Category Archives: Women

British scientist says US anti-abortion lawyers misused his work to attack Roe v Wade

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Giandomenico Iannetti, a pain expert at UCL, angrily denies that his research suggests foetuses can feel pain before 24 weeks

A University College London scientist has accused lawyers in the US of misusing his groundbreaking work on the brain to justify the dismantling of Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that legalised abortion nationally in America.

Giandomenico Iannetti said his research, which used imaging to understand the adult brain’s response to pain, had been wrongly interpreted to make an anti-abortion argument.

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Women who fought for US abortion rights in the 70s call for mass global protests

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Veteran activists say the overthrow of Roe v Wade would equate to murder, and should send warning signals around the world

It was over the Thanksgiving holiday, catching up with old high school friends, that Frances Beal heard that Cordelia had died. Like the now 82-year-old Black feminist and activist, her friend had left home to go to college, but she didn’t make it through her first year because, like anybody who wanted to terminate a pregnancy in America in 1958, she had been forced to undergo a backstreet abortion.

“She was dead because she’d had an illegal abortion. And it had gone bad. And if you take a look at the statistics, the number of woman that died from illegal abortions was tremendous,” Beal, who later joined the movement to legalise abortion, told the Observer.

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Calls for buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland after protests

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SNP urged to act by Scottish Labour and campaigners as fears grow threat to Roe v Wade in US could embolden anti-choice movement

The Scottish government is facing growing calls to impose buffer zones around abortion clinics amid fears that potential changes to abortion rights in the US are emboldening anti-choice protesters.

A leaked US draft supreme court ruling overturning Roe v Wade has sharpened anxieties over delays in implementing the SNP’s 2021 manifesto pledge to support local authorities to establish protest-free zones around clinics.

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Scottish medicines body to reassess menopause drug amid HRT shortage

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Davina McCall documentary highlights benefits and postcode lottery of previously rejected utrogestan

A sought-after hormone replacement therapy is being reassessed for use in Scotland after TV presenter and menopause campaigner Davina McCall revealed a postcode lottery in its prescription across the UK.

Amid an ongoing supply crisis of HRT products, McCall spoke to specialists about the benefits of utrogestan, a “body identical” micronised progesterone, which is derived from plants, in her Channel 4 documentary Sex, Mind and Menopause, broadcast on Monday.

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Erosion of abortion rights gathers pace around the world as US signals new era

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A leaked supreme court draft ruling shows the US is set to end 50 years of a woman’s right to choose. Elsewhere, the battle still rages

In 2022, abortion remains one of the most controversial and bitterly contested ethical and political battlegrounds. It is illegal for women to terminate their pregnancies in any circumstance in 24 countries, with a further 37 restricting access in any case except when the mother’s life is in danger.

As a leaked document signals that the US supreme court is poised to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, millions of American women face losing their access to legal abortions, joining millions more living in those countries rejecting a woman’s right to choose.

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‘An abomination’: how campaigners reacted to report on US supreme court’s draft decision on Roe v Wade

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Leaked initial draft majority opinion suggests court is poised to overturn ruling that legalised abortion across US

A leaked initial draft majority opinion suggests the US supreme court is poised to overturn the Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion nationwide, Politico reported on Monday.

The unprecedented leak stunned Washington. It holds the potential to reshape the political landscape ahead of US midterm elections in November. Following is some reaction to the report:

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Supreme court voted to overturn Roe v Wade abortion law, leaked draft opinion reportedly shows

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In an unprecedented revelation, a document written by Justice Samuel Alito says ‘Roe was egregiously wrong from the start’

The US supreme court has provisionally voted to overturn Roe v Wade, the landmark ruling that legalised abortion nationwide in America, according to a draft opinion reported on by Politico.

In what appeared to be a stunning and unprecedented leak, Politico said on Monday evening it had obtained an initial majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated in the court on 10 February.

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Anthony Albanese pledges to lower cost of PBS medicines and boost EVs at Labor campaign launch

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Opposition leader also vows to make gender equity an objective of the Fair Work Act if ALP wins federal election on 21 May

Labor has promised to reduce the cost of medicines on the pharmaceutical benefits scheme, roll out new charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and focus on improving pay equity for women if Anthony Albanese defeats Scott Morrison on 21 May.

The Labor leader used the party’s official election campaign launch in Perth on Sunday to unveil a promise to reduce the cost of drugs on the PBS by $12.50. Albanese told the party faithful gathered at Optus Stadium that meant the maximum price for medicines for millions of Australians would be $30.

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Dutch football pundit’s sexual abuse story on live TV sparks national outcry

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Former player Johan Derksen appeared to make comments about historic drunken incident to amusement of presenter

The Netherlands has been forced again to face questions about attitudes to sexual violence towards women after one of the country’s most famous football pundits appeared to admit live on air to assaulting an unconscious woman with a candle 50 years ago.

Dutch prosecutors opened an investigation after Johan Derksen, 73, made the comments on Tuesday on the talkshow Today Inside, to the amusement of presenter Wilfred Genee and fellow pundit René van der Gijp.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Women risking their health to source HRT amid shortages, UK GP chief warns

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Exclusive: Women forced to turn to black market or share drugs as concerns rise over mental and physical impact

The hormone replacement therapy (HRT) supply crisis must be resolved quickly because “so many women” are experiencing distress and some are risking serious side effects by using medication prescribed to others, the UK’s most senior GP has warned.

There have been acute shortages of some HRT products, which are used by about 1 million women in the UK to treat symptoms of the menopause. Some women have turned to the black market or are meeting up with other women in carparks to buy, swap or share medicines.

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Tory whips ‘asking questions’ to find MP behind Angela Rayner claims

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Speaker seeks meeting with Mail on Sunday editor as PM threatens to unleash ‘terrors of the earth’

Conservative whips have said they are trying to find out the identity of the Tory MP responsible for misogynistic attacks on Angela Rayner, with a view to taking disciplinary action after Boris Johnson threatened to unleash “the terrors of the earth” against the culprit.

The prime minister hit out at the “sexist, misogynistic tripe” in the Mail on Sunday, which ran allegations from an anonymous MP that Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, deliberately tried to distract Johnson by crossing and uncrossing her legs in the House of Commons.

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Venice Biennale: women outnumber male artists in main halls for first time

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Black women occupy prominent pavilions with some venues showing work from non-binary, disabled and trans artists

There is no shortage of art’s big beasts in Venice, as the world’s most prestigious international art event, the city’s biennale, opens to the public.

Georg Baselitz has made works to hang in the 18th-century stucco frames that once held portraits of the Grimani family in their palazzo. Marc Quinn is showing in the National Archaeological Museum. Anselm Kiefer has covered the walls of a colossal room in the Palazzo Ducale with paintings encrusted with shoes, clothing, metal, and even a ladder.

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Women with electric rickshaws combat Delhi’s toxic air – and its sexism

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Break into male-dominated public-transport helps tackle city’s pollution crisis and safety concerns

Monika Devi is thrilled to be driving her autorickshaw. The 35-year-old has two reasons to be particularly proud as she winds her way through New Delhi’s insanely congested streets.

She is one of the first women to be driving one of the three-wheeled taxis that swarm the roads of the Indian capital. And she is driving one of Delhi’s first e-rickshaws – part of the city’s drive to tackle its notoriously filthy air.

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Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $302m over pelvic mesh implant ads

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California court rules that company made misleading and potentially harmful statements in hundreds of thousands of ads

A California appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that Johnson & Johnson must pay penalties to the state for deceptively marketing pelvic mesh implants for women.

Johnson & Johnson had appealed in 2020 after superior court judge Eddie Sturgeon assessed the $344m in penalties against the US pharmaceutical company’s subsidiary, Ethicon.

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All-female newsroom launched in Somalia to widen media’s scope

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The pioneering Bilan project, funded by UN, will report on gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs

The first all-women media house in Somalia has been launched, creating a rare opportunity for female journalists in the country to research and publish stories they want to tell.

Led by one of the few female senior news producers in the country, the team of six will produce content for TV, radio and online media on issues such as gender-based violence, women in politics and female entrepreneurs.

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Spain bans harassment of women having abortions

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Activists could face up to a year in prison for trying to intimidate women into not having terminations

Spain has criminalised the harassment or intimidation of women going for an abortion under new legislation approved by the Senate on Wednesday.

The move, which involves changes to the penal code, means anti-abortion activists who try to convince women not to terminate their pregnancies could face up to a year behind bars.

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H&M pledges to end shopfloor sexual violence in India after worker killed

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Landmark agreement to protect garment workers from violence follows last year’s murder of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a Dalit woman

H&M has signed a legally binding agreement with one of its largest Indian clothing suppliers that pledges to end sexual violence and harassment against women on the factory floor after the murder of a young garment worker by her supervisor last year.

In January 2021, Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 20-year-old Dalit woman, was found dead on farmland near her family home after finishing a shift at Natchi Apparel, a factory making clothes for H&M in Kaithian Kottai, Tamil Nadu.

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Women-led UK firms struggle to attract equal investment, study finds

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The Gender Index aims to support growth of female-led companies, which tend to have lower turnovers

Companies led by women disproportionately attract less investment than those led by men, according to a large-scale study of female entrepreneurship in the UK.

The Gender Index, which was launched on Thursday, is a research study of all 4.4m active UK companies and allows users to track the impact of female-led firms on the economy via an online, interactive tool.

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Polish woman is first to face trial for violating strict abortion law

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Justyna Wydrzyńska, who gave a woman experiencing domestic violence miscarriage-inducing pills, could be jailed for three years

The first person to be charged in Poland for breaking the country’s strict abortion law by providing miscarriage-inducing tablets to a pregnant woman is due to face trial next week.

Justyna Wydrzyńska, from the Polish group Aborcyjny Dream Team (ADT), is charged with illegally aiding an abortion and faces up to three years in prison if she is found guilty.

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Taliban U-turn over Afghan girls’ education reveals deep leadership divisions

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A lack of teachers and school uniform issues blamed for school closures but confusion is a sign of differences in vision for Afghanistan’s future

Earlier this week, girls across Afghanistan arrived for lessons on the day secondary schools were due to open for them for the first time since the Taliban seized power. They were told to go home, and informed schools would remain shut indefinitely.

As international outrage grew at the U-turn, the official Taliban response was confused and contradictory. The group blamed a lack of teachers on the closures and said they first needed to create an appropriate environment for girls to study, and decide on appropriate uniforms.

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