Rwanda’s Protestant Council Bans Abortions in its Clinics

Sughnen Yongo
March 1, 2023

Rwanda’s Protestant Council has instructed all healthcare facilities administered by members of its organization to stop performing abortions on patients who come into the facilities to get the procedure done. This latest development, which occurred earlier this month, has put a dent in the plans of women in the country who want to get access to the procedure for a variety of reasons.

Rwanda, which is a predominantly Christian society of around 13 million people, has consistently presented its conservative values in various parts of its government. In the 19th century, Christianity was introduced to Rwandan society after Catholic priests settled in the area at the height of colonialism. By the year 1920 the majority of the population was Christian. The most recent census indicated that 43.7% of Rwanda's population is Roman Catholic, 37.7% is Protestant, 11.8% is Seventh-day Adventist, 2.0% is Muslim, and 0.7% are Jehovah's Witnesses. Only 2.5% of Rwandans claim no religious affiliation.

Continued: https://www.okayafrica.com/abortion-rwanda/


Morocco – PJD Rebukes Justice Minister Over Decriminalization of Abortion, Sex Outside Marriage

The Islamist party argues that Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouhabi’s announcement of reform to Morocco’s Penal Code is an attack on Moroccan values.

Safaa Kasraoui
Feb. 21, 2023

Rabat - Morocco’s opposition Justice and Development Party (PJD) has accused Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi of trying to provoke sedition with his announcement that the country’s Penal Code is in need of reforms.

PJD issued its press release on Monday, saying that it strongly condemns Ouhabi’s attempts to “stir sedition” by adopting “trends” that are against “Islamic and national constants.”

Continued: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/02/354139/pjd-rebukes-justice-minister-over-decriminalization-of-abortion-sex-outside-marriage


USA – Meet the Religious Crusaders Fighting for Abortion Rights

Christian conservatives worked to topple Roe. Can members of different faiths save abortion access?

ABBY VESOULIS, Mother Jones
FEBRUARY 17, 2023

The Torah tells its followers to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,” so that’s what Lisa Sobel, a devout Jewish woman from Louisville, Kentucky, set out to do.

It wasn’t easy. First, she endured three years of infertility. Then, she and her husband embarked on a $50,000 in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey, during which they had to discard four embryos before implantation because of genetic abnormalities. Finally, in April 2019, Sobel delivered a healthy baby girl. Immediately after, she began hemorrhaging and almost died.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/02/religious-clergy-fighting-for-abortion-rights/


Muslim-American opinions on abortion are complex. What does Islam actually say?

February 1, 2023
LINAH MOHAMMAD

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision that ended the constitutional right to abortion, Zahra Ayubi started to notice a theme among some critics of the historic shift.

"They'll draw analogies between abortion bans in the United States and Muslim conservatism," Ayubi, a professor of Islamic Ethics at Dartmouth College, said of some of the commentary she saw on TV and on social media. Critiques ranged from attempts at humor to outright Islamophobia.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/1152071397/muslim-abortion-islam-religion-united-states


Undercover in US-Backed Anti-Abortion Clinics in Uganda

VICE News
Jan 25, 2023
17:06 minute video

VICE News goes undercover in Uganda to investigate misinformation and coercion inside the American-backed centers that are convincing teenagers to keep their pregnancies.

Continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCzqEXa2SrI


U.S. Anti-Abortion Activists Are Spreading Clinic Protests Around the World

The Texas-based group 40 Days for Life has brought its aggressive tactics to more than 1,000 cities in 65 countries.

Jessica Bateman
January 9, 2023

There were four or five protesters outside Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, the first time Dr. Greg Irwin saw them. He was driving to his job as a consultant radiologist when he noticed the group hoisting placards opposite the parking lot, close to the maternity unit. BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU, one sign read, alongside a Bible reference. “Oh, my God,” Irwin thought. “It’s one of those American protests.”

After he parked in his usual spot, an older woman holding rosary beads smiled as he approached. “We’re holding a prayer vigil,” she explained, adding that they were offering “support and advice” to women. Irwin noticed their placards were branded with the logo of 40 Days for Life. When he googled the name later that night, he expected to find a local church organization. Instead, he discovered the shiny, high-budget website of a Texas-based group, emblazoned with pictures of men in sharp suits with dazzling white teeth. A counter in the corner ticked down the numbers of babies “saved” worldwide. Scrolling, he saw a map festooned with red pins, marking group locations all over the world. Irwin stared at his screen, bewildered. How could there be a connection between a group in Texas and the woman outside his hospital in Scotland?

Continued: https://newrepublic.com/article/169587/us-anti-abortion-activists-spreading-clinic-protests-around-world


State lawsuits defend abortion access with religious freedom

Critics of religious freedom laws often argue they are used to discriminate against LGBTQ people and only protect a conservative Christian worldview

By ARLEIGH RODGERS Associated Press/Report for America
December 27, 2022

INDIANAPOLIS -- Cara Berg Raunick watched with bafflement as Indiana's Republican legislators took less than two weeks to debate and pass an abortion ban that the governor signed quickly into law.

The women’s health nurse practitioner from Indianapolis was struck by just how frequently faith was cited in the arguments as reason to ban the medical practice. But Berg Raunick, who is Jewish, said those views go against her beliefs.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/state-lawsuits-defend-abortion-access-religious-freedom-95854873


USA – Anti-abortion priest Pavone defrocked for blasphemous posts

By: Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press
Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has defrocked an anti-abortion U.S. priest, Frank Pavone, for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “persistent disobedience” of his bishop who repeatedly told him to stop his partisan activism for Donald Trump.

A letter to U.S. bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the U.S., Archbishop Christophe Pierre, obtained Sunday, said that the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, had been taken Nov. 9, and that there was no chance for an appeal.

Continued: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/faith/2022/12/18/anti-abortion-priest-pavone-defrocked-for-blasphemous-posts


Protests in Malta as parliament debates abortion amendment

Reuters
Dec 4, 2022

VALLETTA - A large picture of an unborn baby was placed outside the office of Malta's prime minister on Sunday as demonstrators called on the government to halt plans to amend the country's strict anti-abortion laws.

The protest, the biggest in years, attracted several thousand people including Malta's top Catholic bishop and the leader of the conservative opposition, but was led by a former centre-left president, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/large-demos-malta-parliament-debates-abortion-law-2022-12-04/


Bishops in Malta warn politicians not to ease Europe’s strictest abortion laws

By Euronews, Reuters 
Dec 2, 2022

On Friday, Malta's bishops warned parliamentarians not to back a bill aimed at easing the country's abortion laws, the strictest in the European Union.

In an open letter, Archbishop Charles Scicluna and bishops Joseph Galea Curmi and Anton Teuma wrote that the bill removing the risk of criminal action against doctors who perform an abortion to save a patient's life would allow people to terminate their pregnancies not only when their life is in danger, but also for any health issue.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/2022/12/02/bishops-in-malta-warn-politicians-not-to-ease-europes-strictest-abortion-laws