Nigeria – Economic hardship plunges married women into unsafe abortion, ignoring life-threatening risks

Low uptake of family planning services, aided by economic hardship, is taking its toll on some married couples who, burdened by unplanned pregnancies, now resort to unsafe abortions despite the associated risks.

30th June 2024
By Angela Onwuzoo

Mrs Bisi Lateef (not her real name) borrowed the sum of N15,000 from a friend to procure an abortion in February, and it took her one month to finally pay it back.

The woman, now in her early 40s, recalled what she experienced while ending her fifth pregnancy. According to her, she would have loved to keep it, but the resources to care for another baby were not available.

Continued: https://punchng.com/economic-hardship-plunges-married-women-into-unsafe-abortion-ignoring-life-threatening-risks/

3 reasons abortion access is crucial for mothers

Ipas
May 10, 2024

Research from around the world shows that the ability to decide when and whether to have another child helps mothers take better care of themselves and the children they already have.

Unsurprisingly, many women who get abortions are moms. For example, 61% of women in the United States who have abortions are already mothers, and more than half of them have two or more children.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/3-reasons-abortion-access-is-crucial-for-mothers/

11.05.2024

Commentary

Ipas

Laura Joaquim Amandio

Marcia Soumokil

motherhood and abortion

women's abortion stories

Global

Health

Human Rights

“My abortion story went viral – because even though I wanted it, the process was still painful”

Choosing to end my pregnancy was an easy decision, says influencer Nelly London, but the emotions around it weren’t as clear-cut

Nelly London, as told to Jennifer Savin
07 MAY 2024

For years, I’ve taken regular pregnancy tests – just for peace of mind – and never once have I seen a positive result. Until two months ago.

…My work is a little unusual in the sense that I’m an influencer who speaks openly about body image, taboos and sex, so I actually filmed myself looking at the pregnancy test and captured the exact moment I found out. In the back of my mind, I thought I might one day make a video about celebrating negative pregnancy tests – not about abortion – just something along the lines of ‘I'm 30 and every month, I'm thrilled to get a negative test and if you're childfree by choice, maybe you feel similarly’. Then one day it was positive.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a44255432/nelly-london-abortion-video/

07.05.2024

Opinion

abortion story

Nelly London

women's abortion stories

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I’m a Registered Nurse, a Wife and a Mother. This Story Is Personal and Painful.’

Feb 13, 2024
by AMY ROGERS

My name is Amy Rogers; I’m a registered nurse, a wife and a mother. I am writing this in support of House Bill 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act. This story is personal and painful. I am sharing this for myself, my daughters, and the 25 million women of childbearing age living in states with abortion bans or restrictions.

In 2011, my husband and I were newlyweds. We had primary custody of his 8-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter. I had just turned 43 and was shocked and delighted to discover that I was pregnant. Due to my age, I assumed my chances of conceiving without fertility treatments were slim to none.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2024/02/13/dobbs-abortion-story-healthcare-genetic-testing-abnormality-womens-health-protection-act/

Stories of safe abortion care in Mozambique

29 JAN 2024
Médecins Sans Frontières

In every country, women from all walks of life may seek out an abortion at some time of their lives due to many reasons. Where safe abortion care is too difficult to access, people with an unwanted pregnancy often have no choice but to resort to unsafe abortion, one of the leading causes of maternal mortality globally.

To reduce the high number of women dying from unsafe abortion, Mozambique in 2014 legalised abortion up to 12 weeks and beyond in cases of rape, incest, and severe foetal anomalies such as heart defects. This essential care is provided free of charge. But even though abortion is free and legal, other barriers including stigma and misinformation can still make it difficult to access safe care.

Continued: https://msf.org.au/article/stories-patients-staff/stories-safe-abortion-care-mozambique

What It’s Like to Be Denied an Abortion in Your State

By Nancy Davis
1/18/2024

When Nancy Davis was denied an abortion for a nonviable fetus in her home state of Louisiana in 2022, she took her story to media outlets in an attempt to draw attention to what she sees as a fundamental injustice that disproportionately affects Black women like her. Davis, the mother of an 18-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 2-year-old, is now an outspoken advocate for reproductive justice. She formed the Nancy Davis Foundation to help other women in similar situations. As part of that work, she has organized the upcoming Voices For Change March on Baton Rouge, which falls on Jan. 21, a day before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Davis told us about the trauma of being denied critical healthcare, what it was like to travel out of state to obtain her abortion, and why she continues to use her voice for others. Read it all, in her own words, below.

Continued: https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/travel-for-abortion-nancy-davis-49330698

18.01.2024

Commentary

abortion story

Nancy Davis

Nancy Davis Foundation

Planned Parenthood of Greater New York

The Brigid Alliance

Voices for Change March

women's abortion stories

These Are The Abortion Stories You Don’t Hear After Roe v. Wade

Why telling all kinds of abortion stories — particularly the mundane — is important in helping achieve reproductive justice.

BY DANIELLE CAMPOAMOR
DECEMBER 28, 2023

In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, countless stories of people being denied access to abortion care emerged, the majority focusing on instances of fatal fetal abnormality, rape, incest or catastrophic pregnancy complications.

From a woman in Texas being admitted to the ICU and nearly dying, to a 10-year-old girl in Ohio forced to cross state lines to access care after she was raped, to a mother who says she was told to wait in a hospital parking lot until she was closer to death before doctors would treat her, these stories saturated headlines across the country, and for good reason — people with the capacity to get pregnant losing the Constitutional right to bodily autonomy is, it turns out, deadly.

Continued: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/these-are-the-abortion-stories-you-dont-hear-after-roe-v-wade

USA – Our Abortion Stories: ‘There Were No Resources Available to Make Choosing to Be a Single Mom a Sane Choice’

“Your abortion is not a taboo or a deep, dark secret; abortion is healthcare.”

11/21/2023
by VAL DIEZ CANSECO

Last summer, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding precedents of Roe v. Wade, representing the largest blow to women’s constitutional rights in history. A series from Ms., Our Abortion Stories chronicles readers’ experiences of abortion pre- and post-Roe. Abortions are sought by a wide range of people for many different reasons. There is no single story. Telling stories of then and now shows how critical abortion has been and continues to be for women and girls.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/11/21/our-abortion-stories-roe-v-wade-women-health-rape/

21.11.2023

women's abortion stories

In the three years since Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling, Abortion Without Borders has helped more than 125,000 people in Poland to access safe abortion

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

In the three years since Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruling, Abortion Without Borders has helped more than 125,000 people in Poland to access safe abortion with more than PLN 3,675,000 (€823,290) in funding.

During the last year (from 22.10.2022 to 22.10.2023), Abortion Without Borders groups helped 46,773 thousand people from Poland to access abortion with more than PLN 1,675,031 (€375,250). More than 1,235 of these people traveled abroad to access a second or third trimester abortion.

Continued: https://womenhelp.org/en/page/1577/new-data-from-abortion-without-borders-in-the-three-years-since

Ohio’s Issue 1: Three women share their pre-Roe abortion experiences

October 24, 2023
BY GINNY RICHARDSON

On Nov. 7, Ohioans will vote on Issue 1, which would establish a state constitutional right to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions,” including decisions about abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care, and continuing pregnancy. Free access to birth control, including abortion when necessary, is a fundamental prerequisite to the emancipation of women and, therefore, all working people.

To contextualize this vote within the history of the struggle for reproductive rights, People’s World has collected three previously unpublished personal stories. Each one addresses an individual woman and her experience in obtaining reproductive care, as well as the impact of the prevailing laws at the time on her decisions and treatment.

Continued: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ohios-issue-1-three-women-share-their-pre-roe-abortion-experiences/