blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for a pregnancy to continue. Cramping and bleeding then begins that empties the uterus. It is commonly dubbed the “abortion pill.”

Continued: https://globe2go.pressreader.com/article/281625311126579

07.04.2025

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‘Necessary to Disobey Harmful Laws’: These ‘Abortion Pirates’ Want Equal Access to Abortion Pills Worldwide

A colorful crowd of doctors, researchers and women’s activists convened in the Latvian capital to explore ways to use pills to circumvent anti-abortion laws.

By EMILY SCHULTHEIS
11/26/2022

RIGA, Latvia — For two sunny, crisp autumn days in mid-September, Riga’s Stradiņš University felt like the epicenter of a self-styled global civil rights movement: to give every person, in every culture or country, regardless of laws, access to abortion pills.

In the hallways, women pored over posters showing the latest research on the effectiveness of abortion pills and other developments in abortion and contraception care. Representatives from pharmaceutical companies enthusiastically pitched their medications and products to doctors sipping coffee and tea during a break between panels. There were graphic novels about an at-home medical abortion and T-shirts printed with women’s self-stated reasons for ending a pregnancy; there were slogans printed on T-shirts like “Make Abortion Legal Again” and a video promoting abortion rights to the tune of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/11/26/global-abortion-rights-movement-latvia-00069224

26.11.2022

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Rebecca Gomperts

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After Roe, abortion’s underground railroad gains steam

A network of activists is helping women terminate pregnancies in countries where the procedure is banned.

BY CARLO MARTUSCELLI, EMILY SCHULTHEIS, MANDOLINE RUTKOWSKI AND JAKUB KORUS
OCTOBER 29, 2022

RIGA — If you want to get an abortion in Poland, Kinga Jelinska is happy to help. Legally terminating your pregnancy is almost impossible in the Eastern European country. Abortion is only allowed in the case of rape or incest, or when it threatens the life of the woman.

That’s where Jelinska comes in. She’s the co-founder and executive director of Women Help Women, an Amsterdam-based nonprofit that helps provide women with the pills needed for an at-home medical abortion. The service Jelinska’s group provides falls into a legal grey zone; self-induced abortion is illegal in a number of countries, but in Poland, it’s not explicitly banned.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/roe-v-wade-europe-abortion-pill-illegal-underground-network/

Governments are blocking abortion info online. Here’s how we’re fighting back

How rights group Women On Web is resisting digital attacks on reproductive rights

Venny Ala-Siurua
14 October 2022

More and more people are looking on the internet for information about sexual and reproductive health and accessing these services online. For young people, the internet is an important, if not the only, resource for this information. This is why criminalising and restricting abortion is not the only way to attack abortion rights today. Limiting or banning information about abortion or putting out deliberately confusing material can have a devastating impact on abortion access.

Since 2005, Women on Web, where I am the executive director, has used the internet and digital technology to break down the barriers. We have provided more than 100,000 safe medical abortion services. Our website offers comprehensive and easy-to-read information about abortion in 27 languages and our multinational helpdesk team has responded to more than a million emails in 16 different languages in the past 17 years.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/abortion-information-website-women-on-web-womens-link-worldwide/

Spanish Supreme Court orders the unblocking of a website that provided information on sexual and reproductive rights

The website of the international organization Women on Web has been blocked in Spain since the beginning of 2020. Women's Link Worldwide, on behalf of Women on Web, filed a lawsuit to defend the right to information on the internet about sexual and reproductive rights, especially about safe abortion.

Spain, October 06, 2022

The Supreme Court of Spain has ordered the partial unblocking of the website of the international organization Women on Web, which offers information on sexual and reproductive rights and access to safe abortion via online services. The website was completely blocked in 2020 by order of the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), part of the Ministry of Health, without a prior court order authorizing it.

The decision comes in the framework of the legal proceedings initiated in 2021 by Women's Link Worldwide, on behalf of Women on Web, to defend the right to information on the internet about sexual and reproductive rights, especially about safe abortion. In the judgment, the Court recognizes that the complete blocking of the website without judicial authorization should not have happened and was a disproportionate measure.

Continued: https://www.womenonweb.org/en/page/21685/spanish-supreme-court-orders-the-unblocking-of-a-website-that

06.10.2022

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What U.S. women can learn from Poland’s recent abortion restrictions

"It may be difficult to get abortions in Poland, but we have our ways," Polish feminist Krystyna Kacpura says.

May 16, 2022
By Lauren Egan and Corky Siemaszko

WARSAW, Poland — Americans fearing the worst if the Supreme Court repeals Roe v. Wade could look to the Poles for tips about how to fight for abortion rights and find ways around harsh government-imposed restrictions.

Poland, along with Malta, has the strictest abortion restrictions in Europe. It is allowed only in cases of rape, which are difficult to document, or when the life of the woman is endangered. And anyone helping a woman get the procedure for any other reason, including by prescribing pregnancy-terminating medication, could be charged with a crime — similar to what’s already happening in Texas, said Venny Ala-Siurua of Women on Web, an international online abortion service that has been helping women around the world, including thousands in Poland.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-women-can-learn-polands-recent-abortion-restrictions-rcna28750

Women on Web starts providing abortion pills in advance

Women on Web, an international telemedicine abortion service, opens a new service that enables women to request abortion pills before an unwanted pregnancy

For immediate release, 17/02/2022

With the help of this new service, women can request abortion pills in advance and take them as soon as they discover they are pregnant. Women on Web's medical team will prescribe the abortion pills to people who are not yet pregnant but who anticipate that they may need them in the future.

“Abortion pills are an important family planning tool. Having a solution in your medicine cabinet before you are pregnant is a way to feel more protected and prepared. Advance access to abortion pills is especially important for anyone living in a country or community where access to abortion is restricted or limited, or for anyone who considers themselves at high risk of an unwanted pregnancy”, Venny Ala-Siurua, Executive Director, WoW

Continued: https://www.womenonweb.org/en/page/21297/women-on-web-starts-providing-abortion-pills-in-advance