Choice Ireland

By Jennifer Abel
guardian.co.uk
11 June 2010

The internet is in many ways superior to real life. Consider the matter of concern trolls: online, if they do too much damage to a comment board's ambience, moderators can step in and stop their shenanigans. But in real life the opposite holds true: the moderators in government are terrified of alienating the concern-troll voting bloc, so the mods codify bad-faith trollery into law and call it "compromise".

Source: http://www.care2.com/causes/womens-rights/blog/13-year-old-performs-abor...

A story out of Pennsylvania illustrates the tragic and extremely dangerous consequences of laws that restrict abortion access. A Polk Township 13-year-old girl performed a self-induced abortion using a pencil. During the process the girl became horribly sick, began having contractions, and ultimately delivered the baby at home.

TIME Magazine
Jun. 02, 2010
By Andrew Downie / São Paulo

By Jessica Valenti, Washington Post
Sunday, May 30, 2010

Sarah Palin sure is dropping the f-bomb a lot lately.

In a widely noted speech this month to the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion-rights group, Palin invoked the words "feminism" and "feminist" no less than a dozen times. She called for a "pro-woman sisterhood" and addressed the "sisters" in the audience. If it weren't for the regular references to gun rights, you might have thought you were listening to Gloria Steinem.

Governments Should Improve Response to Grievances, Monitor Progress
(New York, May 27, 2010) - Maternal and reproductive health care across the world is often sub-standard and inaccessible, yet many governments are not doing enough to address grievances and track problems, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch issued a roundup of its reporting on reproductive health issues in advance of the International Day of Action for Women's Health, on May 28, 2010.

AP
27th May 2010

Mexico's Supreme Court has upheld a law requiring hospitals to offer rape victims a morning-after birth control pill, rejecting an appeal that argued the pill's effect constitutes the equivalent of an abortion.

Abortion is regulated under state laws in Mexico, and most of the 31 states outlaw elective abortions. An appeal filed by the Jalisco state government says the federal morning-after law is an intrusion on states' rights.

26 May 2010

Abortion laws should be liberalised, more than half of NI's practising gynaecologists have suggested.

An academic survey claims that the majority of gynaecologists in Northern Ireland "do not support the current abortion law as it stands".

Many also said they would carry out abortions under certain conditions.

Sexual health charity FPA said this "rubbished" claims by anti-choice groups and politicians that "there is no place for abortion in NI".

Toronto Globe and Mail
26th May 2010

Better access to contraception, higher quality sex education and shifting social norms have contributed to a 36.9 per cent decline in Canada’s teen birth and abortion rate between 1996 to 2006, according to a report released today by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

“This is a good news story,” said Alexander McKay, lead author and research co-ordinator at the council.

By Max Pemberton
24 May 2010

If one topic in medicine is guaranteed to generate controversy, it's abortion. The mere mention of it immediately polarises opinion. As people take up opposing positions, they close their minds to any debate, preventing all meaningful dialogue. The controversy has been ignited again this week with news that Marie Stopes clinics plan to run what many have interpreted as a television advert for abortion.

Montreal Gazette

QUEBEC - Members of the Quebec National Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution Wednesday calling on the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper to respect free choice and access to abortion, to end its ambiguity on the issue and to stop cutting funding to women's groups who favour abortion. Members agreed to transmit the motion to the Senate and House of Commons in Ottawa. Carole Poirier, Parti Québécois MNA for Hochelaga-Maisonneuve in Montreal presented the motion after Cardinal Marc Ouellet called for re-criminalizing abortion.