Journal Articles and Publications on Abortion Law and Policy:
Latin America, South Africa, Nigeria, East Africa, Morocco, Malaysia, Mexico ************************************** 26 October 2016
LATIN AMERICA
Constitutional developments in Latin American abortion law
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijgo.2016.08.002 From the Abstract and the Introduction
Up to 2000, all continental Latin American countries regulated abortion through their criminal codes. Chile, El Salvador, Honduras, and Surinam were at one extreme of the spectrum, providing for a total ban of the practice. At the other extreme, Guyana was the only country decriminalizing abortion by regulation of periods. Most of the other countries of the region were somewhere in between, having adopted versions of permissive indications throughout the 20th century that decriminalized abortion in case of rape, fetal malformation, risk to the health or the life of a woman, or combinations thereof. In most of these countries, however, abortion services were unavailable, and allegations of the unconstitutional status of the criminal indications abounded.
The landscape of abortion law in continental Latin America looks rather different today. With the exception of Nicaragua and El Salvador, the countries that have reformed their abortion laws or their constitutional interpretations of abortion laws dating from the previous century have moved toward a more liberal framework. This article offers an overview of the turn toward more liberal rules and the resolution of abortion disputes by reference to national constitutions...
Within South Africa, more than 20 years post democracy, the legal provisions on reproductive health and sexual orientation have been recognisable gains. It is a challenge though that these legal rights are not well realised and the struggles of many girls, young women and gender queer people remain unrealised in reproductive justice…
Within South Africa, whilst abortion is legal it is not accessible. In 2014 less than 40% of surgical designated abortion facilities were operational. Medical abortion guidelines are only available for the Western Cape. Medical abortion drugs are not on the essential drug lists of all the provinces. Training for health professionals in sexual and reproductive health is ad hoc and not planned for in terms of providing comprehensive contraception, nor is training provided in the provision of abortion. We do not live single issue lives and as such we might find ourselves fitting a number of boxes. Often the LGBTI focus has been in single issues, for example, gay marriage or ARV treatment access. Yet there are layers of complexity and nuance.
Abortion access for girls and young women is a challenge, it is even more so for queer people including lesbians and trans men. Comprehensive sexuality education does not address sexual orientation and gender identity at all well and health workers are not welcoming nor well trained in relation to LGBTI persons' health care. The stigma, judgement and harassment that LGBTI persons receive in public health care settings has been well documented. It demands enormous courage to walk into a clinic if one presents gender queer or non-conforming…
Implementation of Reproductive Health Policies and Laws in the Nigerian National Health Policy: A Policy Brief, 15 April 2016
According to 2006 census, out of 140 million people in Nigeria, more than 69 million were women. More than half of these women live in the rural communities and are ignorant of their reproductive rights. As a result, they have their health at a very high risk due to inaccessibility of reproductive health information and services. Still, Nigeria is yet to reform restrictive domestic laws and policies that place women’s and girls’ health and lives at risk and prevent them from exercising their reproductive rights – to which the Nigerian government has promised under international laws.
…Nigeria as a member of the global community and in the interest of her people's health and development is committed to the implementation of the concept of reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed at the ICPD, and has adopted and launched the African regional strategy. This commitment would enable the country to effectively address the major reproductive health challenges and the current trend of poor reproductive health status and services. This policy document is, among others, an expression of the desire and determination of Generation Initiative For Women and Youth Network (GIWYN) and The National Coalition Member Organizations in this regard urging the government to reform restrictive domestic laws and policies that place women’s and girls’ health and lives at risk and prevent them from exercising their reproductive rights to which the Nigerian government has promised under international law.
…The criminal law in Nigeria makes the performance of an abortion a criminal offence unless it is performed to save a pregnant woman’s life. Hence abortions are illegal regardless of the duration of pregnancy; the laws prohibit abortions performed at all stages of fetal or embryonic development from the time of fertilization. However, the laws do not clearly distinguish between abortions performed by registered medical practitioners and unregistered medical practitioners. The restriction of the grounds upon which abortion may be performed to saving the woman’s life is too narrow and may be insensitive to the difficulties posed by peculiar experiences of women...
Backstreet abortion clinic, Kenya – Equipment used:
toilet paper, rubbing alcohol and rubber gloves Time to act—comprehensive abortion care in east Africa
Amanda Cleeve, Monica Oguttu, Bela Ganatra, et al.
In east Africa, abortion rates have not declined since 1990 and about 2·7 million abortions are estimated to occur annually in this region. The vast majority of these abortions are unsafe, making them a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. A workshop was organised in Kampala, Uganda, in March, 2016, to address the challenges of implementation and expansion of access to comprehensive abortion care in east Africa. Here we summarise key action points needed to speed up implementation and expand access to comprehensive abortion care in east Africa, as identified by the workshop delegates.
Kenya and Uganda have restrictive abortion laws dating from the time of British rule. In both countries the constitution and penal code are not harmonised, leaving room for ambiguous interpretation of the legal environment. Absence of clear standards and guidelines specific to comprehensive abortion care leaves vital questions on health-care access and provision – such as roles, eligibility, and responsibility – unanswered. At the time of the workshop, discussions between the Ugandan Ministry of Health and stakeholders were ongoing, including efforts to bring religious leaders who opposed the standards and guidelines to the table. Meanwhile, in Kenya, the withdrawal of the standards and guidelines was being petitioned in court by civil societies.
Young women in particular struggle to access comprehensive abortion care, and delegates stressed that stigma and insufficient youth-friendly services across the east African region both need to be addressed…
Religious Fundamentalism and Access to Safe Abortion Services in Morocco
by the Moroccan Family Planning Association (MFPA) and Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), 2016 http://arrow.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Interlinkages-Between-Religion-and-SRHR_National-Report__Morocco.pdf .
Abortion is largely prohibited in Morocco, as is pre-marital sex, which is illegal under the Criminal Code. Abortion is only allowed to save the life of the mother, with spousal consent. Illegality also means there are presently no official statistics on the number of illegal abortions performed in Morocco (OMS 2013). Presently, the Criminal Code does not allow abortion in cases of pregnancy even in the case of rape, incest, or mental illness. Many women take desperate measures and seek abortion in unsafe conditions, face prospects of abandoning children, or resort to infanticide (WHO 2012).
Besides maternal deaths, the high numbers of abandoned children and of single mothers are significant social issues resulting from unwanted pregnancies and restrictive legislation about abortion. The adolescent population (15–24 years), growing in number, are increasingly vulnerable to the negative effects of illegal abortions. Pregnancies and births continue to increase for adolescent girls. This research study was carried out by the Moroccan Family Planning Association (MFPA) in partnership with the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Malaysia, to generate evidence on the nature and consequences of unsafe abortions in Morocco and how religious fundamentalism (in the case of Islam) prevents adequate policies and practices for safe abortion services, in order to facilitate advocacy among a range of stakeholders working on the issue...
The Legal and Policy Environment of Safe Abortion in Malaysia
by the Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM), 30 August 2016
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0XPZxu4ob6bZHJneEh4NHJ1elk/view
On the 21 March 2016, RRAAM in collaboration with the Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) held a policy discussion on "The Legal and Policy Environment of Safe Abortion in Malaysia". The discussion was attended by the various stakeholders including the government sector, namely from the Ministry of Health and Attorney General Chambers, representatives from the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society Malaysia (OGSM), international participants, health advocates, UNFPA Malaysia Country office, JAG and RRAAM representatives.
Among the many key discussion points listed in the introduction were the following:
1. It is timely for the Malaysian Medical Council to review the Code of Professional Conduct as its language creates unnecessary difficulties. The meaning of the term non-therapeutic abortion applies to abortions on demand. However, if a doctor can clearly document the grounds for the abortion, the doctor has performed a lawful abortion as the law overrides any professional code.
2. Doctors should take comfort in the fact that Parliament considers doctors reliable enough to entrust the burden on them. Doctors have the knowledge and training to assess each case and see if it is medically justified as falling within the framework of the law.
3. The Penal Code is a directory of criminal offences and ideally the section on abortion shouldn’t be there. However, even in India, they didn’t delete the similar section from their Penal Code but drafted new law which clarified the role of the doctor and superceded the provisions of the Penal Code by laying out certain presumptions that amount to injury to a women’s mental or physical health. This has made it easier on the doctors...
Desde fines del siglo xx el aborto ha sido objeto de intensos debates en los ámbitos de la política, los derechos humanos y la salud pública. Por implicar temas delicados y controvertidos, relacionados con la “vida”, la dignidad, la igualdad, la justicia y el derecho de las mujeres a decidir de manera libre e informada sobre su maternidad, el debate sobre el aborto y su despenalización exige más reflexión que opinión. No obstante, suele darse una polémica donde confluyen posturas ideológicas, religiosas, morales, éticas y jurídicas encontradas, así como intereses políticos contrapuestos que ya han impuesto legislaciones restrictivas que atentan tanto contra los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres como contra los principios de una sociedad laica y democrática. (Since the late 20th century, abortion has been the subject of intense debate in the fields of politics, human rights, and public health. Because it involves sensitive and controversial issues related to the “right to life”, dignity, equality, justice, and women’s rights to make free and informed decisions on when and whether to be a mother, the debate on abortion and its decriminalization requires further reflection. However, a controversial confluence of ideological, religious, moral, ethical, and legal positions, as well as conflicting political interests often interfere with them. The latter have already imposed restrictive laws that threaten the sexual and reproductive rights of women in contradiction to the principles of a secular and democratic society.)
A raíz de la aprobación en 2007 de la despenalización del aborto en la Ciudad de México y de la acción de inconstitucionalidad que se promovió contra ésta, la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación convocó en 2008 a audiencias públicas en las que se expusieron argumentos a favor y en contra de la reforma. Con el fin de contribuir a una reflexión rigurosa y fundamentada acerca de esta compleja cuestión, este libro analiza dichos argumentos desde la perspectiva del derecho a la salud y los derechos humanos, en el contexto de la política de población en México y de las evidencias científicas acerca del impacto de los marcos jurídicos en la salud y bienestar de las mujeres (en el mundo). A partir de este “debate histórico”, las autoras cuestionan las falacias que buscan limitar los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de niñas y mujeres, así como la incidencia de este tema en el actuar de políticos, legisladores y personal de salud frente a las realidades del aborto en México. (Following the 2007 adoption of a reform decriminalizing abortion in Mexico City, and the subsequent activities and advocacy against it by right-wing groups, in 2008 the Supreme Court of Mexico organized public hearings at which arguments were advanced for and against the reform. In order to contribute to a rigorous and informed reflection on this complex issue, this book analyzes these arguments from the perspective of the right to health and human rights, in the context of population policy in Mexico and considering scientific evidence on the impact of legal frameworks on women’s health and welfare globally.)
SECOND CALL: HELP FREE LEOBA AND JAMES in Papua New Guinea: Urgent Request for Donations to fund Appeal against Five-Year Sentence
AUS $700 HAS BEEN RAISED SO FAR – $10,300 STILL NEEDED
In early 2015, Leoba Davana and her husband, James Channel, terminated a pregnancy. Living in extreme poverty in a remote area of Papua New Guinea with two young children, no access to contraception, and having previously experienced a life-threatening pregnancy, they did not feel able to care for another child at that time.
Marie Stopes International, Safe Motherhood Alliance PNG, PNG Society of Obs/Gyn, Marie Stopes PNG, and IPPF ESEAOR are raising funds to support Leoba and James to pay for the costs of an appeal against the charges in the PNG Supreme Court, which would also serve to protect other women in PNG who have abortions.
