Could free birth control be on the horizon in Ontario?

British Columbia will soon fully cover hormone-based contraception — and Ontario advocates are hoping this province will follow suit

Written by Diane Peters
Mar 15, 2023

Several times a month, a client at the SHORE Centre in Kitchener admits they can’t afford to pay for their birth control.

And SHORE’s executive director, TK Pritchard, suspects many more clients have a hard time paying for their birth control. “We know people who are choosing between buying food that week and getting their birth control,” Pritchard says. “Sometimes they tell us; sometimes they don’t.”

Continued: https://www.tvo.org/article/could-free-birth-control-be-on-the-horizon-in-ontario https://www.tvo.org/article/could-free-birth-control-be-on-the-horizon-in-ontario

Honduras lifts decade-long ban on ‘morning after pill’

March 8, 2023
Reuters

TEGUCIGALPA - Honduran President Xiomara Castro signed an executive order on Wednesday ending a ban of more than 10 years on the use and sale of the "morning after pill," fulfilling a campaign promise long-awaited by feminist groups.

Castro, the country's first female president, took office last year after running on the promise of rolling back the country's restrictive reproductive policies.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/honduras-lifts-decade-long-ban-morning-after-pill-2023-03-09/

08.03.2023

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clandestine abortions

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International Women's Day

B.C.’s free contraception plan renews push for Ottawa, other provinces to follow suit

by Camille Bains The Canadian Press
March 1, 2023

Proponents of British Columbia’s move to provide free prescription contraception say the policy could spur other provinces to follow suit but a national plan would best serve people’s reproductive needs and slash health-care costs overall.

Obstetricians and reproductive rights advocates say other countries, including the United Kingdom, already provide free contraception as part of their health-care plans.

Continued: https://globalnews.ca/news/9520731/free-contraception-birth-control-canada-bc/

Vietnam – Teenagers lack knowledge about reproductive health

SGGP
February 21, 2023

Some medical experts believed that minors lack basic knowledge and skills on protection and care for reproductive and sexual health, so they easily become victims of sexual abuse, leading to bad consequences. Lack of parents' and relatives’ care and schooling also worsened the problem.

According to the World Health Organization, children entering adolescence are going through many physical and psychological changes like exploring their own capabilities and expanding many new relationships. Teenagers having early sexual intercourse have a higher risk of sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy, and unsafe abortion.

Continued: https://www.sggpnews.org.vn/teenagers-lack-knowledge-about-reproductive-health-post100396.html

U.S. proposes new rule to strengthen birth control access through Obamacare

Rule could help expand coverage for 'tens of millions of women across the country'

Thomson Reuters
Jan 30, 2023

The U.S. government on Monday proposed a new rule allowing women enrolled in Obamacare plans to get access to birth control even if their employer, school or health plan objects on religious grounds.

The rule could help expand coverage for "tens of millions of women across the country" who have access to birth control coverage under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) said.

Continued: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/us-obamacare-birth-control-1.6730895

30.01.2023

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Affordable Care Act

Department of Health and Human Services

India – Minors not banned from buying contraceptives, clarifies dept

January 21, 2023
Rachana Ramesh

Bengaluru: The Drugs Control Department of Karnataka issued a diktat to all pharmacists banning them from selling condoms, oral contraceptives and antidepressants to minors, as was reported on Wednesday. The move came after condoms, contraceptives, cigarettes and whiteners were found in bags of Class 10 students during a search by the management of a school recently.

Following this development, the Drug Control Department received several petitions requesting it to take suitable action. However, on Thursday, the department denied having issued the circular and media reports claimed that the Drug Controller of the state said that "they were only trying to create awareness by telling pharmacists to counsel minors who want to purchase condoms and oral contraceptives.”

Continued: https://newstrailindia.com/inner.php?id=11114

21.01.2023

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Dr Sylvia Karpagam

Karnataka Registered Pharmacists Association

USA – Doctors say men are getting more vasectomies amid abortion restrictions nationwide

Jayla Whitfield-Anderson
Thu, January 12, 2023

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that protected abortion rights, medical professionals say they have seen a drastic increase in vasectomies.

Vasectomies offer a form of permanent birth control for men, and roughly 500,000 are performed every year in the United States.

“There was an increase of basically 100% in the number of vasectomies from the moment Roe v. Wade was overturned,” Dr. Esgar Guarin, the co-founder of SimpleVas Medical Clinic, told Yahoo News.

Continued: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/doctors-say-men-are-getting-more-vasectomies-amid-abortion-restrictions-nationwide-184026694.html

12.01.2023

SimpleVas Medical Clinic

France offers free condoms to young people and free emergency contraception to all women

Inke Kappeler and Joseph Ataman, CNN
Published Jan. 2, 2023

Free condoms are now available to young people under the age of 26 at French pharmacies as part of what French President Emmanuel Macron has called "a small revolution in preventative healthcare."

The new health strategy, which aims to curb the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among young people in France, came into place on New Year's Day and was announced by Macron in December. It was initially aimed at those aged 18-25, but was later extended to minors.

Continued: https://www.ctvnews.ca/lifestyle/france-offers-free-condoms-to-young-people-and-free-emergency-contraception-to-all-women-1.6214964

02.01.2023

This year was devastating for women’s rights. 2023 may not be better.

Now is not the time to take your eyes off the erosion of these fundamental rights.

Dec. 31, 2022
By Marisa Kabas, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

The year 2022 was, in a word, devastating for women. It was the year we lost fundamental rights; it was the year we lost bodily autonomy; it was the year we became inferior in the eyes of the government; it was the year we slid backwards.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn nearly 50 years of legal precedent and no longer consider abortion a constitutional right sent women’s rights into a tailspin. Suddenly it was up to individual states to decide on the legality of this safe medical procedure, and with that came the possibility for legislators and judges alike to look at all manor of reproductive health care in a new light. Now it seems nothing is off the table.

Continued: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/texas-abortion-rights-get-even-worse-2023-rcna63721

31.12.2022

Marjorie Dannenfelser

Matthew Kacsmaryk

Roe v. Wade

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America

Nigeria – Unintended Pregnancies: Boosting Access To Utilisation Of Family Planning

By Chioma Umeha
On Dec 23, 2022

Boosting access to the utilisation of family planning as a means of minimizing unintended pregnancies has been proven in studies to be helpful in lowering the problem in nations with high maternal mortality rates.

Sadly, many African nations, like Nigeria, still have low utilisation and availability of contraceptives. According to the 2018 Global Family Planning Report, Nigeria had nearly 1.3 million unintended pregnancies in 2018, yet only 13.8 percent of Nigerian women utilised contraception at the same time.

Continued: https://independent.ng/unintended-pregnancies-boosting-access-to-utilisation-of-family-planning/

23.12.2022