Abortion-rights groups denounce censorship on Meta-owned apps in Latin America and beyond

All of a sudden, women contacting one of the biggest sources of information about abortion in Mexico through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp were met with silence

By MARÍA VERZA, Associated Press
May 15, 2025

MEXICO CITY -- All of a sudden, women contacting one of the biggest sources of information about abortion in Mexico through the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp were met with silence.

The nongovernmental organization’s business account had been blocked. Weeks later, a similar digital blackout struck a collective in Colombia.

Across the Americas, organizations that guide women seeking abortions in various countries are raising alarm, decrying what they see as a new wave of censorship on platforms owned by tech giant Meta — even in countries where abortion is decriminalized. The organizations believe this is due to a combination of changes to Meta policies and attacks by anti-abortion groups that denounce their content.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/abortion-rights-groups-denounce-censorship-meta-owned-apps-121843396

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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Research

abortion pill

Canadian Medical Association

Southeast Asia – On abortion rights, internet freedom

March 10, 2025
By Esther Kim

TAIPEI — Ghost Island Media, a Taiwan podcast network, co-organized an event with ReproUncensored about abortion access and internet freedom, coinciding with RightsCon, a major four-day summit on human rights.

...The evening's topic, “Abortion Access and Internet Freedom,” sounds as odd a mix as peanut butter and apples. Yet, as the evening went on, it became clear that this was a pressing issue.

Continued: https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2025/03/137_393813.html

Jordan’s Abortion Conundrum

The country’s strict laws leave women with impossible choices and facing financial struggles, stigma and dangerous procedures

Meghan Davidson Ladly
November 29, 2024

Amal watches her children play on the living room floor of her house on a quiet street in a suburb of Jordan’s capital. As dusk settles over the sloping hills of Amman, she sinks into a sofa and lights a cigarette, adjusting her hijab.

“It is illegal, but you can’t know how I feel,” she says. “I couldn’t think of anything except getting rid of this pregnancy. Even my kids — I couldn’t think of them. And I knew I had to make a decision.”

Continued: https://newlinesmag.com/spotlight/jordan-abortion-conundrum/

Canadian non-profit that facilitates abortion pill access sees surge in U.S. requests

By Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press
November 27, 2024

A Canadian non-profit that helps women obtain the abortion pill in countries with restrictions says it saw a fourfold increase in U.S. requests after the presidential election.

The majority of inquiries came from women who were not pregnant, suggesting many want the drug on hand in case they need it, says Venny Ala-Siurua, executive director of Women on Web.

Ala-Siurua, based in Montreal, says some women fear abortions could become illegal or harder to access in the U.S. after Donald Trump takes office.

Continued: https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/11/27/canadian-non-profit-that-facilitates-abortion-pill-access-sees-surge-in-u-s-requests/

South Korea – She claimed she aborted her baby at nine months. In this country, there’s no law against that

By Lex Harvey and Gawon Bae, CNN
Fri September 20, 2024

A South Korean vlogger who claimed to have terminated her pregnancy at 36 weeks is being investigated for murder in a case that’s prompted horror in South Korea and raised urgent questions about why the country has no abortion laws.

Seoul National Police began investigating the woman in July at the request of the South Korean government, after she posted a video to YouTube purportedly documenting her experience of getting an abortion, police told CNN.

Continued: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/20/asia/south-korea-abortion-youtube-video-intl-hnk/index.html

20.09.2024

South Korea Constitutional Court

Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten

‘No update since 2019’: Korea’s inaction on abortion issue leaves women in limbo

July 7, 2024

It was November 2021 when Kim, a woman in her 30s living in one of the seven largest cities in Korea, terminated her pregnancy at four weeks. She first took pills that she does not remember the name of after being prescribed them at a nearby hospital, but she ended up revisiting a gynecology doctor she had been seeing for a long time after the pills didn’t work.

“I asked for an operation and the doctor suddenly turned cold, so I had to look for another hospital,” she said. “She only told me to come back with ‘a guardian,’ and I didn’t get the information that I needed about the operation. I regretted having gone to such a doctor for so long.”

Continued: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-07-07/culture/features/No-update-since-2019-Koreas-inaction-on-abortion-issue-leaves-women-in-limbo-/2084041

How do we free abortion?

Bethany Rielly learns how feminist movements are organizing to put abortion back in the hands of the people – and keep it there.

17 June 2024
Bethany Rielly

In a narrow street deep in Barcelona’s Raval district is a building with an inconspicuous oval hole in its facade. Above the wooden door is the faint lettering ‘Casa d’Infants Orfes’ (House of Orphaned Infants). From the Middle Ages up to the 19th century, women would place their newborn babies in the wooden hatch and rotate it, allowing the anonymous and safe delivery of the child to the orphanage. This small window into the past is emblematic of a time when the social stigma of having an illegitimate child and extreme poverty forced many women to abandon their child in the dead of night. Today in the US, conservatives are promoting a modern-day equivalent: the ‘baby box’.

An insulated pull-out drawer installed at police and fire stations, these boxes allow desperate women to give up their babies anonymously without fear of prosecution. Introduced in the 1990s to prevent the most extreme cases of child abandonment, the religious Right are now pushing to expand these ‘safe haven’ laws as an alternative to abortion.

Continued: https://newint.org/health/2024/how-do-we-free-abortion

South Korea Still Blocking Abortion

Government’s Refusal to Update Laws Part of Wider Gender Discrimination

Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten, Officer, Women's Rights Division
June 11, 2024

Years after a South Korean court ordered the government to respect the right to access abortion care, South Korean women and girls are still unable to get this necessary sexual and reproductive service.

On May 17, a South Korean court rejected an appeal by Women on Web (WoW), a nongovernmental organization that provides information on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and Open Net Korea, a digital rights civil society organization, to unblock the WoW website. The Korea Communications Standards Commission blocked the website in 2019, claiming it violated the country’s Pharmaceutical Affairs Act by connecting women in need of abortion pills, which have not been legalized in the country, to overseas pharmacists.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/06/11/south-korea-still-blocking-abortion

11.06.2024

Commentary

Korea Communications Standards Commission

Open Net Korea

Pharmaceutical Affairs Act

Susanné Seong-eun Bergsten

South Korea’s Abortion Dilemma: Legal Ambiguity Leaves Women in Limbo

By Md. Imran Wahab
March 10, 2024

The intricate predicament surrounding abortion in South Korea results from a multitude of factors involving law, politics, society, and ethics. While the Constitutional Court's decision in 2019 to declare the criminalization of abortion as unconstitutional was a noteworthy advancement for women's reproductive rights, it also recognized the importance of decriminalizing abortion and upholding women's control over their bodies. Nonetheless, the absence of concrete legislative changes following this ruling has left the legality of abortion in a state of ambiguity, causing confusion and moral quandaries for women seeking abortion procedures.

In South Korea, the issue of abortion is a complex and uncertain one, causing difficulties for women like 33-year-old Kim. Despite not wanting to get married or become a mother, Kim found herself unexpectedly pregnant and turned to the internet for information on abortion. However, the advertisements she found varied in price and she was unsure of the legal status of the procedure.

Continued: https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-15359-south-korea-s-abortion-dilemma-legal-ambiguity-leaves-women-in-limbo.html

10.03.2024