Usa: vandalizzata clinica del Dottor George Tiller

http://www.womenonwaves.org/article-1945-en.html

Cile: aperto telefono amico in sostegno all'aborto legale

Today, Red Mujeres Chile launched the hotline "Aborto: Información Segura", marking the International Day of Action for Women's Health. The lauch took place in the Plaza Constitución, in the center of Santiago, Chile. The hotline will give information about the safe and effective use of Misoprostol to provoke an abortion. In the past weeks, members of the network have been trained in-depth about the use of Misoprostol, and have been working out legal strategies and expanding their support-network to make the hotline as effective as possible.

Now all women living in Chile will know there is a way for a woman do a safe abortion by herself with pills!!.

Chilean feminist organizations have come together to lauch a hotline giving information on how to have a safe abortion using Misoprostol.

Reproductive rights South America Womens Health

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,523581,00.html

Usa: ucciso il Dottor George Tiller

As one of the few doctors in the nation to perform late-term abortions, Tiller had been a high-profile target of abortion opponents for decades. His clinic, Women's Health Care Services, was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms in 1993 by abortion protester Rachelle "Shelley" Shannon of Grants Pass, Ore.

In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.

Late-term abortion doctor George Tiller, a prominent advocate for abortion rights wounded by a protester more than a decade ago, was shot and killed Sunday at his church in Wichita, his attorney said.

George Tiller, who had been picketed, bombed and shot in the arms in previous incidents, was killed outside the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas.

Mr Tiller, 67, one of the few doctors who still performed late-term abortions in the United States, was demonised by abortion opponents who regularly protested outside his clinic, located just off a busy road that runs through Wichita.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Abortion-Doctor-George-Tiller-Is-Shot-Dead-Outside-His-Church-In-Wichita-Kansas/Article/200905415292298?lpos=World_News_Top_Stories_Header_2&lid=ARTICLE_15292298_Abortion_Doctor_George_Tiller_Is_Shot_Dead_Outside_His_Church_In_Wichita%2C_Kansas

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/abortion-doctor-tiller-killed-at-church-1693812.html

http://www.now.org/press/06-09/06-01.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/us/01tiller.html?_r=1&hp

http://domino.ips.org/ips%5Ceng.nsf/vwWebMainView/68E2C9BA2E3A1B65C12575BE0063CF9D/?OpenDocument

Messico: ondata di leggi antiabortiste

in the last 13 months, 12 of Mexico's 32 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions defining a fertilised human egg as a person with a right to legal protection, and seven other state parliaments are taking steps in the same direction.

Behind the wave of reforms of state constitutions, according to critics, is a pact between the hierarchy of the Mexican Catholic Church and the leadership of the most traditional political parties to curb social movements advocating the legalisation of abortion.

"I have no direct evidence, but we have repeatedly heard allegations" that such a pact exists, María Mejía, head of Catholics for the Right to Decide (CDD), told IPS.

According to María Luisa Sánchez, director of the Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE), what is happening is a kind of "revenge" on the part of conservative groups. "These reforms are absurd and put women at risk," she told IPS.

No woman is happy to make the decision to have an abortion and no woman seeks an abortion for pleasure, which is "something conservatives just don't understand," and that is why they close the doors to women and their rights, and even worse, threaten them with imprisonment, Mejía said.

The state criminal codes lay down different penalties for women who have abortions, except for victims of rape or when the mother's life is endangered. In some cases, foetal malformation is also accepted as a legal reason for abortion.

In the state of Veracruz, for example, abortion carries a prison sentence of six months to four years; in Jalisco it is four months to one year, in Guanajuato from six months to three years, and in Baja California Sur from two months to two years.

Studies indicate that clandestine abortions are the fourth or fifth cause of death among Mexican women, and that obtaining permission for an abortion is complicated and, in many cases, impossible.

After the August 2008 Supreme Court resolution, GIRE legal adviser Pedro Morales called on state legislators to move from "prohibitive and punitive regimes on abortion to permissive laws compatible with the fundamental rights of women."

Central america Reproductive rights Womens Health

Reproductive rights Usa Womens Freedom

Usa: successo del George Tiller Abortion Fund

In response to requests from Dr. Tiller's clinic staff, emails and phone calls we received from Dr. Tiller's friends and former patients, and a groundswell of support online, the National Network of Abortion Funds created the George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund late in the evening of Sunday, May 31, 2009.

Within the first 24 hours of the Fund's existence, we received more than $15,000 in donations.

The George Tiller Memorial Abortion Fund will provide assistance to the same women Dr. Tiller served: women seeking abortions in their second-trimesters, women facing extreme obstacles to abortion, and women who often must travel from their homes to obtain the abortion care they need. The Fund will assist with the cost of the procedures as well as the costs of travel and lodging. Notably, this Fund will be available to patients of the late Dr. Tiller's clinic, Women's Health Care Services in Wichita, at such time when the clinic is able to regroup and reopen.

http://www.nnaf.org/documents/GeorgeTillerMemorialAbortionFund6.2.09.pdf

http://www.nnaf.org/tiller.html

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906100035.html

Nigeria: respitnta legge favorevole a parziale depenalizzazione dell'aborto

With 13 against 1, the Imo State abortion bill euphemistically and craftily couched as women's reproductive right suffered a stunning defeat on the floor of the moderately-furnished Room 201 of the Imo State House of Assembly last Monday. It was a day every Imo citizen will live to remember.

The only support which the Imo abortion Bill received last Monday came from National Council of Women Societies (NCWS). Led by their local President, the NCWS contended that the Bill if passed into law will liberate women from dissemination and oppression.

Africa religious extremism Reproductive rights

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tiller10-2009jun10,0,6032915.story

Usa: chiusa la clinica del Dottor George Tiller

"I am currently exploring every option to be able to continue to make second- and early, medically indicated third-term abortions available," said Tiller associate LeRoy Carhart in a statement. Carhart, a Nebraska physician, performed abortions at Tiller's clinic on a rotating basis with two California doctors.

Warren Hern, one of the few remaining doctors in the U.S. who perform late-term abortions, said that the closing was understandable and was "the hideous consequence of 30 years of harassment." This week, he said, he has begun to see some of Tiller's patients at his clinic in Boulder, Colo.

Among the many things that may come out of the tragedy is "the recognition that more physicians need to step up and provide abortion care," said Peter Brownlie, president of Planned Parenthood of Kansas & Mid-Missouri.

Brownlie said that with the closure of Tiller's clinic, Wichita joins the ranks of cities that have no abortion providers at all.

"Part of what is a tragedy about this is that violence has achieved its objective," said Nancy Northup, president of Center for Reproductive Rights. "There is a concerted, ongoing effort at harassment and restriction with an aim to make doctors leave the field."

Operations at Women's Health Care Services Inc. were suspended following Tiller's death last month. In a statement released by his attorneys, Tiller's family said relatives had chosen to honor him with charitable activities instead of reopening the clinic.

"We are proud of the service and courage shown by our husband and father and know that women's health care needs have been met because of his dedication and service," the family said in the statement. They did not elaborate on their reasoning to close.

At least one doctor, LeRoy Carhart, had expressed an interest in reopening Tiller's clinic. Following the family's decision to shut it down, the Nebraska doctor said he wouldn't abandon his effort to make sure third-term abortions are available but did not elaborate on his plans.

"I completely understand and sympathize with this decision," he said in a statement. "I am currently exploring every option to be able to continue to make second and early medically indicated third trimester abortions available."

Reaction to the clinic's closing ranged from sympathy from abortion rights supporters to relief from some anti-abortion groups. Planned Parenthood Federation of America saod the decision to close was difficult for the Tiller family, while Randall Terry, who founded Operation Rescue before a falling-out with the organization, said "good riddance" when he heard about the closing.

"If his replacement was going to continue to kill late-term children, the protests would continue, the investigations would continue, the indictments would continue," said Terry, who stopped using the Operation Rescue name following numerous lawsuits in 1990. He said history would remember Tiller's clinic as it remembers Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/09/george-tillers-clinic-clo_n_213184.html

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Womens Health

http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=7&id=1245305417

Zambia: progetti per espamdere l'accesso alla contraccezzione

EARLY in the last century, a Scottish family planning pioneer and women’s rights campaigner, Marie Stopes, started a modest family planning clinic in England.

This humble initiative has today grown such a global reputation that it is undoubtedly one of the most widespread and growing family planning and reproductive health service providers in the world.

The entry of MSI into Zambia is a response to a felt need, because the concerns that MSI addresses are commonplace in the country.

For instance, there is lack of universal access to contraception while contraceptive uptake is low when one compares with the ever growing practices of unsafe abortions, spread of infamous sexually transmitted infections, on the one hand, and the recorded great deal of efforts that have been undertaken in the past to promote contraception and family planning services, on the other hand.

We are cognisant that all our development goals to be met, whether health ones or otherwise, a well-guided and vibrant private sector is fixture that we must create, nurture and sustain,” she said in a speech read for her by Ministry of Health spokesperson Reuben Mbewe.

Though the use of contraceptives in Zambia has been increasing significantly and contraceptive update is also on the rise, there was still need to ensure that the country achieved universal access of contraceptives, because the current levels as very low.

The situation, where of all the women that die from pregnancy related conditions, about 30 per cent of them are because of unsafe abortions, is gravely worrying.

This state of affairs, therefore, requires a proactive response to the challenges posed, and in that regard, investments should be targeted at improving access to family planning services. This is what has been shown by MSI.

All said and written, MSI is more than welcome to provide a difference in Zambia.

Africa Reproductive rights Womens Health

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0421/1224245071362.html

Irlanda: parte causa legale contro la legge antiabortista

THE GOVERNMENT is to launch a robust defence of the State’s ban on abortion before the European Court of Human Rights in the face of a legal challenge by three women who claim the restrictions violate their human rights.

The Strasbourg-based court is considering the admissibility of a legal challenge by the women, who claim their rights were denied by being forced to terminate their pregnancies outside the State.

The women say the restrictive nature of Irish law on abortion jeopardised their health and wellbeing.

The identities of the three – known as A, B and C – will remain confidential as the case proceeds through the court.

The women’s complaints centre on four alleged violations of articles in the European Convention on Human Rights, including protection from “inhuman or degrading treatment” and freedom from discrimination.

The women at the centre of the case – who are represented by the Irish Family Planning Association – say the lack of any effective remedy at home means they have satisfied the requirement to exhaust domestic legal remedies.

In addition, they say that taking a case would have been costly, futile and could have forced them to relinquish their anonymity.

The women claim the restrictive nature of Irish law on abortion jeopardized their health and wellbeing. Travelling abroad placed "enormous physical, emotional and financial burdens" upon them. The law created delays and hardships for each woman, resulting in each of them having a later abortion, creating greater risk to their health.

Abortion restrictions interfered with the most intimate aspects of their private and family lives without adequate justification, they say. This, they submit, is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides a right to respect for one's "private and family life." In addition, they also claim the abortion laws impeded the ability of some of them to obtain necessary follow-up medical care upon their return to Ireland.

The women, who are represented by the Irish Family Planning Association, say there is a lack of any effective remedy at home and Irish law is in inadequate.

The impossibility for these women to have an abortion in Ireland made the procedure unnecessarily expensive, traumatic and complicated.

The decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the case is expected shortly. It shall be binding on Ireland and must be complied with by the Irish authorities.

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2009/06/30/irish-women-challenge-abortion-ban-european-court-strasbourg

Ireland Reproductive rights

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pill-ruling9-2009jul09,0,6469894.story

Usa: i farmacisti non possono rifiutare di prescrivere la pillola del giorno dopo

Una buona notizia. Ci mancherebbe solo che un farmacista si permettese di interferire sulla base delle sue convinzioni morali sulle scelte fatte da altri.

Pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the "morning after" contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The plaintiffs asserted that their Christian beliefs prevented them from dispensing the pills, which can prevent implantation of a recently fertilized egg. They said that the new regulations would force them to choose between keeping their jobs and heeding their religious objections to a medication they regard as a form of abortion.

Although the courts have yet to pronounce judgment on other aspects of the lawsuit, the unanimous ruling on the free-exercise clause could portend further judgments, as the case moves forward, that a patient's right to timely medication supersedes a pharmacist's personal convictions.

The three 9th Circuit judges found common ground despite differing outlooks: Two conservatives named to the court by President George W. Bush and a liberal named by President Clinton made up the panel.

The right to freely exercise one's religion "does not relieve an individual of the obligation to comply with a valid and neutral law of general applicability," the 9th Circuit panel wrote.

"Any refusal to dispense -- regardless of whether it is motivated by religion, morals, conscience, ethics, discriminatory prejudices, or personal distaste for a patient -- violates the rules," the panel said.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton blocked the rules statewide four months later in a suit by a family-owned pharmacy in Olympia, which was under state investigation for refusing to stock Plan B, and by two pharmacists who said they feared losing their jobs because of their objections.

Leighton also failed to consider the effect of his order on "sexually active women of childbearing age (who) will be denied reasonable access to Plan B," said Judge Kim Wardlaw in the 3-0 ruling.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/09/BA2G18L49P.DTL&type=health

http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/07/09/Court_Allows_Wash_to_Enforce_Pharmacy_Rules.htm

Reproductive rights Usa Womens Health

http://www.womenonwaves.org/set-2023-en.html

Argentina: lanciata linea telefonica amica per l'aborto legale e sicuro

In Argentina abortion is illegal in most cases. There are about 500,000 abortions per year, most of them clandestine. About 68,000 women enter the public hospitals each year with post-abortion complications, and annually around 100 of these women die.
The goal of the hotline, “Abortion: more information, less risks” is to democratize access to information on the correct way to have a safe abortion using misoprostol.

Reproductive rights South America Women Health

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/28/nicaragua.abortion.ban/

Nicaragua: critiche alla legge antiabortista

Amnesty International describes the total ban on therapeutic abortion -- carried out to protect the health of the mother -- as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."

"Nicaragua's ban on therapeutic abortion is a disgrace," Amnesty International's Executive Deputy Secretary General Kate Gilmore said at a media briefing in Mexico City to launch the report.

"It is a human rights scandal that ridicules medical science and distorts the law into a weapon against the provision of essential medical care to pregnant girls and women," she added.

According to official figures cited in the Amnesty report, in the first five months of 2009, 33 girls and women died from pregnancy and birth-related complications, compared to 20 in the same period last year.

Before the law was changed therapeutic abortion had been recognized as a necessary procedure in Nicaragua for more than 100 years, Amnesty said.

However, President Daniel Ortega of the left-wing Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) backed the law banning abortion to win crucial conservative Roman Catholic support in the January 2007 elections, Amnesty said.

No one from the country's health ministry was available for comment.

For some Nicaraguans, the issue is a touchstone of the legacy of the Sandinista revolution, which has just marked its 30th anniversary.

Ahead of the 2006 elections that brought the Sandinistas back to power after a lengthy spell in opposition, they backed calls from the Roman Catholic church for the end to therapeutic abortions.

This was "playing politics with the lives of women and girls", says Patricia Orozco. She fought on the side of the Sandinistas and is today a radio journalist and activist.

I asked her whether she felt there had been a betrayal of the revolution she took part in.

"We see our comrades in the revolution all changed, many of the women in particular."

At the University of Leon, Dr Herrera said that 30 years ago when the revolution took place he dreamed that there would be freedom for women.

"I have been working with women for many years. It has been very hard for women - especially now."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8171047.stm

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nicaragua-abortion28-2009jul28,0,946345.story

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/27/nicaragua-blanket-ban-abortions-rape

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/shocking-abortion-ban-denies-life-saving-treatment-girls-women-nicaragua-20090727

Central america religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://reproductiverights.org/en/defending-human-rights

USA: Abortion Providers Facing Threats, Restrictions, and Harassment

Abortion providers in the U.S. are human rights defenders. They work, often against great odds, to help women realize their reproductive rights. They ensure that all women have access to accurate medical information, a secure place to make private decisions, and, most importantly, access to safe medical procedures.

These courageous and tenacious professionals are frequently denied governmental and social support for their vital work. The much-publicized murders of abortion providers are exclamation points in what is often a culture of daily harassment and intimidation. Discriminatory legal restrictions and pervasive abortion-related stigma present additional obstacles to their efforts to defend women’s fundamental rights.

This constant assault doesn’t just endanger and marginalize abortion providers; it denies the rights of the one in three American women who will seek an abortion in their lifetimes.

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5971/t/6770/signUp.jsp?key=1103

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13208758

Usa: minacciata la famiglia del Dottor Hern da un estremista antiabortista

A man who allegedly threatened to kill the family of Boulder abortion provider Dr. Warren Hern has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver.

Donald Hertz, 70, of Spokane, Wash., was indicted on charges of making telephone threats to Hern's office and violations of the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).

"We received an anonymous call saying there were two Vietnam veterans coming from Spanish Fork, Utah, to Boulder to hurt my family," Hern said.

"Why is it necessary for a doctor who is helping women to be protected from the anti-abortion movement?" Hern said. "We live in fear of these people."

http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13848%3Aindonesia-safe-abortion-could-put-a-brake-on-womens-mortality-rates&Itemid=202

Indonesia: leader religiosi contro il cambiamento della legge antiabortista.

Women's rights groups who are campaigning for widening the scope of abortion in Indonesia are calling for an amendment to a colonial era law that puts poor women at risk.

Tini Hadad, secretary general of the Association for Women's Health, says Indonesia has one of the world's highest rates of deaths from unsafe abortions. ”This is because the current laws are totally inadequate,” she told IPS.

The Association for Women's Health is part of the Women's Network for a National Legislation Programme, a coalition of some 30 women's rights groups that has been campaigning for improved family planning services since 2005.

In 2003, a parliamentary commission submitted a draft bill to legalise abortion, but this never made it to parliament. Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, and Muslim leaders have been staunchly opposed to any legalisation of the practice - a viewpoint shared strongly by other religious minorities, especially the Christians.

In the meantime, each year, millions of Indonesian women become pregnant unintentionally, and many choose to end their pregnancies in secret.

According to a 2000 survey carried out by the Centre for Health Research, University of Indonesia, the number of women who have illegal abortions could be as high as 2 million a year. Other researches have estimated the number to be closer to 2.5 million.

This situation has led to a flourishing underground practice of birth termination that heavily penalises the poor. Abortions are carried out by midwifes or doctors, all illegal. The fee for the procedure is said to vary greatly but to be in the region of 500,000 to 1.8 million rupiah (50 to 180 dollars) - out of the reach of a majority of people. Forty percent of the 240 million Indonesians live on less than 2 dollars a day, according to the World Bank.

Poor women are forced to seek the help of unlicensed doctors or traditional healers, who use a variety of methods. Their practices are quite dangerous and have contributed to Indonesia having the highest mortality rate from pregnancy-related causes in the region.

Hadad from the Association of Women's Health asserts that 10 to 15 percent of all unsafe abortions lead to serious complications, including death.

She argues that there is a need for a more comprehensive approach to family planning including wider criteria for allowing abortion.

Asia religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26057808-421,00.html

Australia: giovane donna sotto processo per aver abortito

A QUEENSLAND woman charged with organising her own home abortion has been committed to stand trial.

Cairns magistrate Sandra Pearson today ordered Tegan Simone Leach, 19, face trial on a charge of procuring an abortion in Cairns District Court on a date to be fixed.

The case has caused controversy in Queensland where the state Government last week rushed through Parliament changes to the law to clarify the legality of medical abortions.

Hospitals temporarily suspended drug-induced abortions pending further legal advice.

http://www.childrenbychoice.org.au/nwww/campabortlaw.htm

Australia Reproductive rights

http://www.kansas.com/topstories/story/990656.html

Usa: omaggio al lavoro del Dottor Tiller

Slain Wichita abortion provider George Tiller was honored posthumously in Washington over the weekend with one of the highest honors given by the International Federation of Planned Parenthood Foundation, the group announced Monday.

Tiller was named recipient of the group's Medal of Honor for "outstanding individual contribution to sexual and reproductive health."

The medal was presented at the international group's Western Hemisphere meeting. Tiller's widow, Jeanne, accepted it on her late husband's behalf, according to a statement from the organization.

The award was presented by Alexander Sanger, grandson of Margaret Sanger, a nurse who crusaded for women's access to birth control in the early 20th century and co-founded Planned Parenthood.

"For 30 years, George Tiller stood up to protests, harassment and assaults, even being wounded some years ago in a shooting," Alexander Sanger said. "He kept his clinic doors open to give a choice to women who never imagined they would ever need it — women with a wanted pregnancy that had gone terribly awry as it progressed."

http://www.suntimes.com/news/cityhall/1816975,CST-NWS-abortion10.article

Usa: la città di Chicago difende le cliniche dagli attacchi degli estremisti cristiani antiabortisti

the mayor said he would sign the permanent protective zone created by a divided City Council.

"You're just trying to make sure no one's being harassed. If someone is going into a medical complex and I disagree with them going there, I should not harass and scream and yell at them. It doesn't matter whether it deals with the word abortion or anything else," the mayor said.

Daley is Catholic and pro-choice. But, unlike several of the dissenting aldermen, the mayor said he draws a line between religion and politics.

"My religion is very personal. . . . Religion does not play a part when I make a decision on behalf of the people of Chicago," he said.

Women say they're routinely approached and handed flyers in anti-abortion activists' last-ditch effort to counsel or change the woman's mind.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local-beat/chicago-daley-support-abortion-protest-ordinance-63920562.html

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Womens Freedom

http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/CatholicsdonotsupportBishopsStanceonHealthcare.asp

Usa: maggioranza degli elettori cattolici sostiene fondi pubblici per l'aborto

Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued the following statement about the US bishops' recent letter to Congress about healthcare reform:

"Last week, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) wrote a letter to Congress urging legislators to "produce final health reform legislation that will reflect our principles." In the letter, the bishops laid out their three priorities; at the top of the list was strict opposition to abortion funding.

"The bishops' principles may lead them to oppose funding for abortion. However, the bishops' principles in no way reflect the principles of Catholics. According to a new poll of Catholic voters carried out by Belden Russonello and Stewart for Catholics for Choice, Catholics support a healthcare reform plan that would include funding for abortion.

"Large majorities of Catholic voters support health insurance coverage for abortions--either in a private- or a government-run scheme:

when a pregnancy poses a threat to the life of a woman (84 percent)
when a pregnancy is due to rape or incest (76 percent)
when a pregnancy poses long-term health risks for the woman (73 percent)
when test results show a fetus has a severe abnormal condition (66 percent)

"Opinion is split on whether insurance plans should cover abortion whenever a woman and her doctor decide it is appropriate (50 percent support and 50 percent oppose).

http://catholicsforchoice.org/documents/Poll.pdf

Reproductive rights Usa Womens Health

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2009/10/13/index.html

Usa: studio sull'importanza dei contraccettivi per la salute riproduttiva delle donne

Increases in global contraceptive use have contributed to a decrease in the number of unintended pregnancies and, in turn, a decline in the number of abortions, which fell from an estimated 45.5 million procedures in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003. While both the developed and the developing world experienced these positive trends, developed regions saw the greatest progress

The new report makes three key recommendations:

Expand access to modern contraceptives and improve family planning services.
Expand access to legal abortion and ensure that safe and legal abortion services are available to women in need.
Improve the coverage and quality of postabortion care, which would reduce maternal death and complications from unsafe abortion.

“The gains we’ve seen are modest in relation to what we can achieve. Investing in family planning is essential—far too many women lack access to contraception, putting them at risk,” notes Dr. Camp. “Legal restrictions do not stop abortion from happening, they just make the procedure dangerous. Too many women are maimed or killed each year because they lack legal abortion access.”

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/AWWfullreport.pdf

Reproductive rights Usa Womens Health

http://www.triumphnewspapers.com/indom21102009.html

Nigeria: migliaia di donne muoiono ogni anno per aborto clandestino

Dr Ejike Oji, Country Director of IPAS, an NGO, said in Abuja on Monday that 760,000 induced abortions occurred in Nigeria annually.

Oji said this at the opening of a one-day training workshop organised by IPAS for the National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) on maternal mortality and improving women’s reproductive rights.

He said 60 per cent of the abortions were unsafe and that they accounted for most maternal deaths in the country.

``An estimated 15,000 women die in Nigeria yearly from unsafe abortions because abortion is illegal in Nigeria and women who sort it do so it under unsafe procedures.

``The law regarding abortion should be reformed because the reproductive rights of women need to be protected.

`A lot of women are dying from unsafe abortions as well as other causes of maternal deaths such as haemorrhage, obstructed labour, entopic pregnancy, lack of family planning, infection and low contraceptive usages are being addressed.

``It is sad to note the extent some women go to terminate pregnancies through the use of cassava plant leaf and stem, bahaman grass, alligator pepper, native chalk and alum,’’ he added.

`The right to reproductive health is very crucial as women suffer severe consequences in their bid to regenerate the society.

``The commission views the rights of women as crucial and any circumstances that abridge these rights or attempt to abridge them are unacceptable.

Africa Reproductive rights Womens Health

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/world/asia/26iht-phils.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=birth%20control&st=cse

Filippine: opposizione cattolica alla legge sulla contraccezione

Abortion is illegal in the Philippines. Birth control and related health services have long been available to those who can afford to pay for them through the private medical system, but 70 percent of the population is too poor and depends on heavily subsidized care. In 1991, prime responsibility for delivering public health services shifted from the central government to the local authorities, who have broad discretion over which services are dispensed.

The main opposition in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country has come from the church and affiliated lay organizations, which say the proposed law would legalize abortion. In churches across the country, signs have been posted that read: “Yes to Life! No to RH Bill!”

Asia religious extremism Reproductive rights Womens Health

http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/press_1028092.html

Usa: lo stato di New York protegge dipendenti e volontari delle cliniche dove si pratica l'aborto

Governor David A. Paterson today signed five bills into law including a bill to protect women’s access to reproductive health care facilities and a bill to ensure voters’ access to their correct polling places. Additionally, the Governor vetoed two bills that would have cost taxpayers $18.6 million over the next two years.

The signed bills include A.8924/S.6112, which provides enhanced penalties if a person causes physical injury to someone seeking to provide, obtain or assist in reproductive health care services. The bill was written shortly after the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas, a tragedy that many health workers believe has emboldened those who engage threatening behavior and violent rhetoric at reproductive health care clinics.

“Given the history of violence committed against patients and employees of women’s health clinics across the United States and in New York State, establishment of these new offenses is appropriate,” Governor Paterson said. “I will continue to do everything in my power to ensure that all New Yorkers have access to quality, affordable health care in a safe environment.”

The main provisions of the new law include:

• Causing physical injury to someone at a reproductive health clinic rises from a misdemeanor to a new Class E felony that can lead to a sentence of up to seven years in prison.

• Causing serious physical injury becomes a Class C felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

• Repeat offenders can face more serious charges and longer sentences than they now do.

• Volunteers are explicitly covered under the new law, in addition to people providing or obtaining reproductive health care.

The bill’s quick bipartisan passage by large measures in both the Assembly and the State Senate proves that clinic violence has no place in New York, said Karen J. Nelson, chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Western New York.

Lynne Slepian has made few public appearances in the 11 years since her husband, an abortion provider, was gunned down in their Amherst home by a sniper James C. Kopp, firing from a wooded area behind the house.

http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/844548.html

Reproductive rights Usa women and the law

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091119/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_abortion

Messico: la legislazione antiabortista rischia di arrivare a livello federale

Lawmakers in Veracruz made it Mexico's 17th state to pass legislation declaring life begins at conception, then adopted a proposal that requires Congress to consider amending the constitution to outlaw abortion.

A majority of the country's 32 states have now enacted anti-abortion measures in response to Mexico City's legislature permitting abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Mexican states currently set their own laws on abortion, but the constitutional proposal adopted by the Veracruz lawmakers late Tuesday is likely to make the issue a federal one.

Under the constitution, a single state legislature can propose an amendment that must be considered by Congress, and even pro-choice activists said Wednesday that given the makeup of Congress — and what they called heavy lobbying by the Roman Catholic Church — Veracruz's proposal stands a good chance of approval.

"This is outrageous, disappointing and very frustrating," said Maria Luisa Sanchez of the Group for Informed Reproductive Rights. "It is very serious that they have brought it up on the federal level."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/18/ap/latinamerica/main5702409.shtml

Central Aamerica religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://allafrica.com/stories/200912010378.html

Nigeria: gli studenti in medicina chiedono la liberalizzazione dell'aborto

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigerian Medical Students' Association (NiMSA) has called on the Federal Government and the National Assembly to review the abortion law which is part of the Criminal Code of 1979.

This Law was adapted from the British Offences against the Person Act of 1861," the medical students said in the communiqué signed by its President, Patrick Ezie and the National Secretary Evarest Okwara.

It would be recalled that barely three weeks ago after the ECOWAS Health Ministers in a meeting which held in Nigeria, called on respective member states to reform their abortion laws based on observations that unsafe abortion was contributing a lot to high maternal mortality statistics in the sub-region.

Abortion law in Nigeria only allows the medical procedure to the performed when pregnancy poses a threat to the life of the woman.

The medical students also identified some of the major causes of maternal mortality and morbidity in Nigeria to include unsafe abortion, breast and cervical cancer.

Africa Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.herald.ie/national-news/abortion-battle-the-pain-of-travelling-1970010.html

Irlanda: tre donne proseguono la battaglia giudiziaria contro la legge antiabortista

But when a country fails to address issues that undermine the health and wellbeing of its own citizens, it needs to hear the voices of those beyond its boundaries.

The organisation that I work for, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, hears the voices of Irish women all the time.

We see hundreds of women every year who have travelled over to end crisis pregnancies.

Nothing obvious marks them from out from our English clients, except sometimes their accents.

But, whether they acknowledge it or not (some do, some don't) they carry an additional burden of knowing that, in their own homeland, abortion is illegal.

The illegality of abortion at home has consequences even for those women wealthy enough, organised enough and informed enough to travel.

The truth needs to be heard. Legal abortion is safe and benefits society. And Ireland can only exist as a modern society because of abortion clinics in England.

We are the safe, civilised alternative to clandestine, illegal abortion treatments, to abandoned infants and the burdens of forced motherhood.

Women in Ireland have abortions but they have them here, while politicians turn away.

Abortion is a fact of life for women in Ireland. And the Irish Government needs to face that fact.

Three women living in Ireland challenged Ireland’s ban on abortion on the grounds that the law jeopardised their health and their wellbeing in violation of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) which is providing support to the three applicants, welcomes the decision by the European Court of Human Rights to hear their case in the its most important forum, the Grand Chamber.

The IFPA wishes to commend the bravery of three applicants in taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights, particularly given the unhelpful nature of abortion discourse in Ireland.

http://www.ifpa.ie/eng/Media-Info-Centre/News-Events/2009-News-Events/Ireland%27s-restrictive-abortion-laws-put-under-the-spotlight-at-human-rights-court

Ireland Reproductive rights

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SPAIN_ABORTION?SITE=WBEZELN&SECTION=POLITICS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Spagna: inizio positivo verso la liberalizzazione dell'aborto

Lawmakers voted to ease Spain's abortion law Thursday, approving a bill to allow the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks.

The measure now goes to the Senate, where passage is expected some time early next year.

The vote in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies was 184-158 with one abstention.

Under the current law, which dates back to 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits - up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed.

The bill approved Thursday wipes away the threat of imprisonment and declares abortion to be a woman's right.

"We are legislating women's right to decide whether to be mothers," said Carmen Monton, the Socialists' spokeswoman on gender issues.

The new bill would also also allow 16- and 17-year-olds to have abortions without parental consent, as is the case in other European countries such as Germany, Britain and France.

This clause proved to be among the bill's most controversial ones.

In the end, the ruling Socialist party agreed to amend it so that such minors must inform their parents or legal guardian if they plan to undergo an abortion - although still with no need for their permission - except if they can show that doing so would expose them to violence within their family, threats or coercion.

Reproductive rights Spain women and the law

http://www.nirhealth.org/StatementonHealthCareReform12-19-09.asp

Usa: limitazioni al diritto all'aborto a livello federale

La riforma del sistema sanitario statunitense è ovviamente un grande passo in avanti. Detto questo rimane il fatto che le forze antiabortiste hanno approfittato del dibattito che ha preceduto il voto finale per inserire considerazioni di ordine morale e conservatore in quella che è una questione di tipo medico. Per le donne un cambiamento dal retrogusto amaro e dalle riprcussioni ancora da definire.

It is not acceptable to burden women and employers with the chilling requirement of multiple payment structures, creating a condition where participants are less likely to opt for full coverage. And it is unconscionable to allow state-run exchanges to opt out of providing abortion coverage, even when a woman's life is in danger. This measure simply shifts the battle from the federal government to the states where we will now have each state legislature deciding whether or not to allow insurance companies to cover abortion. This will result in a patchwork of coverage for women with holes throughout the U.S.

Sadly, this health care reform bill -- which held such promise to do such good --has sold out women and, by virtue of its dismissive treatment of women, awakened a sleeping giant. The anti-choice representatives behind the Stupak-language counted on the complacency of pro-choice women. But they gambled wrong.

"After the passage of the Stupak amendment in the House, we heard loud and clear from women across the country that they will not stand for the undermining of their rights and their access to benefits. This Nelson abortion check provision will no doubt create the same outrage, as women learn that they are being made second-class citizens when it comes to health care coverage.

"As many members of Congress and the president believe, Planned Parenthood does not think that health care reform is the forum to litigate abortion policy. Unfortunately, opponents continue to use abortion as a political wedge at every step of the reform process.

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/press-release-31165.htm

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/abortion-compromise-draws-fire-from-both-sides/?hp

http://www.now.org/press/12-09/12-24.html

Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/health_med_fit/article_bd39ae74-c8c4-5cbf-a7e0-50094afbb809.html

Usa: estremisti antiabortisti mettono centro medico sotto assedio

Since news leaked one year ago that UW Hospital, its doctor group and Meriter Hospital were proposing to add abortion procedures to the surgery center, which they jointly own, opponents have kept up a near-daily presence at the site and begun measures intended to hurt the hospitals financially.

Now a year later, with no abortion services yet offered, local anti-abortion activists say the issue has reinvigorated their movement, and they are taking at least partial credit for the delay.

UW Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Brunette, who is handling all media inquiries on the issue, said she would not comment in detail on a timeline, the planning process or opposition.

“We will not do anything that will increase the risk of security problems at the site or the threat of harassment from those who oppose providing abortions,” she said.

But she said that while no definitive date had been set for when abortions would begin, “it is true that getting ready to do them has taken longer than originally anticipated.”

Lisa Subeck, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, said it is the anti-abortion movement that is out of the mainstream.

Abortion is a common medical procedure — the National Abortion Federation estimates 35 percent of all women will have had an abortion by age 45 — that retains majority public support in most polls, she said. It should be offered wherever there is the medical capacity to do so, she said.

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/01/28/ireland-abortion-limits-violate-human-rights

Irlanda: limiti alla salute delle donne a causa della politica antiabortista

"Women in need of abortion services should, as a matter of international law and - frankly -human decency, be able to count on support from their government as they face a difficult situation," said Marianne Mollmann, women's rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "But in Ireland they are actively stonewalled, stigmatized, and written out." In Ireland, abortion is legally restricted in almost all circumstances, with potential penalties of penal servitude for life for both patients and service providers, except where the pregnant woman's life is in danger, but there is little legal and policy guidance on when, specifically, an abortion might be legally performed within Ireland.

"Women should not have to make decisions about their health and lives based on lies," Mollmann said. "Yet the law leaves ‘rogue' agencies unregulated and threatens honest service providers with fines or worse if they help a distressed woman make a phone call to a clinic abroad."

http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/01/28/state-isolation-0

Ireland Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2010/02/02/l-acces-a-l-interruption-volontaire-de-grossesse-est-mal-garanti-en-france_1299921_3224.html

Francia: difficoltà per le donne nell'accesso all'aborto

L'accès à l'avortement reste trop précaire dans certaines régions françaises.

L'accès à l'IVG a connu des progrès mais reste fragile, pointe un rapport de l'Inspection générale des affaires sociales (IGAS), très attendu par les associations, et remis mardi 2 février à la ministre de la santé, Roselyne Bachelot. L'IVG y est défini comme un enjeu de santé publique trouvant "difficilement sa place", le système de santé ne s'étant pas adapté à cette "composante structurelle".

En matière d'accès à l'IVG, le rapport de l'IGAS pointe une situation inquiétante. Si des progrès ont été accomplis dans les délais de prise en charge, raccourcis à moins d'une semaine, des "goulots d'étranglement préoccupants" demeurent, notamment en Ile-de-France et en Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Confrontées à des délais d'attente trop importants, des femmes sont obligées de partir à l'étranger pour avorter.

"Si le droit à l'IVG semble peu susceptible d'être remis en cause en tant que tel, sa mise en œuvre dans de bonnes conditions ne va pas de soi et divers facteurs doivent inciter à la vigilance", prévient le rapport, estimant que la prise en charge, fragile, pourrait se dégrader, voire être menacée.

De fait, l'IVG est peu valorisée sur le plan professionnel en terme de carrière et d'image, et sur le plan financier. Le départ à la retraite de la génération des médecins militants pourrait poser problème, car la relève n'est pas assurée. En outre, le recours à la clause de conscience des médecins semble s'être accéléré avec l'allongement du délai légal de recours à l'IVG.

Les associations s'inquiètent par ailleurs du regroupement de centres, faute de rentabilité, comme dans les hôpitaux parisiens, alors que selon elles proximité et bonnes conditions d'accueil sont indispensables. Le débat s'est immiscé dans la campagne des régionales en Ile-de-France.

France Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020404050.html?wprss=rss_politics

Usa: le Forze Armate permettono la distribuzione della pillola del giorno dopo

The Department of Defense will begin making the morning-after pill Plan B available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world, officials announced Thursday.

The decision came after a recommendation by the Pentagon's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, an advisory panel that voted in November to include Plan B and the generic Next Choice on the list of drugs all military facilities should stock. The Pentagon accepted the recommendation Feb. 3, a spokeswoman said.

Women's health advocates had long been pushing the Obama administration to allow the sale of the morning-after pill at military facilities. The same panel made a similar recommendation in 2002, but the policy was never implemented.

"It's a tragedy that women in uniform have been denied such basic health care," said Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which estimated that the decision would affect more than 350,000 women in the military. "We applaud the medical experts for standing up for military women."

Reproductive rights Usa Women Health women in the Armed Forces

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/un-urged-condemn-nicaragua-abortion-ban-20100204

Nicaragua: critica alla legge antiabortista

UN member states should urge Nicaragua to repeal its ban on abortion following a human rights' review of the country on 8 February, Amnesty International said on Thursday.

"Nicaragua's ban on abortion is the result of a shocking and draconian law that is compelling rape and incest victims to carry pregnancies to term and causing a rise in maternal deaths," said Widney Brown, Senior Director of International Law and Policy at Amnesty International. "UN member states should take this opportunity to hold Nicaragua to account for a law that violates women's right to life, health and dignity."

The organization also reiterated its call on the Nicaraguan authorities to decriminalize abortion in all circumstances. Amnesty International said Nicaragua should ensure that women and girls have access to safe and legal abortion services when an unwanted pregnancy is a result of rape or incest or when it threatens the woman's health or life.

The organization also found an increase in maternal deaths since the introduction of the ban.

In the first 19 weeks of 2009, some 16 per cent of all maternal deaths were as a consequence of unsafe abortion compared to none in the same period in 2008.

Nicaragua's ban on abortion is a cause of grave concern in the wider international community. Tens of thousands of Amnesty International activists appalled at the impact of the ban on women's and girl's human rights, have signed petitions and contacted the Nicaraguan authorities to call for the repeal of the law.

Central america religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.ppaction.org/campaign/superbowlad_ppol

Usa: video pro-choice in risposta alla campagna mediatica degli estremisti cristiani antiabortisti

Due uomini, atleti di spicco, a sostegno del diritto delle donne all'aborto libero e legale. Decisamente due bravi ragazzi.

Former college and professional football player Sean James and Olympic gold medalist Al Joyner respond to the Focus on the Family Super Bowl ad, featuring Tim Tebow and his mother.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=50197

Kenya: estremisti cristiani antiabortisti strumentali per la proibizione dell'aborto legale nella costituzione

The threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against Kenya's draft constitution if it does not explicitly prevent any expansion of abortion rights appears to have succeeded.

The draft assembled by a Committee of Experts for consideration by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) contained no specific reference to abortion, but the National Council of Churches (NCCK) and the Catholic Church were up in arms about a phrase stating that "everyone has a right to life" while failing to define where life begins and ends.

Phrases guaranteeing everyone the right to health care (including reproductive health care) and stating that no one may be refused emergency medical treatment have been deleted; added is a phrase ruling out abortion "unless in the opinion of a registered medical practitioner the life of the mother is in danger".

Grace Maingi-Kimani, the acting executive director of Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya (FIDA), says the move by the PSC is disheartening and will serve to limit access to choice for women and young girls who are raped and end up pregnant.

"The PSC was not thinking about the hundreds of women who were raped during the post-election violence and were forced to have children sired by men who violated them and possibly killed their husbands. The PSC was not thinking of young girls who are abused by their teachers and forced to cut short their education due to unwanted pregnancies," Kimani says.

Currently, abortion is permitted in Kenya only to save the life of the mother. Despite this, every year large numbers of women seek assistance to terminate pregnancies wherever they can find it.

Dr Joachim Osur, an advisor with reproductive health rights organisation IPAS - a member of the RHRA - argues that opponents of expanded abortion rights in Kenya have their heads buried in the sand.

"Despite termination of pregnancy being restricted in Kenya, induced abortions remain common. In Kenya it is estimated that 300,000 spontaneous and induced abortions occur annually, about 29 abortions for every 100 live births," says Osur.

"Unsafe abortions contribute a significant margin to the maternal deaths in this country at 30 percent. It is estimated that 2,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions."

Africa religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35565952/ns/world_news-europe/

Spagna: legalizzato l'aborto

Spain on Wednesday approved a sweeping new law that eases restrictions on abortion, declaring the practice a woman's right

The new law allows the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks and gives 16- and 17-year-olds the right to have abortions without parental consent. The senate's passage of the bill Wednesday gives it final approval.

Senator Leire Pajin, the ruling Socialist party's No. 3, said the new law "paid off an outstanding debt" to women, offering them a choice and bringing an end to illegal abortions.

It will be published in the state bulletin next month and will take effect four months later.

In the end, the government amended it so that minors must inform their parents or legal guardian if they plan to undergo an abortion, but do not need their permission. They are, however, exempt from this requisite if they can show that fulfilling it would expose them to violence within their family, threats or coercion.

Reproductive rights Spain Women Health

http://www.thenews.pl/national/artykul126999_catholic-weekly-loses-abortion-killer-case-.html

Polonia: giornale cattolico integralista perde causa per aver paragonato ai nazisti una donna che voleva abortire

The Gosc Niedzielny Catholic weekly lost its appeal, Friday, after accusing a woman of trying to kill her unborn baby, the Court of Appeal in Katowice ruled.

The court in Katowice upheld an earlier lower court’s ruling that Gosc Niedzielny and its publisher – archdiocese in the southern city of Katowice – will have to apologize to Alicja Tysiac and pay her 30,000 zloty (7,200 euro) in damages.

Gosc Niedzielny published a series of articles in which it accused Tysiac of attempting to kill her unborn baby and compared the woman with Nazi war criminals. Both courts decided that describing Alicja Tysiac’s case the weekly deliberately used expressions which were offensive, disdainful and aggressive. “Christianity is the religion of love and so should the language of the Catholic weekly be. Instead, it chose the language of hate,” said the judge.

Est Europe religious extremism Reproductive rights

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/birth-control-wont-be-in-g8-plan-to-protect-mothers-tories-say/article1502796/

Canada: aborto e contraccezione esclusi dai piani per gli aiuti internazionali

In no uncertain terms, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon yesterday ruled out any kind of family-planning programs being included in Canada's "signature" initiative at June's G8 summit - a strategy to improve the health of mothers and young children in poor countries.

Maternal-health advocates worry that the government's desire to steer clear of the abortion issue - and therefore not upset part of its political base - is also pushing it to rule out all other family-planning programs, like distributing contraceptives.

"This is really playing to the base in tractor-loads rather than with shovels," said Katherine McDonald, executive director of Action Canada for Population and Development.

"I'm very concerned that they're equating family planning with abortion."

She argues that no maternal-health policy can be effective without providing ways for women to space out pregnancies, because many childbirth deaths are caused by complications from having too many pregnancies too quickly or from unsafe abortions.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation used to receive funding from the Canadian International Development Agency, but its nine-month-old request for a renewal of its $6-million-a-year grant has so far gone unanswered and funding stopped in December.

Canada Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.gaucherepublicaine.org/respublica/soad-baba-aissa-les-integristes-catholiques-polonais-ont-compare-%C2%AB-alicja-aux-criminels-nazis-et-l%E2%80%99ivg-a-la-shoah-%C2%BB/1736

Polonia: Soad Baba Aïssa, araba laica, ha sostenuto Alicja Tysiac attaccata dagli integralisti cattolici

J’ai activement participé à la campagne 20 ans barakat (20 ans, ça suffit ! pour l’abrogation du Code de la famille algérien, fondée sur les préceptes de la chari’a).

Lourdement handicapée, mère de deux enfants, Alicja redoutait une nouvelle grossesse. Face à des médecins qui ont nié son handicap, elle n’a pas réussi à obtenir une autorisation d’IVG légale et a dû mener sa grossesse à terme.
En Pologne, il n’existe aucun recours pour une femme face au refus de l’IVG. C’est contre ce refus et pour avoir été la victime du système fondamentaliste qu’Alicja a pu, soutenue par les féministes polonaises, faire condamner en 2007, l’État polonais par la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme pour refus d’IVG légale à lui verser la somme de 25 000 euros de dommages et intérêts.

Elle a été traitée de « meurtrière en puissance car elle voulait tuer son enfant », « nous vivons dans un monde où une mère reçoit une récompense, parce qu’elle voulait absolument tuer son enfant, mais on ne le lui a pas permis ». Ce journal appelle à obliger Alicja « à rendre son enfant puisqu’elle ne le voulait pas ». Elle a été comparée aux criminels nazis et l’IVG à la Shoah. Alicja a contre-attaqué pour préserver son honneur et sa vie.

http://www.gaucherepublicaine.org/combat-feministe/alicja-tysiac-a-gagne-une-seconde-fois-la-solidarite-internationale-aussi/1827

Est Europe religious extremism Reproductive rights

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/mar/22/bart-stupak-healthcare-abortion

Usa: restrizioni all'aborto insieme alla riforma del sistema sanitario

President Obama issued an executive order on Sunday promising to never, ever allow a single federal or unsegregated private dollar to pay for a single abortion in the United States (except in the cases or rape, incest or the life and health of the mother). He did this to provide Democratic congressman Bart Stupak the political cover he needed to vote for healthcare reform.

Until the law goes into effect in 2014 with the other provisions involving the healthcare exchange, two classes of women are covered by the Hyde Amendment and its lesser known cousin: women who are reliant on Medicaid, and women employed by (or covered by a spouse or domestic partner who is employed by) the federal government. Neither woman can have an abortion covered by their insurance company unless they wish to tell their insurer that the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest (which currently can and often is classified as a pre-existing condition, leaving one at risk of losing one's healthcare) or unless the government agrees that the abortion is necessary to save the woman's life or health

President Obama campaigned as a pro-choice president, but his actions today suggest that his commitment to reproductive health care is shaky at best. Contrary to language in the draft of the executive order and repeated assertions in the news, the Hyde Amendment is not settled law -- it is an illegitimate tack-on to an annual must-pass appropriations bill. NOW has a longstanding objection to Hyde and, in fact, was looking forward to working with this president and Congress to bring an end to these restrictions. We see now that we have our work cut out for us far beyond what we ever anticipated. The message we have received today is that it is acceptable to negotiate health care on the backs of women, and we couldn't disagree more.

http://www.now.org/press/03-10/03-21a.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/apr/02/scott-roeder-murder-george-tiller-abortion

Usa: Scott Roeder condannato a 50 anni di carcere per l'omicidio del Dottor Tiller

Scott Roeder, the anti-abortion extremist who murdered Dr George Tiller, shouted "The blood of babies is on your hands!" as he was led from the courtroom in Wichita, Kansas after receiving a life sentence without parole for 50 years

The judge opted to sentence Roeder to the "hard 50" of 50 years without parole, rather than a lighter sentence of 25 years, because of evidence that Roeder had systematically stalked Dr Tiller before killing him.

Earlier, Roeder had attempted to turn the hearing into a platform for an anti-abortion diatribe, but was stopped by the judge, who said: "It is your opportunity to convince me you need a lesser sentence. It is not a soapbox for your political views."

Lee Thompson, attorney for Dr. George Tiller's family, issued the following statement today at the request of Mrs. Jeanne Tiller and the Tiller family following the sentencing of Scott Roeder.

"The sentence handed down today was appropriate. It is the most severe penalty available to Judge Wilbert under Kansas law. This crime was cruel and heinous not only because it took our husband, father and grandfather; but because it was a hate crime committed against George – but also against all women and their constitutional rights.

http://www.kwch.com/Global/story.asp?S=12244823

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/03/23/kenya.abortions/index.html

Kenya: le donne costrette ad abortire clandestinamente

Con tutto quello che ne consegue per la loro salute.

Women are being forced into backstreet abortions in Kenya because of the country's restrictive abortion law, a study says.

And the law could soon get even tougher with church groups urging a ban on almost all abortions.

The U.S.-based Center for Reproductive Health, which advocates abortions rights, found that women and girls in Kenya use metal wires, knitting needles and other unsafe practices to abort tens of thousands of unwanted pregnancies.

Now church groups in Kenya are pushing for the new constitution, coming up for a parliamentary vote soon, to make almost all abortions illegal. The church groups want to define 'life as starting at conception,' and heavily restrict abortion except for cases where a mother's life is in immediate danger.

Social workers say that women often don't have choices and that in a country where one-third of maternal deaths are caused by abortions, they say stricter laws will only force women to make choices that could kill them.

Africa religious extremism Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jzt25qOzuNhJIoNy9bemLPOo8cHQD9F1M9R00

Usa: lo stato del Nebraska restringe l'accesso all'aborto legale

Nebraska lawmakers on Monday gave final approval to a first-of-its-kind measure requiring women to be screened for possible mental and physical problems before having abortions.

Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman said Thursday he supports the measure, meaning it is all but guaranteed to receive his signature and become law this summer. It's also likely be challenged in court. National abortion-rights supporters have called it a drastic shift in abortion policy that would block abortions by scaring doctors who might perform them.

Supporters say it simply puts abortions in line with other medical procedures in which patients are screened for possible problems.

"We're dealing with destruction of early, unborn life, so we ought to take extra care," said Greg Schleppenbach of the National Catholic Conference.

"It's too vague," said Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha, one of just nine senators who voted against the measure on Monday. "I don't know if a physician faced with civil action can know all the risk factors," cited in journals, he added.

Nebraska lawmakers have approved groundbreaking abortion restrictions that could change the legal foundation of abortion laws nationally, if the new law is upheld by the courts.

The bill got final approval Tuesday morning. Gov. Dave Heineman planned to sign it into law in the afternoon.

It would bar women from getting abortions at 20 weeks, based on assertions that fetuses feel pain at that time.

Current restrictions in Nebraska and elsewhere are based on a fetus's ability to survive outside the womb.

The law is partially meant to shut down late-term abortion provider LeRoy Carhart of Bellevue, Neb.

http://www.beatricedailysun.com/news/state-and-regional/article_16abb25d-0e90-5342-a6b6-bea6f2829f7e.html

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/04/27/control-coercion-threats-abortion-rights-mexico

Messico: il diritto all'aborto sotto attacco

Recently, the heart-rending case of a 10-year-old girl who became pregnant as a result of rape by her stepfather in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo on the Yucatán Peninsula (also home to the popular resort of Cancun) was made public by the media. According to GIRE-Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida, whose National Lawyers’ Network for the Defense of Reproductive Choice contacted the girl and her mother, it emerged that they had apparently received biased information from authorities about their rights and access to abortion.

Abortion is highly restricted in all of Mexico (except for Mexico City), but it is supposed to be available in cases of certain situations such as rape. However, it is very common for state health and legal officials to blatantly ignore the law, lie to women, and deny women and girls their rights.

Mexican women and girls risk their lives and health to obtain abortions and there are at least 600,000 to one million illegal abortions annually in the country. At least 1,500 women die of medical complications following abortion every year and there are estimates of at least 50,000-100,000 post-abortion complications that are treated in health facilities every year. Abortion is the third to fourth highest cause of maternal mortality in Mexico.

In the coastal state of Veracruz, at least five women are serving 12-to-15 year sentences for aborting a pregnancy after having been found guilty of homicide.So while celibate men whose Church is its own ethical crisis decide the fate of women’s health and bodies, the influential participation of the Church is both overt and covert, as Mexico has a Catholic majority but is constitutionally a secular state. Working behind political parties and other conservative organizations, there is no doubt that the Church’s influence in the health, lives, and destinies of women remains powerful and destructive, even as it is overstepping constitutional boundaries.

Central america religious extremism Reproductive rights

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2010/05/15/20100515phoenix-catholic-nun-abortion.htmlR

Usa: suora cattolica scomunicata per aver permesso un aborto che ha salvato la vita di una donna

A Catholic nun and longtime administrator of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix was reassigned in the wake of a decision to allow a pregnancy to be ended in order to save the life of a critically ill patient.

The decision also drew a sharp rebuke from Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, head of the Phoenix Diocese, who indicated the woman was "automatically excommunicated" because of the action.

Sister Margaret McBride, who had been vice president of mission integration at the hospital, was on call as a member of the hospital's ethics committee when the surgery took place, hospital officials said. She was part of a group of people, including the patient and doctors, who decided upon the course of action.

The patient was not identified, and details of her case cannot be revealed under federal privacy laws.

The Catholic Church forbids abortion in all circumstances and allows the termination of a pregnancy only as a secondary effect of other treatments, such as radiation of a cancerous uterus.

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://www.united-church.ca/fr/communications/news/general/100521

Canada: la United Church of Canada riafferma il diritto delle donne all'aborto

Continuo a non comprendere come si continui a mettere sempre e comunque tutte le tradizioni religiose sullo stesso piano quando, come in questo caso, c'è un sostegno incondizionato alla libertà femminile ed alle leggi dello stato. Ritengo si dovrebbe mostrare invece soddisfazione perchè una voce che rappresenta un'intera chiesa si leva contro le dichiarazioni oscurantiste dei cattolici e degli evangelici.

Les récents propos du primat de l’Église catholique canadienne sur la question de l’avortement ont provoqué non seulement un remous médiatique, mais également une prise de parole publique au cours de laquelle de nombreux groupes sociaux se sont exprimés contre la réouverture du débat politique sur l’avortement.

L’Église Unie du Canada veut joindre sa voix à cet ensemble de réactions et appuie les opinions exprimées publiquement affirmant qu’il ne saurait être question de régresser de quelque façon dans notre société sur le droit des femmes à des avortements libres, gratuits et sécuritaires.

L’Église unie veut rappeler qu’elle a été parmi les premières dénominations à prendre une position ferme pour le droit des femmes à l’avortement. Dès le début des années 1970, la réflexion s’est faite au sein de groupes d’études. Puis en 1980, le 28e Conseil général, la plus haute instance décisionnelle de l’Église unie, a adopté une Déclaration débutant par un témoignage sur « l’inhérente sainteté de toute vie humaine, tant celle immature du fœtus que celle exprimée dans la vie de la mère » et concluant alors qu’un avortement, en tant qu’importante question morale, peut être pratiqué comme « alternative responsable » après de soigneuses considérations sur la situation médicale, sociale et économique de la femme.

Devant le débat qui s’étend, l’Église Unie du Canada s’oppose fortement à un quelconque recul sur les droit des femmes à disposer d’elles-mêmes, comme d’ailleurs sur les droits de tout autre groupe de notre société : personnes immigrantes et réfugiées, minorités ethniques, membres d’autres religions ou minorités d’orientations sexuelles diverses, comme nous ne le voyons que trop dans les orientations qui contaminent insidieusement notre espace social depuis quelques années sous les pressions des groupes de droite.

Enfin, l’Église unie affirme que nul ne peut en aucun cas condamner au nom de la foi chrétienne quelque femme que ce soit de subir un avortement

Canada Reproductive rights

http://back.prch.org/node/826

Usa: Adam Jacobs e Carolyn Westhoff ricevono il George Tiller Abortion PRovider Award

To honor Dr. Tiller, Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health has introduced a new award in his name.

Carolyn Westhoff, MD, was honored yesterday with the 2010 William K. Rashbaum, MD, Abortion Provider Award, given to an abortion provider who serves as an inspirational leader for colleagues, residents, and medical students. In her 24 years at Columbia University, Dr. Westhoff has expanded the hospital’s minimal abortion services into a robust program of patient care, training, and research. Dr. Westhoff helped increase abortion access nationwide as one of the lead investigators who brought mifepristone to the United States. She defended women’s access to abortion as a plaintiff in the case against the federal ban on so-called “partial-birth” abortion.

Adam Jacobs, MD, received the 2010 George Tiller, MD, Abortion Provider Award, which recognizes a physician early in his or her career who provides abortions while demonstrating leadership and courage. As an assistant professor at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, Dr. Jacobs has developed a formal family planning training program for residents in obstetrics and gynecology. In the last five years, he has trained more than 60 residents, fellows, and attendings in first and second trimester abortion techniques. Because of his decision to provide abortions, Dr. Jacobs has endured harassment and opposition from anti-choice protestors, government officials, and fellow staff members.

http://back.prch.org/about-our-mission

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/27/mexico-supreme-court-protects-rape-victims

Messico: la Corte Suprema approva la contraccezione di emergenza per le donne

In a landmark decision today, Mexico’s Supreme Court required all of the country’s states to distribute emergency contraception and to provide access to abortion for rape victims. The decision affirms women’s rights to health and life by enabling rape victims to avoid forced pregnancies, Human Rights Watch said.

“The Supreme Court’s decision protects women’s rights,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “The state should not force rape victims to suffer an imposed pregnancy.”

The Supreme Court’s decision came in response to a challenge brought by the state of Jalisco to a February 2009 federal health directive (NOM-046-SSA2-2005) that requires health workers to offer emergency contraception and legal abortion to rape victims.

Central america Reproductive rights Women Health

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37444714

Spagna: il Partito Popolare inizia azione legale contro la legge che ha liberalizzato l'aborto

A conservative opposition party asked Spain's highest court on Tuesday to throw out a new law allowing abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, calling it unconstitutional.

The center-right Popular Party filed suit with the Constitutional Court and asked it to block the law from taking effect as scheduled on July 5 while it deliberates.

The party objects to eight clauses in the legislation, which became law in February when the Senate confirmed passage given late last year by the lower chamber of Parliament.

In challenging the 14-week clause as unconstitutional, the Popular Party cited a 1985 ruling from the Constitutional Court that said a woman's rights could not systematically take precedence over those of an unborn child, but rather only in cases of rape, fetal malformation or when the mother's health is in jeopardy.

To establish a period for unrestricted abortion "violates the balance between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn," Popular Party lawmaker Sandra Moneo said.

The party also argued that letting teens have abortions without parental consent violates parents' right to have a say in the upbringing of their daughters.

religious extremism Reproductive rights Spain women and the law

http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/newsroom/press-releases/planned-parenthood-applauds-senate-committee-vote-repeal-ban-privately-funded-abortion-care-ser-32721.htm

Usa: primi passi verso la fine del bando antiabortista nelle Forze Armate Usa

“Every woman honorably serving our country in the U.S. military and the spouses of military personnel stationed around the world deserve access to the full range of reproductive health care available to women in the United States,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “The vote repealing this discriminatory and dangerous ban is the first step to ensuring that servicewomen can use their own private money for abortion care when they are serving overseas.”

The current ban on privately funded abortions in military facilities threatens the health and lives of women serving overseas. A servicewoman in need of medically necessary abortion would be forced to leave the secure military hospital on which she depends and receives health care. She would have to venture out to a local medical facility in the foreign country where she is stationed to obtain an abortion. In many countries where U.S. servicewomen are stationed, abortion care may be inadequate, unsafe or altogether unavailable — forcing a woman into a dangerous, security-compromised situation.

Additionally, this current ban discriminates against servicewomen who are courageously serving our country and unfairly prohibits them from exercising their constitutionally protected right to a safe and legal abortion, simply because they are serving on foreign soil.

Reproductive rights Usa women in the Armed Forces

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/health/policy/03abortion.html

Usa: ondata di leggi antiabortiste a livello statale

At least 11 states have passed laws this year regulating or restricting abortion, giving opponents of abortion what partisans on both sides of the issue say is an unusually high number of victories. In four additional states, bills have passed at least one house of the legislature.

While opponents of abortion rights hope ultimately to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that guarantees a woman’s right to an abortion, they have made the most impact at the state level, where laws passed in one state often appear in other legislatures in subsequent years. State laws also have the potential for national consequences by setting off court battles that challenge or limit the scope of Roe.

“Ninety percent of pro-life legislation happens at the states,” said Daniel S. McConchie, vice president for government affairs at Americans United for Life, which opposes abortion. “While Congress is the main focus of attention for so many people in the country, state legislatures have greatest impact on daily lives, and life-related legislation is no exception.”

About 370 state bills regulating abortion were introduced in 2010, compared with about 350 in each of the previous five years, and 250 a year in the early 1990s, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. At least 24 of this year’s bills have passed, and the final total may reach the high of 2005, when states passed 34 laws, said Elizabeth Nash, a public policy associate at the institute.

More significant than the number of bills introduced are the number and nature of those that passed, partisans on both sides agree.

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://www.womenonwaves.org/article-2241-en.html

Peru': lancio della linea telefonica per l'aborto sicuro

A public hotline giving women information about safe abortion using pills Misoprostol, was launched in Lima, Peru yesterday on may 27 th, 2010,

The hotline was launched by the Colectivo para la Libre Información de las Mujeres (CLIM), or Collective for Free Information for Women, a feminist organization dedicated to democratizing vital health information. The hotline is supported by Women on Waves (Netherlands) and is one of similar initiatives that Women on Waves has supported in Ecuador, Argentina, and Chile in the past two years.

Reproductive rights South America Women Health

http://www.9news.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=140688&catid=188

Usa: i medici dello Iowa sperimentano la somministrazione della pillola abortiva tramite video

Small Planned Parenthood clinics around Iowa are using a remote-control pill-dispensing system to make abortions available in areas where few doctors offer them.

The first-in-the-nation system allows a Planned Parenthood physician from Des Moines to visit with each patient by videoconference, then press a computer button to open a drawer in front of the patient, who could be seated up to 190 miles away. The patient then reaches into the drawer and withdraws the abortion pills.

The system is drawing interest from other abortion providers around the country. It's also bringing objections from anti-abortion activists.

Abortion opponents have filed a formal complaint with the Iowa Board of Medicine, which plans to investigate. The opponents point to a state law that says abortions must be performed by a physician.

The remote-control system uses a private communications network, separate from the Internet. It is used in 16 clinics operated by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the group's main Iowa chapter. The doctor usually is in Des Moines, but occasionally signs onto the system from one of the other clinics.

Planned Parenthood officials explained how the system works:

A patient who comes to a clinic and asks about abortion is given a pregnancy test. If the test comes up positive, a nurse performs an ultrasound, and the resulting images are sent electronically to the doctor. Local clinic staff members give the patient counseling, which includes information about the options of keeping a baby or giving it up for adoption. However, most women who come to the agency to talk about abortion have made up their minds already, Planned Parenthood officials said.

Patients are given printed information about the abortion pills, and they watch an eight-minute video about the process. The video talks about the effects of the drug, and possible side effects. The video says most women experience cramping and bleeding, similar to what they would experience during a heavy period.

The video says patients should feel normal within a day after taking the second medication at home. If not, they are instructed to call Planned Parenthood's 24-hour phone line to report complications.

Patients return to the clinic about two weeks later. They are checked to be sure they ended their pregnancies, which the video says happens for 98 percent of women who take the medications.

The video shows a re-enactment of a follow-up visit.

Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1993205,00.html

Brasile: rischio deriva antiabortista guidata dagli estremisti cristiani

It should not be too surprising that in Brazil, the country with the largest number of Roman Catholics (73% of the populace, or about 140 million), abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, when the mother's life is in danger or when the fetus has severe genetic abnormalities. Indeed, the ban on abortion is an immovable plank in the campaign platforms of the two main candidates in Brazil's upcoming presidential election. Yet a recent study revealed that 1 in 5 Brazilian women of child-bearing age has terminated a pregnancy, and statistics by the Health Ministry show that 200,000 women each year are hospitalized because of complications arising from unsafe abortions.

The study has shocked doctors, who were surprised at just how common the illegal procedures are. "I think the big conclusion we draw from this is that the woman who has an abortion is a typical Brazilian woman," says Marcelo Medeiros, the economist and sociologist who coordinated the government-funded study. "She could be your cousin, your mother, your sister or your neighbor. All the evidence shows this is a serious problem and one that is not being debated openly."

In fact, Brazil's Congress is discussing tightening legislation rather than relaxing it. A bill in the committee stage proposes criminalizing any act designed to deliberately damage a fetus and prohibiting any statements that promote even legal abortion, a move the New York City–based Center for Reproductive Rights said "totally disregards women's health and lives." Health professionals say they hope the bill will die with the end of the current legislature and are hopeful next year's new Congress will be more forward-looking.

Birth-control advocates are dismayed that Roman Catholic Church still wields considerable power.

maternal mortality has remained steady for 15 years, a fact researchers say is intimately linked to a lack of safe abortions. Specialists fear that unless the issue is treated more as a health one than as a moral one, that statistic will not change. "The Health Ministry has said all along that this is a public-health problem," says França. "It should be up to the woman to decide how many children to have."

http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/06/13/abortion-human-rights-current-controversy-brazil

religious extremism Reproductive rights South America Women Health

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/abortion-hotline-in-pakistan-faces-violent-opposition-2011540.html

Pakistan: integralisti islamici minacciano le femministe della linea telefonica pro-choice

An abortion hotline which has been set up in Pakistan is facing violent opposition. Islamic groups and political parties have condemned the hotline, which was launched yesterday, as "anti-Islamic" and "colonial", even though it will save the lives of thousands of women who die each year in backstreet abortion clinics. They have warned the organisers that they are at risk of reprisals.

The hotline, set up by a collection of women's groups in Pakistan and the Dutch pro-choice group Women on Waves, advises women how to use a drug to induce miscarriage safely and aims to reduce the estimated 890,000 unsafe illegal abortions performed in Pakistan every year.

"We want to save women's lives," said Gulalai Ismail, founder of the Pakistani women's group Aware Girls, which is helping to set up the hotline. "We are empowering women, and trying to give them information to help them take control of their bodies. Any groups which try to help women will have problems with extremist and fundamentalist groups. Ninety-nine per cent of clerics will oppose this."

As well as the hotline, trained Pakistani staff will offer abortion information in communities in rural Pakistan, particularly in the tribal areas of the North-West Frontier Province, where opposition is expected to be fiercest.

"While the debate continues on whether terminating a pregnancy is allowed or not, and under what conditions, thousands of women are dying as a result of unsafe backstreet abortions," said Shaista Gohir, executive director of Muslim Women's Network. "The Pakistani government is failing in its duty to provide adequate family planning services," she said.

Asia religious extremism Reproductive rights

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/health/2010/0629/1224273541663.html?via=rel

Irlanda: false cliniche di antiabortisti traumatizzano le donne

Questi cosidetti "crisis pregnancy centers" esistono già negli Stati Uniti. Evidentemente li stanno esportando.

Several women who approached these agencies for advice on their options reported feeling distressed by the counselling techniques used. State-funded pregnancy counselling services are concerned about the issue, and have called on the Government to step in and regulate their activities.

Pregnancy counselling services in Ireland generally state their ethos to help women select an appropriate service. One of the criticisms levelled against unreliable agencies by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) among others, is that their advertising is misleading, implying that they will provide information about abortion services abroad when this is not the case.

An IFPA report claims that so-called “rogue” agencies use pro-choice language and advertise in a manner designed to attract women who may be considering abortion, when in reality they have an anti-abortion ethos.

The counselling methods used by these agencies have also come in for strong criticism. The Well Woman Clinic regularly encounters women who have visited them and found the experience upsetting.

“From what we hear, women are subjected to the most extraordinary tactics,” says Alison Begas, chief executive of the Well Woman Centre.

“We have heard stories of counselling sessions lasting three to four hours, the use of lurid US-produced videos and disturbing images.

“None of these tactics has any place in responsible pregnancy counselling. The problem is that most women don’t know where to go for advice until they actually need it.”

She adds that silence surrounding the issue of abortion leaves women vulnerable to “spurious” medical information, and women who have a bad experience with a rogue agency are less likely to seek the good quality service they need to make an informed decision.

Sarah (not her real name) became pregnant at 19 and made an appointment with a pregnancy counselling agency in Dublin with a view to discussing a termination.

“Our contraception failed. Myself and my boyfriend were both in college and it was fairly obvious to us that we didn’t want a child. We went to the Golden Pages , looked at family planning. We made a phone call to this place saying we wanted to talk about having an abortion, going to England.

“I think the ad made some reference to English clinics, it definitely gave the impression they gave out abortion information . . . I don’t think I would have had the guts to say it if the ad wasn’t like that.

“They said, ‘Yes, come in, that is what we do and we will give you all the information you need’. There was no hint of religion or anything. We went in together with our minds made up, and the place was horrible, really grotty.

“They separated us pretty much immediately after the test. What I remember is coming out after two or three hours in there and us both looking at each other and saying, ‘Okay, we can’t do that now, it’s not an option anymore’.

“They talked about how an abortion would ruin our relationship, that we would break up, and that really got to us.

“They said I would not be able to have children again; my family would think I was awful; that I’d never want to have sex again; they actually managed to change our mind about this huge thing.

“They said my risk of breast cancer would go up two or three times, and called several times afterwards to ask what decision I made. I think they cause a lot of confusion and pain in the long run. They have to be closed down. I mean, it is such a huge thing to have to go through.”

Ireland Reproductive rights

http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=12763686

Usa: lo stato della Louisiana approva leggi antiabortiste

Women getting abortions in Louisiana will be required to get ultrasounds, and doctors who perform elective abortions won't be covered under medical malpractice laws.

Those are 2 of the latest abortion restrictions added to Louisiana's laws. Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the bills Tuesday.

No exceptions are allowed under either bill for victims of rape or incest.

The ultrasound requirement was touted by people who say they hope it can dissuade some women from getting an abortion by having to learn more about their pregnancies.

Opponents say requiring a procedure that might not be available at a free clinic nearby will make it more difficult and costly for women to get abortions.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Tuesday signed three antiabortion-rights measures, including a bill (SB 528) requiring women seeking abortions to undergo ultrasounds before the procedure, the AP/WWLTV reports. The ultrasound law also requires that women are offered a chance to hear a description of the ultrasound, view the image and receive a photograph of it. Another bill (HB 1453) signed Tuesday excludes abortion providers from coverage under state medical malpractice laws, while a third bill (HB 1247) prohibits coverage for most abortions in the state health insurances exchanges created under the federal health reform law (PL 111-148).

None of the measures include exceptions for survivors of rape or incest; the only exceptions are if a woman's life is at risk. Abortion-rights advocates opposed all three measures, arguing that they will further restrict women's access to abortion.

http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?abbr=daily2_&page=NewsArticle&id=25125

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Planned-Parenthoods-statement-on-new-abortion-law--98452149.html

Usa: lo stato del Missouri approva nuova restrizione all'aborto

Today, Missouri added yet one more law restricting abortion to the more than 30 restrictions already on the books. Abortion is already the most highly regulated medical procedure in Missouri; this law, which goes into effect on August 28, adds significant new burdens and obstacles to women seeking abortion care in Missouri.

The 2010 Abortion Restriction Law (SB793), which goes into effect at the end of August, establishes new and difficult restrictions on access to abortion and forces women to receive state-mandated materials which contain ideological messages aimed at causing additional emotional distress—statements not widely agreed-upon by physicians, and not based upon science or medicine. It also requires abortion providers to display a statement that promises state-funded assistance to women if they carry the pregnancy to term, despite the fact that Missouri’s budget constraints have forced the state to cut many of the promised services and there will likely be even more cuts next year.

As a trusted provider of reproductive health care, Planned Parenthood believes that every woman should have evenhanded and unbiased information so she can protect her health and make the best decision for her circumstances. A woman needs—and Missouri women get—information about the risks involved with, and alternatives to, abortion but the information should not be written to coerce, shame or pressure the woman into making a decision that is not right for her.

religious extremism Reproductive rights Usa Women Health

http://now.org/issues/abortion/charlotte_defense.html

Usa: la Family Reproductive Health clinic di Charlotte resiste agli attacchi degli estremisti cristiani antiabortisti

Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue) staged a national event in Charlotte July 17-24. They boasted of their intentions to target Family Reproductive Health clinic on Saturday, July 24, but when they saw 70 peaceful abortion rights supporters outside the clinic, they packed up their red "murder" bus condemning women's fundamental right to choose, LGBT people, and people living with AIDS and left. That's right -- they packed up and left.

With allies and supporters, we stretched out along the block and realized we had 70 positive, peaceful demonstrators helping to defend the clinic from Operation Save America's planned siege. The result? A man harassing the clinic climbed down from a tree, and left in a car with men wearing Repent America! T-shirts.

At the end of the day, a clinic staffer came out and thanked the group for creating the first Saturday in eight years where clinic doctors, staff and the women they serve were free from harassment. As the group filtered away, one of the doctors came out in his scrubs and thanked us for our help. It was truly amazing.

Clinic defense is also critical to helping maintain access to clinic driveways and entrances while sending a critical message of support to the clinic.

Also, what I learned is that clinic defense can also provide a distraction for anti-abortion protesters so that they don’t bother the patients. If OR/OSA is too busy yelling at a clinic defender, they don’t tent to notice a car pulling into the drive way with a patient. Although clinic defenders create a buffer zone and often take the focus of the anti’s attention, we (as clinic defenders) must not cause problems for the clinic — or the police, which is why NCAP strictly enforces a non-engagement policy. No witty comebacks, no arguing, no general conversation with the anti’s. You have to be completely stone-faced. Which frustrates them even more so they get caught up in “breaking” you and forget about patients (win).

Pro-Choice Charlotte, Charlotte NOW, Planned Parenthood, UNCC Feminist Union, and many unaffiliated individuals who worked alongside NCAP created a dazzling web of pro-choice support and grassroots activism that would eventually lead to the first harassment-free day at a local clinic in eight years. Even local law enforcement which had been reluctant to help in the past took a new turn in supporting the clinics.

http://majorityspeaks.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/from-the-front-lines-a-warm-welcome-in-charlotte/

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/10/argentina-guarantee-women-s-access-health-care

Argentina: ancora problematico l'accesso all'aborto ed alla contraccezione per le donne

Thousands of women and girls in Argentina suffer needlessly every year because of negligent or abusive reproductive health care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

"Women need dependable care throughout their reproductive lives," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "But in Argentina, it's more like a lottery: you might be lucky enough to get decent care but you are more likely to be stuck with deficient - or even abusive - services."

As a direct result of these barriers, women and girls in Argentina often cannot make independent decisions about their health, and many face unwanted or unhealthy pregnancies as a result. Forty percent of pregnancies in Argentina end in abortions, which are often unsafe. Unsafe abortion has been the leading cause of maternal mortality in the country for decades.

"Argentina's reproductive health policies are certainly not perfect, but if they were implemented they would prevent quite a lot of the suffering I saw in researching for this report," Vivanco said. "The government needs to put a lot more effort into monitoring how these policies are carried out and punishing abuse."

Human Rights Watch's report also criticizes Argentina's reproductive health policies for ignoring key constituencies such as women and girls with disabilities. With its recent ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Argentina has taken on specific international obligations in this area that are not being met, Human Rights Watch said.

"The Argentine government seems to be slowly waking up to the notion that laws on reproductive health mean nothing unless they are enforced," Vivanco said. "But unless changes are constant and clear, women and girls will continue to suffer and, in some cases, die."

http://www.hrw.org/node/92124

Reproductive rights South America Women Health

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/immigrants-lured-abortion-drug-cost-barriers-health-care/story?id=11396957&page=2

Usa: le donne immigrate costrette ad abortire clandestinamente

Health experts say illicit use of the drug underscores the barriers that many women face when trying to access reproductive care, particularly immigrants and women of color.

They worry that the amendment in the passage of the new health care law to ban the use of federal funds in Medicaid and insurance exchanges for abortion could further marginalize women's access to reproductive care.

"What the amendment does is if you are poor, you cannot get an abortion," said Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas , deputy director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). "Wealthy women can pay out of pocket and have access to clinics and services."

Under current law, abortion funding is prohibited through a patchwork of policies, most of which must be annually reapproved in appropriations bills. Now, Congress will consider the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," which proponents say will provide a consistent government-wide prohibition on abortion funding.

The bill would also codify the so-called conscience clause known as Hyde-Weldon, offering protections for medical workers who refuse to participate in abortions. Only an act of Congress could reverse the law if it passes.

Kelly understands the prohibitive cost of abortion, but supports restrictions on federal funding.

As a group, women aged 24 to 34 are more likely to be uninsured and to have an abortion. Their out-of-pocket medical expenses can be as much as 10 percent of their annual income. Women pay more out of pocket than men and the gender disparity will worsen as health care reform further restricts access, according to researchers.

"We just want a fairer playing field," said Gonzalez-Roja. "We want women to [seek an abortion] in a clinic that is safe, accessible, affordable and culturally competent."

The use of misoprostol is often seen in the Hispanic community, where a self-induced abortion is known as, "bringing your period down."

"The important issue here is to look at why women do this," said Grossman. "It really comes down to barriers women face accessing abortion care. Restrictions we put on abortion access, like parental consent and denying public funding, end up forcing some women to kind of take matters into their own hands."

Racism Reproductive rights sexism Usa Women Health