Women hold signs as they take part in a demonstration against government plans to ban or limit the practice of abortion in Turkey on 22 June 2012, in Istanbul.
Reuters
Abortion appears to be illegal and clandestine in large parts of the Muslim world. Yet, women continue to challenge the status quo and archaic laws through their daily practices and activism.
Across the world, allegations of sexual assault have hinged on women’s credibility.
Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP
A century ago, Russian leaders staged mock trials on rape and abortion to educate citizens about new Soviet laws and values. Then, as now, victim-blaming and ‘he said, she said’ marred the verdict.
The view that sex-selective abortion is unethical is widely shared. But those who propose to use the law to prevent it need to supply a clear, compelling moral justification.
Cuba is avowedly secular. But as the country debates a new Constitution that would protect LGBT rights, churches have come out strongly against gay marriage — a sign of change on the Communist island.
Campaigns continue to have abortion decriminalised across Australia.
Peter Rae/AAP
Although there is a move towards decriminalising abortion in Australian states, there is a long way to go before abortion is treated like other medical procedures under the law.
The poor treatment of Vietnam War veterans, many of whom had PTSD, angered Natasha Zaretsky’s Midwestern students.
REUTERS/Mike Theiler
A scholar raised by leftist San Francisco parents in the 1970s ends up teaching in the heartland, where her students represent a very different kind of politics. What she learns from them is profound.
Argentina’s Senate voted down an abortion bill 38-31 after a 16-hour debate. The Catholic Church thanked senators for defending ‘life,’ but ever more Catholics here insist on women’s right to choose.
Argentina’s pro-choice movement, which began in 2003, hopes that the Senate will vote in favor of legalizing abortion on Aug. 8, 2018.
Abortion support is high in Argentina, even among Catholics. That puts the church, which opposes an abortion bill up for vote on August 8, in the awkward position of fighting a law its members demand.
Angela Williamson was sacked by Cricket Australia because of tweets criticising Tasmanian government policy.
Twitter/Peter Mathew
Williamson’s sacking over a tweet reveals not only problems with social media policies and freedom of speech, but the pervasive masculinity of sporting organisations.
An exam room at the Planned Parenthood South Austin Health Center in Texas.
REUTERS/Ilana Panich-Linsman
July marks 50 years of Pope Paul VI’s encyclical prohibiting contraceptive use. For many years prior to it, the church had not been so explicit on its stance. How did it become such a thorny issue?
Pro-life and pro-choice protesters rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court in June.
REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan
The Supreme Court struck down a California law requiring faith-based crisis pregnancy centers to post signs with information about family planning services.
People dressed as sperm cells at Papal Nuncio building in The Hague for the sixth birthday of the encyclical, ‘Humanae Vitae.’
Nationaal Archief
On the 50th anniversary of Humanae Vitae, an encyclical released by Pope Paul VI calling for prohibition on contraceptive use, a scholar describes the struggles of Catholic women, as well as their activism.