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Women's health and reproductive rights issues

August 16, 2023 | 7:53am
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Women's health and reproductive rights issues
August 16, 2023

The Pentagon will not change its policy of helping US troops access abortions to compromise with a conservative lawmaker stalling hundreds of military nominations, a spokeswoman says.

The standoff has left an unprecedented three branches of the US military -- the Army, Navy and Marine Corps -- with leaders serving on an acting basis, while a number of other important positions are also unfilled.

"We're not going to change our policy on ensuring that every single service member has equitable access to reproductive health care," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh tells journalists.  — AFP

August 5, 2023

A court in Texas issues a temporary order siding with a group of women and doctors who brought a lawsuit challenging the state's abortion bans. 

The case, which was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, argues that the way medical exceptions are defined in Texas' laws is confusing, stoking fear among doctors and causing a "health crisis."

In her written judgment, Judge Jessica Mangrum wrote she agreed the women were "delayed or denied access to abortion care because of the widespread uncertainty regarding physicians' level of discretion under the medical exception to Texas's abortion bans." — AFP

June 24, 2023

Republicans and Democrats offer competing visions for reproductive rights as the anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision ending nationwide abortion access threw a spotlight on a polarizing issue sure to dominate the 2024 election.

Thousands of religious conservatives gathered for a two-day conference in Washington to hear Donald Trump's main rivals for the Republican presidential nomination try to outflank the frontrunner, who has been criticized for flip-flopping on his position.

And in a split-screen moment in the capital, Democratic President Joe Biden was being feted by powerful family planning groups as he announced an executive order aimed at boosting access to contraception. — AFP

June 21, 2023

Non-governmental organization Network Plus Philippines Association Inc. issues a statement on Tuesday demanding a response on the dwindling and unstable supply of HIV Antiretroviral (ARV) Therapy, coming from the Department of Health and Philippines National AIDS Council.

Network Plus with its 40 members is demanding accountability, citing that providing supply is directed by the HIV Policy Act of 2018 or the Republic Act No. 11166. In its statement, it cited that the law states that these agencies "should not remiss in their duties to ensure that people living with HIV are given equitable access to quality ARV treatment."

April 22, 2023

The US Supreme Court temporarily preserves access to a widely used abortion pill, freezing rulings by lower courts that would have banned or severely restricted availability of the drug.

Two conservative justices disagreed with the decision in the most significant abortion case to reach the nine-member court since it overturned the constitutional right to the procedure 10 months ago.

In delivering a one-paragraph decision, the court did not comment on the merits of the case brought by anti-abortion groups seeking a ban on the abortion drug, mifepristone. — AFP
 

April 21, 2023

The US Supreme Court is poised to wade into the divisive battle over the abortion drug mifepristone with a ruling due Friday on lower court-ordered restrictions on the widely used pill.

The nation's highest court has until midnight Eastern Time Friday (0400 GMT Saturday) to decide how it will handle the most significant abortion case since it tossed out the constitutional right to the procedure last year.

The conservative-dominated bench had been scheduled to issue a ruling by Wednesday -- but it extended a stay freezing the lower court decisions for two days as it decides what to do next. — AFP

April 20, 2023

The US Supreme Court temporarily preserves access to a widely-used abortion pill, delaying its decision on lower court rulings placing restrictions on the drug.

Without commenting on the merits of the case, the nation's highest court extended an administrative stay freezing the lower court decisions until midnight Friday (0400 GMT Saturday).

The initial stay came after the Justice Department filed an emergency appeal asking the court to block the lower court rulings that would have banned or limited use of mifepristone, which accounts for more than half of the abortions in the United States. — AFP

April 19, 2023

France risks shortages of abortion pills as US states build up stocks during an intensifying legal and political battle over reproductive rights, the country's gender equality authority warns.

France gets most of its abortion drugs from a largely US-owned manufacturer, and supplies are already under pressure from a shortage in raw materials.

In addition, US states "are building up stocks to mitigate a possible halt in production or sales of mifepristone and misoprostol," France's High Council for Equality between Men and Women (HCE) says. — AFP

April 19, 2023

The US Supreme Court will step into the divisive and emotional battle over the abortion drug mifepristone Wednesday, when it is expected to rule on tough new court-ordered restrictions on the widely used pill.

It sets up the conservative-leaning bench for its most significant intervention on reproductive rights since a seismic ruling 10 months ago that stripped women in America of the constitutional right to a termination.

Since then, anti-abortion groups have refocused their efforts on banning mifepristone, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) back in 2000 and currently accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States. — AFP

April 15, 2023

The US Supreme Court temporarily preserves access to a widely used abortion pill, in an 11th-hour ruling preventing lower court restrictions on the drug from coming into force.

The nation's highest court issued an "administrative stay" freezing the rulings until Wednesday to allow for parties to submit their arguments to the tribunal -- scene of the latest battleground in America's war over reproductive rights.

The move came after the Justice Department filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to block the lower court rulings that would have banned or limited access to the drug mifepristone. — AFP

April 14, 2023

The US Justice Department says that it will go to the Supreme Court to appeal restrictions imposed on a widely used abortion pill in the latest round of a fierce battle over reproductive rights.

The decision by President Joe Biden's administration came hours after an appeals court rejected moves to ban mifepristone outright, but imposed a series of measures restricting access to the pill.

As the Justice Department prepared an emergency filing with the nation's highest court, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill banning most abortions in the state after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant. — AFP

April 11, 2023

Hundreds of pharmaceutical executives condemn a US judicial ruling outlawing a leading abortion pill, saying it threatens the development of needed medications in the United States.

Some 400 executives, including Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and top management at Novartis, Biogen and Merck, sign a letter criticizing Friday's ruling by Texas federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk that could block access to mifepristone nationwide.

"The decision ignores decades of scientific evidence and legal precedent," says the letter slamming Kacsmaryk's move to bar the drug 23 years after it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. — AFP

April 8, 2023

US President Joe Biden calls a federal judge's decision to suspend approval of an abortion pill as an "unprecedented step in taking away basic freedoms from women."

"My administration will fight this ruling," Biden says in a statement issued by the White House.

The ruling, if it were to stand, makes every regulated drug vulnerable to "these kinds of political, ideological attacks," Biden says. — AFP

July 9, 2022

US President Joe Biden brands the conservative-majority Supreme Court as "out of control" after its landmark ruling last month that overturned the nationwide right to abortion, in force since 1973.

"We cannot allow an out of control Supreme Court working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party to take away freedoms and our personal autonomy," he says.

"The choice we face as a nation is between the mainstream and the extreme." — AFP

July 3, 2022

Sierra Leone's government has approved a draft law that would decriminalize abortion in a country with one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates.

President Julius Maada Bio told the 10th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Freetown on Friday that his government had unanimously backed a bill on risk-free motherhood.

The law would guarantee the health and dignity of all girls and women of procreation age in the country, he added, after the US Supreme Court removed American women's constitutional right to abortion.

Bio said he was "proud" that Sierra Leone was implementing a "progressive reform" while women's rights in sexual and reproductive health were being overturned or threatened.

The conference's main organizers welcomed the move as a major step forward for women and rights groups in Sierra Leone. -- AFP

June 26, 2022

As conservative US states rush to enact abortion bans following the Supreme Court's bombshell decision, the fight over reproductive rights in America is poised to shift to a new battleground: abortion-inducing pills.

With little other means at its disposal, the Biden administration will focus on expanding access to abortion pills for women living in states where the procedure is banned or restricted — while those states and powerful conservative groups are sure to mount legal challenges to prohibit their use.

Hours after the high court shredded 50 years of constitutional protections for abortion rights on Friday, US President Joe Biden ordered health officials to make sure abortion pills were available to American women.

"I will do all in my power to protect a woman's right in states where they will face the consequences of today's decision," he said in televised address to the nation. — AFP

June 26, 2022

Fearing a data dragnet weaponized against women seeking abortions and those helping them, privacy groups are warning that pregnancy-related information online might present a serious legal risk and demanding tech companies take action in the wake of America's revocation of abortion rights.

As states move to ban or restrict the procedure after the US Supreme Court's landmark reversal, worries grew that social media posts or information on apps could be used by authorities to build cases.

For example, geolocation data or an internet search history might serve to incriminate women or those who help them in states that opt to ban abortion.

"This decision opens the door to law enforcement and private bounty hunters seeking vast amounts of private data," said Center for Democracy and Technology president Alexandra Reeve Givens.

"Tech companies must step up and play a crucial role in protecting women's digital privacy," she added.

Google, Facebook parent Meta and others track their users in order to sell ultra-targeted and personalized advertising space. 

Though that information is anonymized, it remains accessible to authorities with a warrant.

The US Supreme Court ruling on Friday gives all 50 states the freedom to ban the procedure, and at least eight have already done so. — AFP

June 25, 2022

The administration of US President Joe Biden remains committed to reproductive rights globally, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says, hours after the country's Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion in the United States.

"Under this Administration, the State Department will remain fully committed to helping provide access to reproductive health services and advancing reproductive rights around the world," Blinken says in a statement, adding that his agency will do everything to ensure that all its employees have access to such services. — AFP

Get the latest news on women's reproductive health care. Photo courtesy of Pixabay/hhach

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