Choice Ireland

Ms Magazine blog
August 31, 2010

The European Pro-Choice Network, a new blog connecting pro-choice allies in Europe, has launched. Creator Sarah Diehl, director of the documentary Abortion Democracy, says it will help activists in EU countries support each other and make the topic of abortion access more visible.

Isn’t most of Europe already secure with legal abortion? Actually, no.

Thursday, 02 September, 2010
Radio Australia

Women in Laos have a one in 33 chance of dying as a result of childbirth.

That rate is among the worst in the region, considerably higher than neighbouring Cambodia, where it's one in 48 or Vietnam where it's one in 280. So why are so many women and their children dying? Many argue that a lack of midwives could be largely to blame. Now - after a 23 year break - Laos is re-introducing specialised mid-wifery training.

Presenter: Helene Hofman

Seer Press News
31st August 2010
by Eva Magno

Many women in the United States have been victims of unwanted pregnancy. Thus, many of them undergo abortion.

Most of the women who have an unwanted pregnancy would rather undergo abortion in their first trimester. But for some, they undergo second trimester abortion if they have a late decision on whether to undergo abortion or not. And, according to some researches, women who undergo second trimester abortion are forced because of various reasons.

www.irishhealth.com
30th August 2010
by Niall Hunter, Editor

The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) has backed a call from Choice Ireland for the morning after pill to be made available without a doctor's prescription.

Choice Ireland, a group of pro-choice activists, has called for emergency contraception to be made available-over- the-counter (OTC) after a report that a GP in Co. Kerry refused to prescribe it on "religious and ethical" grounds.

Liberating the pill: momentum gains to make oral contraceptives available over the counter

Friday, 27 August, 2010
Sherbrooke Record (Canada)

It's not addictive, it's easy to take and 50 years of use shows it's safe.

So why do women still need a prescription for the birth-control pill?

A move to make oral contraceptives available over the counter is gaining momentum in the United States - and any regulatory changes there would have significant ramifications for Canada.

Colombia Reports
26th August 2010

Fetal abnormality was the reason cited in 61% of abortions performed in Colombia between 2006 and 2009, since the procedure was legalized in cases of rape, severe malformation of the fetus, or risk to the life of the mother.

In the period there were 649 legal abortions in the country, according to a report released by the Inspector General's Office.

Of these terminations, 20% were due to risk to the life of the woman in question, while rape or incest was cited in over 18% of cases.

Warsaw Business Journal
27th August 2010

In order to circumvent anti-abortion laws in their home country, increasing numbers of Polish women are going abroad to have an abortion, according to a pro-choice group.

RH Reality Check

When President Obama imposed restrictions on abortion care in health reform, reproductive health advocates expressed alarm, arguing that reducing access to safe, legal, and affordable abortion care for poor and uninsured women not reduce abortions but instead either increase financial burdens on poor women or put them in physical peril, or both.

Now, experts note, we are beginning to see women take matters into their own hands to obtain a needed abortion. One example is increasing use of misoprostol.

Via ABC News:

feminist wire | daily newsbriefs
August 19, 2010

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning announced yesterday that he will not attempt to defend the state's new abortion screening law. Bruning has accepted a permanent federal injunction on enforcement of the law, which required women to submit to a full medical screening before seeking an abortion, according to the Associated Press. Brunings's office announced that the court proceedings would be too costly for a case that they believed they are unlikely to win.

Wall Street Journal
18th August 2010

Wisconsin is pushing to expand a controversial program that uses federal Medicaid funds to provide free birth-control pills, vasectomies and other forms of contraception to low-income people, an effort made possible by the federal health-care overhaul.