Category Archives: Abortion

GPs ask for all contraceptives to be subsidised and end to abortion ‘postcode lottery’

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Exclusive: ‘We need to do more to improve access to and affordability of the full range of contraceptive options,’ Senate inquiry told

All contraceptives should be government subsidised, Medicare rebates for IUD insertion should be increased and larger quantities of contraception pills should be dispensed at once to make abortion and contraception more accessible, the peak body for general practitioners says.

In its submission to the Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive healthcare, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners said there were significant barriers to reproductive care, particularly in rural and remote communities.

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Anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone defrocked by Vatican

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Pavone had been investigated for placing an aborted foetus on an altar and posting a video of it online

The Vatican has defrocked the anti-abortion US priest Frank Pavone for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” as well as “persistent disobedience” of his bishop.

A letter to US bishops from the Vatican ambassador to the US, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, said the decision against Pavone, who heads the anti-abortion group Priests for Life, had been taken and that there was no chance for an appeal.

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Argentinian court clears woman of killing her baby after obstetric emergency

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Accused had a gynaecological condition and was unaware she was pregnant, court told, as verdict hailed a victory by women’s rights activists

A woman in Argentina accused of killing her baby after suffering an obstetric emergency has had her case dismissed.

A court in Buenos Aires, cleared La China*, 43, after the prosecution withdrew its charge of aggravated homicide.

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Northern Ireland can create abortion clinic buffer zones, supreme court rules

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Unanimous judgment in UK’s highest court means Stormont assembly can proceed with abortion services bill

The Northern Ireland assembly can legislate to create buffer zones around abortion clinics to protect users and staff, the UK’s highest court has ruled.

The supreme court’s unanimous judgment means the assembly can proceed with the abortion services (safe access zones) (Northern Ireland) bill, which criminalises people who enter the specified areas and influence people attending clinics.

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France moves closer to making abortion a constitutional right

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Lower house approves resolution to guarantee access to ‘the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy’

France has moved a step closer to becoming the first country in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, after lawmakers approved a resolution in the lower house to guarantee access to “the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy”.

In a rare cross-party move, members of parliament from the left’s La France Insoumise party and Emmanuel Macron’s centrist coalition agreed on the wording of a clause that could be added to the constitution. It read: “The law guarantees the effectiveness and equal access to the right to voluntarily end a pregnancy.”

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Malta drafts law allowing abortion if mother’s life or health at risk

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Proposal follows outrage after pregnant US tourist was denied abortion despite partial miscarriage and threat to her health

Malta’s government has published a draft law that would ease the country’s strict abortion laws by allowing the termination of pregnancies if the mother’s life or health are at serious risk.

The proposed change in the law follows an outcry over the treatment of a pregnant American tourist in June, a case that sparked headlines worldwide.

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Rights group calls for Samuel Alito to be investigated after claims of leaked 2014 ruling

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Anti-abortion activist said supreme court justice revealed the landmark ruling on contraception and religious rights weeks earlier

A civil rights group issued a call Saturday for US supreme court justice Samuel Alito to be investigated over allegations that the judge leaked a 2014 landmark ruling involving contraception and religious rights at a private dinner with wealthy political donors.

The claim was contained in a New York Times article in which minister Rob Schenck, an anti-abortion activist, said he was told of the decision weeks before it was announced and had used the information to prepare a public relations push.

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A night of ‘hell’: abortion activists on their ‘inhumane’ detention in DC

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As abortion rights are rolled back, more citizens seeking access to reproductive healthcare may face similar treatment

Three women who peacefully protested against restrictions on abortion rights in the US supreme court were mistreated and detained in “inhumane” conditions after their arrest, they say.

Their experience shows unsettling treatment in a landscape where pregnant people, medical providers and others increasingly face criminalization after the Dobbs decision on reproductive care.

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Ohio’s partisan supreme court election could decide abortion’s future in state

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The midterms include key elections to the state’s highest court as the judicial system becomes increasingly politicized

In Ohio, a highly partisan fight over three state supreme court seats could determine the political direction of the court on a slew of important issues – particularly abortion.

With the US supreme court increasingly handing issues such as voting rights, abortion, gun rights and gerrymandering back to the states, state supreme court races are becoming more important than ever.

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Finnish MPs abolish need to see two doctors before abortion

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Pregnant woman’s request will be sufficient to obtain procedure without need for further reasons

Lawmakers in Finland have approved a legislative reform that will ease the process of getting an abortion in the country, which currently has the Nordic region’s strictest abortion law.

Finland’s 200-seat Eduskunta legislature on Wednesday voted by a wide margin 125-41 in favour of a law reform that will, among other things, abolish the need for approval from two doctors to terminate a pregnancy.

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Florida governor debate: DeSantis defends abortion ban with false claims

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Charlie Crist, former Republican who switched parties, puts governor on defensive during Florida’s sole gubernatorial debate

In the sole debate of the Florida governor’s race, the Republican incumbent, Ron DeSantis, was put on the defensive by his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, on subjects including abortion and DeSantis’s presidential ambitions.

Crist called Florida’s 15-week abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape or incest, “callous and barbaric”.

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Victoria Greens spruik family ties in election pitch as ageing millennials defy drift to conservatism

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Reproductive rights and parenting become hot topics in state election as parties on the left court women and young families

Kissing babies may be an election campaign trail cliche but for the Victorian Greens, it might also be sign their party – just like their supporter base – has grown up.

Announcing a plan for five days of reproductive leave for public sector workers this week, leader Samantha Ratnam, deputy Ellen Sandell and their candidate for the seat of Richmond, Gabrielle de Vietri, were joined by their children under two.

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French right votes down move to make abortion constitutional right

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Further proposals to be put before lower house next month after first attempt rejected in senate

The French government has said it supports making the country the first in the world to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, after the right-dominated senate voted down the left’s first attempt at a proposal.

Several political parties in France, from the left to the centrist lawmakers of Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, began pushing for abortion rights to be written into the constitution after the US supreme court’s decision in June to overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling, which recognised a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion and legalised it nationwide.

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Italian senator renews anti-abortion foetus rights proposal

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Maurizio Gasparri has higher chance of success this time after rightwing coalition’s election victory

An Italian senator has submitted a proposal for an amendment to Italy’s civil code that would recognise a foetus as a human being, which if passed into law could enable pregnancy terminations to be classified as murder.

Maurizio Gasparri, a politician with Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, which is part of the government led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy – a party with neofascist origins – expected to be sworn in next week, unleashed a barrage of criticism from members of the opposition when he presented his “rights of the unborn child” proposal to the senate.

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Abortion is key motivator for Democratic-leaning voters in US midterms, poll finds

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More than half claim they are more motivated to vote than in previous elections, with 50% of those people citing abortion

More than half of Democratic-leaning voters say abortion has become a crucial motivation for them to vote in next month’s US midterm elections, according to a recent poll.

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) conducted in September reveals that June’s supreme court decision to overturn Roe v Wade has put a fire under Democratic voters, with more than half claiming they are more motivated to vote than in previous elections, and 50% of those citing as their prime reason the ruling on abortion.

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Republican Chuck Grassley vows to vote against a national abortion ban

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The longest-tenured US senator joins a growing chorus of conservative lawmakers opposed to such a restriction

The longest-tenured Republican in the US Senate has pledged to vote against a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy which a prominent fellow party member and chamber colleague proposed last month, joining a growing chorus of conservative lawmakers opposed to that idea.

Chuck Grassley, who’s been one of Iowa’s senators since 1980 and is seeking an eighth term in his seat during November’s midterms, expressed his opposition to such a ban during a televised debate Thursday night with his Democratic challenger Mike Franken.

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Ohio court blocks six-week abortion ban indefinitely

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As litigation continues, abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy remain legal in state

The American Civil Liberties Union and other abortion rights groups have won a ruling from a lower court in Ohio that has indefinitely blocked the state’s ban on terminating pregnancies after six weeks.

In a statement released on Friday, the ACLU announced that Judge Christian Jenkins of the Hamilton county court of common pleas said that it would grant abortion providers’ and advocates’ request for a preliminary injunction against Ohio’s senate bill 23 (SB 23), a law that prohibits abortions starting at roughly a month and a half of pregnancy.

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Woman who said Herschel Walker paid for abortion also has child with him – report

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Unnamed woman conceived another child with Republican Senate candidate years after the abortion, according to Daily Beast

A woman who said Herschel Walker paid for her abortion in 2009 is the mother of one of his children, according to a new report, undercutting the Georgia Republican Senate candidate’s claim to not know who she was.

The Daily Beast, which first reported the abortion, said it had agreed not to reveal details of the woman’s identity.

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Andrew Thorburn resigns as Essendon CEO after one day over links to controversial church

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Essendon says City on a Hill’s values are in ‘direct contradiction’ with its own, as Daniel Andrews labels its views on homosexuality and abortion ‘appalling’

Andrew Thorburn has resigned as Essendon chief executive 24 hours after being appointed because his links to a church condemning homosexuality and abortion were in “direct contradiction” to the values of the AFL club.

The Bombers announced on Tuesday afternoon that Thorburn, despite not holding the same personal views as the City on the Hill movement for which he is chairman, felt he could not serve in both roles and had offered his resignation.

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Herschel Walker: anti-abortion Senate nominee denies media report he paid for abortion in 2009

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Republican candidate for US Senate in Georgia who has vehemently opposed abortion rights denies a media report he paid for an abortion for an anonymous former girlfriend in 2009, describing it as ‘a flat out lie’

A Republican nominee for the US Senate, who strongly opposes abortion rights, has denied a Daily Beast report that he paid for an abortion for a former girlfriend in 2009. Herschel Walker, a former American football player who is running for the US Senate in Georgia, called the accusation a “flat-out lie” and says he will sue the news outlet for defamation.

The Daily Beast published claims from a woman who says Walker paid for her abortion when they were dating. The woman, who was not named, claimed the allegation was supported by a receipt showing a $575 payment for the procedure, along with a get-well card, purportedly from Walker.

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