EL SALVADOR

A new president but survivors of sexual violence are still forced to be mothers


This struggle is for all women

In the end, says Canada’s CBC News, “Imelda Cortez's story was too much even for El Salvador's famously harsh courts. It was making news around the world, and DNA had confirmed that the newborn she was accused of attempting to murder was the product of rape by a 70-year-old stepfather who had abused her throughout her childhood.” We reported on Imelda’s story in December 2018, when a judge threw the prosecution’s case out of court – but only after she had spent 18 months in prison.

Her story was reported in Canada just this past week. Why? CBC News reports that the Canadian government has contributed millions of dollars to El Salvador to assist in its fight against criminal gangs and to support training for police and the Salvadoran justice system. Former Canadian Minister of International Development, Marie-Claude Bibeau, said just before Cortez's final hearing last December that she was seeking more information about how Canada's assistance was being used. Her successor pledged to ensure that Canada’s ambassador would continue to attend these trials, raise concerns with the government, and continue to express the importance of ensuring women have access to justice.

Two other women’s cases are pending in the country. One, aged 31, gave birth to a stillborn baby. The other, aged 20, said she didn't know she was pregnant until she delivered in a bathroom.

STOP PRESS: A young, Conservative businessman, Nayib Bukele, took office on 1 June as president of El Salvador. He has named eight women to top government posts, seven of them as cabinet ministers, but it is not yet clear whether women’s issues are on his agenda.

SOURCE: CBC News, by Evan Dyer, 30 May 2019 ; BBC,  Agrupacion Ciudadana Twitter +visual

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CANADA

SOLIDARITY REQUEST: Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights



Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights believes that the coming years, including the federal election in 2019, will be the battleground upon which we either succeed in addressing historical gaps in access to abortion care in this country, or risk backsliding on the hard-fought gains achieved decades ago. We’re asking you to join us in building a well-coordinated intersectional, diverse and powerful movement poised to take action in response to threats to abortion and demonstrate widespread support for full and equal access to abortion care in Canada. Let’s hold the line on abortion rights. Join the resistance. #CommitToResist #ISupportActionCanada @@actioncanadashr  

Add your name to the petition: http://bit.ly/commitresist

SOURCE: Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights

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Canadian House of Commons gives standing ovation for abortion rights on 29 May 2019 – except for the Conservatives

Apparently 100 Canadian women had been sent to the USA for abortions since 2014 that they could not access in Canada, for unstated reasons.

At the same time, however, the Quebec government pledged to make abortions after 20 weeks accessible to women in the province, given what is happening in the USA. Bloc Quebecois MP Monique Pauzé asked for unanimous consent on a motion related to abortion.

But the Conservatives did not stand or applaud. Rachael Harder, the Conservative Status of Women critic who recently attended an anti-abortion rally on Parliament Hill along with 11 other Conservative MPs, did not appear to look up from her desk during the applause. 

SOURCE: Global News Canada, by Amanda Connolly, 29 May 2019

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MOROCCO

New abortion law reform bill tabled while six people go on trial for clandestine abortions



It has been four years since the King called for abortion law reform and more than a year since a bill was tabled in the parliament to accomplish just that. Touria Alaoui Skalli, a specialist in obstetrics & gynaecology and a member of the PPS majority party in the House of Representatives, has not given up and decided to table a bill once again. Her previous attempt was presented to the Social Affairs Committee in the presence of the Minister of Health Anass Doukali on 19 June 2018, but was “withdrawn” two weeks later and found itself in a pile at the Justice Committee, “among a multitude of law reform proposals that will never be discussed”.

In defending the new bill, she called for the provision of safe abortions in order to eliminate the need for clandestine abortions. She said an attempt to reform the Penal Code would take many years, so she chose the legislative path, in hopes it may succeed.  

Meanwhile, a so-called "clandestine abortion network" was broken up at the end of April in Marrakech, Moroccan media reported on 14 May. Two interns in medicine, a medical student and a pilot who imported anti-inflammatory drugs [probably misoprostol] from Spain, are among those arrested, said Omar Arbib, a member of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights. the man (AMDH). They are being prosecuted for illegally providing abortions and illegally importing drugs.

SOURCES: Jeune Afrique with AFP [+ PHOTO], 15 May 2019 ; Huff Post Maghreb, 17 May 2019

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MALTA

Debate on abortion law moves from Facebook to the highest levels of politics for European elections


Dr Alexander Clayman, 
Doctors for Choice Malta

The Nationalist Party took out billboard adverts across Malta championing their anti-abortion message and called the European election a “referendum on abortion”. They also accused the ruling Labour Party of secretly supporting greater abortion rights, thinking it would hurt their electoral chances. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was pressed to respond, and said the government doesn’t have a mandate to change abortion laws but then, during a media interview this month, said that it’s time for a “sober discussion” on this "important subject".

Lara Dimitrijevic, director of the Women’s Rights Foundation, says they have increased pressure to take the debate mainstream and are seeing more change than in the last 10 years since Ireland’s new law was passed. In early March 2019, the Foundation and other civil society organizations announced a pro-choice coalition Voice for Change with the Malta Humanist Association and Moviment Graffitti, calling for abortion laws to change.

In May, a group of 25 doctors, including gynaecologists, family doctors and paediatricians, formed Doctors for Choice Malta and joined the Voice for Change coalition. They argue that the current law stops them from counselling and speaking freely patients, even though they can provide some information, such as how to get an abortion outside Malta. Malta’s existing legislation results in a violation of human rights and denial of patients’ right to safe health services. This ultimately leads to poorer health outcomes." They believe that safe access to abortion is a healthcare issue.

SOURCE: Politico.eu, by Jillian Deutsch, 28 May 2019 ; Malta Today, by Laura Calleja, 8 May 2019 ; Malta Today, by Laura Valleja, 2 May 2019

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USA NEWS ROUND-UP



Standing outside the US Capitol Building on 22 May 2019, Congressional lawmakers announced the re-introduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act, which pushes back against the flood of abortion restrictions and the outright bans on access that have been moving at a record pace through state legislatures. The bill enshrines in federal law a woman’s right to receive abortion services and a provider’s right to [provide] abortion, said Rep. Judy Chu, a lead sponsor of the bill. It would put a stop to the state-based attacks that have been in the news constantly. It would block states from placing any medically unnecessary restrictions on abortion care – from medically inaccurate informed consent requirements to gestational limits. The bill already has 169 sponsors in the House of Representatives, which has a solid pro-choice majority. The Senate is another discussion. But it makes women’s health care rights a major battle zone for the 2020 election.

According to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute, 378 abortion restrictions have been filed so far across the country in 2019. In fact, to date more than 1,200 abortion restrictions have been passed in the last eight years. What stands out in 2019 is that 40% of these restrictions would ban abortion altogether. In a 2018 poll, 71% affirmed support for Roe v. Wade, including 52% of Republicans.

SOURCE: The Intercept, by Jordan Smith, 23 May 2019

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TO ALL CAMPAIGN MEMBERS:

If you are at Women Deliver, please send an email to Elise Denis-Ramirez (elise@safeabortionwomensright.org) to arrange a get-together there.