With healthcare facilities burned by the Covid-19 pandemic, some countries have eased access to the “abortion pills” mifepristone and misoprostol (RU-486), a change that could signal a long-term shift.
Although the United Nations has raised concerns about the rights of children, advocates say a baby hatch, like the one shown here in Karlsruhe, Germany, can save lives.
(Hardt Foundation)
Since an infant was found in a recycling bin last fall in Saskatoon, advocates have renewed their campaign for baby hatches, places mothers can leave newborns safely and anonymously.
Campaigners mark the occasion outside Stormont.
Niall Carson/PA
Westminster has pushed Northern Ireland to fall into line with the rest of the UK when it comes to women’s reproductive rights and marriage for same-sex couples.
Andrew Scheer is seen here with former prime minister Stephen Harper in the House of Commons in 2011.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Those who claim that Scheer’s positions on a woman’s right to choose and a same-sex couple’s right to marry are irrelevant so long as he refuses to reopen debate are missing the point.
The sequel to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic provides an apt moment to consider attacks on women’s rights across the world.
Hundreds of supporters of the bill to decriminalise abortion in NSW rallied outside parliament after conservative MPs delayed debate on the issue.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Although abortions have been legally performed in NSW for years, doctors have long called for greater clarity in the law in regard to the possible criminality of their actions.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey discusses a bill that would virtually outlaw abortion in the state.
AP Photo/Blake Paterson
An expert explains that many of the foundational Jewish texts assert that a fetus does not attain the status of personhood until birth.
A medical abortion is induced with medication, while a surgical abortion is performed with instruments in a clinic or hospital operating theatre.
JGA/Shutterstock
The medical abortion drug mifepristone has been available in Australian for the past 13 years but it’s still out of reach for many women who decide to terminate their pregnancy.
Women and men sitting with baby carriages in 1916 in front of The Sanger Clinic in Brooklyn, considered the first Planned Parenthood clinic.
New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection/Library of Congress
The Trump administration’s proposal to block federally funded organizations from providing comprehensive reproductive health care will deprive millions of people access to sexual health services.
Women in Mexico City carry a banner reading “Legal and safe abortion across Mexico” during the commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (November 25, 2018).
Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP
While the abortion debate continues worldwide, even in countries where it has long been legal, new drugs and telemedicine services could provide access to safe abortion beyond borders and laws.
Morningstar Mercredi, pictured on November 16, 2018, woke up from a surgery at 14 and discovered her developing baby was gone. What remained was an incision from her panty line to her belly button, cut without her permission.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Recent revelations of the coerced sterilization of Indigenous women in Canada are part of a long, complex and disturbing history – in which feminism became a fight to keep one’s own children.
Tanzania was one of the first sub-Saharan African nations to embrace family planning as a national development priority.
US Air Force
Tanzania was an early, ardent believer in family planning. Now it joins a growing number of developing nations that see potential advantage in having a huge and growing workforce.
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.
Pro-life and pro-choice protesters rallied outside the U.S. Supreme Court in June.
REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan
Before the pill, contraceptive options were extremely limited and generally required the cooperation of the male partner. Almost 60 years later, the pill remains the mainstay of contraception.
Some 200,000 Argentinean women marched on March 8 for International Women’s Day. Many proclaimed their support for legalizing abortion.
AP Photo/Tomas F. Cuesta
A new bill that would legalize abortion in Argentina has spurred surprise debate on the gender pay gap, parental leave and political representation. Will Argentinean women finally get their due?
A Canadian politician has announced he plans to introduce a private member’s bill to remove the legal prohibitions on payments to surrogate mothers and to sperm and egg donors.
(Shutterstock)
There are sound ethical reasons behind Canada’s decision to ban payment to surrogate mothers and sperm and egg donors in 2004. A new push to remove the restrictions ignores the risks.
Postcard of the Napa State Hospital in Napa, Calif., circa 1905. Over 1,900 Californians were recommended for sterilization while patients here.
The collection of Alex Wellerstein
About 20,000 Californians were once sterilized under state eugenics laws. New research shows Latinos were disproportionately targeted. Is there any opportunity today to address these wrongs?