The change is one of the promises made by President Emmanuel Macron last year and is the first step in a legislative process that will still require a vote in the Senate in order to be passed. 

On Tuesday night, the French National Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of amending Article 34 of France’s constitution to include that “the law determines the conditions by which is exercised the freedom of women to have recourse to an abortion, which is guaranteed.”

“Tonight, the National Assembly and the government did not miss their rendez-vous with women’s history,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said.

Macron’s government is aiming to get the constitutional amendment passed by both chambers of parliament before getting it approved by all legislators in three-fifths majority of a joint session of parliament. 

In October, the French president said that his government would aim to make abortion rights constitutional by the end of the year. “In 2024, the right of women to choose abortion will become irreversible,” he wrote on his socials. 

A 2022 opinion poll from France showed that 89 per cent of respondents wanted abortion rights to be legislated under the constitution.

Earlier this month, an anti-abortion “March for Life” rally took place in Paris, with numbers soaring to 15,000, according to the organisers. 

Abortion in France was decriminalised over half a century ago, however there remains nothing in the constitution that guarantees abortion rights. If the latest constitutional amendments is passed, France will have a vastly superior approach to women’s reproductive rights compared to its surrounding countries: in Poland, pregnancies can only be legally aborted in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s health or life. Even in cases of severe fetal deformities, the Polish constitutional court ruled that women are not allowed to access abortion. 

In 2022, Hungry’s far-right government tightened abortion access, requiring women to “listen to the foetal heartbeat” before they can access the procedure. 

In Italy, a group of anti-abortion organisations have sought to enshrine a similar rule, collecting over 106,000 signatures in December in an attempt to force women to listen to the ‘foetal heartbeat’ before undergoing the procedure.

The post France’s National Assembly votes to enshrine abortion rights in constitution appeared first on Women's Agenda.

This “postcode lottery” can be particularly detrimental to Australians who live in regional or rural areas where there might not be adequate access to providers or services for reproductive healthcare.

“We want to make sure that regardless of your postcode, you can access the services wherever you need, and that there’s pathways to do that,” says Professor Deborah Bateson, an internationally renowned clinician and researcher in sexual and reproductive health, speaking to Women’s Agenda.

Professor Bateson is among many advocating for the government’s support in an ongoing Senate Inquiry into reproductive healthcare in Australia. 

“Contraception is really one of the most effective ways to empower women,” she says. “To empower women to be able to join the workforce to be able to earn money to complete their education– we really want to make sure that every woman has that choice, so that she can make that choice for herself.”

The Senate Inquiry report into ‘Universal access to reproductive healthcare’ was released in May of last year and placed a great emphasis on the role of Long-Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) such as intra-uterine devices (IUDs) or implants in improving the health, social and economic outcomes for women in Australia. 

LARC options are all more than 99 per cent effective and there is a rapid return to usual fertility as soon as LARC are removed. More benefits to these options- hormonal implants, hormonal IUDs and copper IUDs- include that they are long lasting and don’t require people to do anything else to prevent pregnancy.

A number of recommendations were made in the report to encourage greater take-up of LARC, including increased Medicare reimbursement, a new Medicare item number for contraceptive counselling, enhancing training for health care professionals and increasing the number of helath care professionals that are able to insert/remove LARC devices, improving school education programs and collecting more comprehensive data about unplanned pregnancies. 

In Australia, Professor Bateson says LARC uptake is falling behind other countries. The lastest national data suggests around 11 per cent of women using contraception would use a LARC method like an IUD or implant. She notes that cost is one of the key barriers for women in Australia, whereas in other countries, such as Sweden, LARC is free. 

Disjointed referral pathways, a lack of trained providers and a less than optimal experience of the LARC insertion for many women is also contributing to the low uptake rate in Australia. 

“Nurses are putting in IUDs in family planning clinics very effectively, very efficiently, with great skill and quality, but there’s no scope of practice for nurses– in the general practice setting it’s very limited,” says Dr Bateson. “There’s no remuneration pathway, so we’ve got a whole unused workforce, who could actually be very effectively filling these gaps, particularly in rural areas. 

To address these barriers, Professor Bateson points out that “we’ve got to really look at those policies around supporting nurses, we’ve just got to have greater exposure to training in LARC methods and methods of reception at university and colleges in postgraduate training.”

Adding to the importance of education around LARC and other contraceptive options, she says that all too often, misinformation is passed along to patients, such as “who’s suitable for an IUD”. 

“We know that sometimes it’s perceived that young women who haven’t had children aren’t suitable for an IUD and we know that that’s not the case,” she says. “So we need to overcome that misinformation.” 

Ultimately, Professor Bateson says that the issue around access to contraception boils down to the critical need to inform women and allow them to make their own choices. 

“We know that unintended pregnancies are around about 30 per cent,” she says, adding that she wants patients to “be able to have the choice of using a method of contraception that’s going to suit them because there’s lots of different choices of contraceptive methods and it’s not one size fits all”. 

Implementing the recommendations found in the Senate’s report is a critical first step to improving reproductive healthcare in Australia, and Dr Bateson, alongside other advocates, is urging the government to offer support as soon as possible– including before the next federal budget in May 2024.

She says there’s a buzz in the reproductive health and sexual wellbeing sector around the potential of these inquiry recommendations to create real, widespread, positive impacts for women in Australia. 

“We had our parliamentary, sort of roundtable, and there were many doctors, nurses, service managers, providers there, and there was a great excitement by the sector about these recommendations,” she says, adding that there’s “a real will to make this happen, to improve things for women”.

“Everyone’s very aware of the gaps and it’s just wonderful that everyone’s actually pulling together in the same direction. Everyone’s got a shared agenda.”

The post Australia’s uptake of long-acting contraception is falling behind other countries. Here’s why appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Out of the 38 countries that have integrated sexual and reproductive health rights into their climate plans, only 23 reference maternal and newborn health, while only 15 reference gender-based violence. 

This alarming data comes out of the report, “Taking Stock: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Climate Commitments: A Global Review”, released today by UNFPA in collaboration with Queen Mary University London.

The report– a global first– examines the climate plans of 119 countries to establish how access to contraception, gender-based violence support services and maternal health care are integrated into climate adaptation goals. 

There’s been plenty of research showing climate change acts as a risk multiplier for women and girls.

Extreme weather caused by climate change increases food insecurity which exacerbates the risk of stillbirth and severely impacts maternal and newborn health. The report shows that women and girls make up the majority of the malnourished in countries where famine persists, such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan.

It’s also been shown that heat exposure can increase infant and maternal mortality as well as pose risks to pregnant women and those experiencing menopause.

Meanwhile, climate-related displacement can disrupt access to family planning facilities and gender-based violence protection services.

The report lists only nine countries that include a description of policies or interventions to address climate-related increases of gender-based violence– the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Sierra Leone, the Comoros, Seychelles, Costa Rica, Jordan, Tunisia and Guinea.

“The climate crisis is not gender-neutral. In those countries most at-risk, women and girls are disproportionately affected even though they have contributed the least to the global climate emergency,” says UNFPA Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem. 

“Highlighting emerging evidence of the impacts of climate change on the health and wellbeing of women and girls – from increased poverty and food insecurity to poorer maternal health outcomes to increased risk of gender-based violence and harmful practices – this review is a timely reminder of why it is so critical that countries prioritize sexual and reproductive health and rights in their climate strategies.”

These disproportionate climate impacts highlight the need for women to be represented at the table, discussing sustainable and inclusive solutions. 

And with the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 28) set to begin in Dubai this November, UNFPA is calling on countries to commit 1 per cent of their climate finances to sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The post ‘The climate crisis is not gender neutral’: Women are missing from most national climate plans appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Mexico’s supreme court ruled that laws prohibiting abortion are unconstitutional and a violation of women’s rights. It’s a significant decision that follows a recent trend across Latin America that has seen a widening of abortion access.

The decriminalistion of abortion in Mexico is a huge mark of progress for the largely Catholic country, and follows years of advocacy from the Latin American abortion rights movement known as the “Green Wave” – named after the green bandanas carried by protesters.

“The legal system that penalises abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional since it violates the human rights of women and people with the ability to carry a fetus,” the Mexican supreme court wrote in a statement on social media.

Olga Sánchez Cordero, a Mexican senator and former Supreme Court justice, said that the decision represented an advance toward “a more just society in which the rights of all are respected”.

There are still 20 states (out of 32) that criminalise abortion in Mexico, however all federal agencies will now be obligated to provide abortion healthcare services to those who want it. It will mean millions more women and pregnant people will be able to access abortion.

Two years ago, a decision was made by the supreme court that the state of Coahuila must remove abortion from its criminal code, setting a precedent that had flow on effects across Mexico. Last week Aguascalientes, located in central Mexico, became the 12th state to decriminalise abortion. Mexico City was the first state to decriminalise abortion, 16 years ago.

After the supreme court made its decision on Wednesday, former president of the supreme court, Arturo Zaldivar, said: “The green tide continues to advance. All rights for all women and pregnant people! Until equality and dignity become customary!”

In recent years, other Latin American countries like Colombia and Argentina have decriminalised abortion and made it more accessible.

The post Mexico’s supreme court decriminalises abortion appeared first on Women's Agenda.

 The MS-2 Step medication was previously only able to be prescribed by a doctor with specialist certification and dispensed by registered pharmacist. 

The decision by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to scrap restrictions on the abortion pill is a significant move that should make accessing pregnancy termination much easier for those who need it. 

Dr Nicole Higgins, President of the The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has welcomed the changes by the TGA.  

“This is a huge step forward to improve access, particularly for those living in rural and remote communities,” she said.

“As a GP in a regional centre, I know all too well that there are significant barriers to reproductive care in rural and remote areas. These services are vital, and they must be affordable and accessible for everyone who needs them.

“The TGA’s changes will enable greater access to medical abortion for women throughout Australia and will reduce unnecessary red tape for the GPs who provide these essential services.”

From August this year, MS-2 Step will be able to be prescribed by any healthcare practitioner with appropriate qualifications and training, according to the changes by the TGA. Restrictions on dispensing the medication have also been lifted, meaning any pharmacist can stock it.

“The TGA’s decision will assist in addressing important access issues for patients who require this medication,” the TGA said in a statement.

The changes were informed by expert advice from the Advisory Committee on Medicines, an independent committee with expertise in scientific, medical and clinical fields and including consumer representation.

Dr Higgins said the changes will mean GPs are better placed to offer support to those seeking an abortion. 

“GPs are often the first port of call for people seeking support for unplanned pregnancy, because they know and trust their GP, and more so in rural communities where the local GP is often the only health service available,” she said. 

“It is extremely important. Access to safe medical or surgical abortion services for women is part of a holistic approach to reproductive health. This is essential, regardless of a woman’s income or where she lives.”

The post Medical abortion pill set to become much easier to access appeared first on Women's Agenda.

When the American legal precedent protecting women’s right to an abortion in the United States, Roe versus Wade, was overturned last year, women around the world felt anxious.

In Australia, despite abortion being legal, there was increasing concern about women’s ability to access abortion. This led to a Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive health care.

This inquiry has now concluded. A key recommendation is that: “All public hospitals within Australia […] provide surgical pregnancy terminations, or timely and affordable pathways to other local providers.”

This recommendation has been welcomed by abortion advocates around the country. But why is a recommendation like this necessary? Why don’t hospitals already provide abortions?

A safe, common procedure

Abortion is a safe, routine procedure that nearly one in five Australian women who have ever been pregnant will undergo by the age of 45.

Abortions can be provided either medically or surgically. A medical abortion is a medically induced miscarriage. In Australia, the medication needed to have an abortion is registered for use until a woman is nine weeks’ pregnant.

Many women prefer a medical abortion as the medication can be taken and the abortion occurs in the woman’s own home.

But a medical abortion is not for everyone. Some women may not be able to manage it at home, don’t have a safe and private space, or have health issues that preclude a medical abortion.

Some women miss the nine-week cut-off for a medical abortion because they don’t realise they are pregnant, or they make the decision to abort after nine weeks (this sometimes happens because of a relationship breakdown when the woman finds out she is pregnant), or because of other issues such as domestic violence, rape, drug use or mental health issues.

Surgical abortions usually involve a woman having a suction curette to remove pregnancy related tissue from the uterus under sedation in a hospital or day surgery centre.

Some women prefer this approach as it’s quicker. A surgical abortion also gives women the opportunity to have an intrauterine device (IUD) inserted for future contraception.

It’s important for women to have a choice about the type of abortion they have and for surgical abortion to be also be available for women who find out later in the pregnancy there is a serious problem with the fetus.

So why is access so patchy?

Many hospitals, particularly those outside major metropolitan areas, don’t currently provide any abortions, let alone surgical ones.

Our research has found many hospitals discourage referrals from general practitioners.

There have also been reports of hospitals turning away women who need care in the uncommon event of complications following a medical abortion.

The reasons for this are complex. Abortion remains very stigmatised in our community. Few gynaecologists want to perform the procedure.

Training on how to provide abortion has not been a routine part of gynaecology or GP training and there is a shortage of trained providers, particularly for complex cases.

Hospitals haven’t felt obligated to provide abortions. To date, no-one has held them accountable for providing this essential service. There has also not been any regional-level planning to ensure services are locally available.

Some health professionals are also conscientious objectors who believe they should not be forced to provide abortions.

What does it mean for women needing an abortion?

As the Senate inquiry report states, it’s a postcode lottery. Many women don’t know how to get an abortion, what’s available or where to go. Some will look online or go to their GP.

If they decide on a surgical abortion, their local public hospital may not offer this and so their only option is a private clinic. Many of these clinics have closed in recent years and more are open very limited hours or staffed by fly-in-fly-out teams, which means they can be very difficult to access.

Women may need to travel long distances to get a surgical abortion. This means taking time off work, organising childcare (as many women who have an abortion already have children and arranging accommodation. This all comes with significant out-of-pocket costs.

How can we fix the system?

The Senate inquiry recognises many public hospitals, particularly women’s hospitals, that receive public funding are faith-based and will not allow abortions to be delivered at their premises, even if the doctors and nurses want to offer them.

The inquiry’s key recommendation seeks to ensure all public hospitals provide surgical abortions – and if not, at least ensure women in their catchment can access timely and affordable care via other local providers.

The inquiry also recommends that contraception and abortion access (particularly for rural and regional women) is made available via publicly funded community and hospital-based services, with regional-level planning, training and accountability.

To make this a reality, there has to be consequences if it doesn’t happen. Funding should be tied to provision. For full transparency, hospitals should also be made to issue public reports that spell out how many and what type of abortions they provide each year.

Funding also needs to be offered to train health professionals to deliver the services to ensure that now and into the future, we have a health workforce capable of delivering the services needed.

GPs need to know that if they provide a medical abortion, their local public hospital will provide support and see patients if and when needed.

GPs also need to have clear referral pathways so women can get into surgical abortion services in a streamlined and timely way.

Finally, women need assistance to navigate to abortion services when they need to. The inquiry recommends governments develop coordinated campaigns and education materials to improve women’s knowledge of their rights and options for accessing effective contraception and abortion care. It also recommends establishing a national information services like the Victorian 1800myoptions hotline.

While the recommendations are a step in the right direction, action is needed to translate these recommendations into actual services on the ground. The government’s response is eagerly awaited.

The post Australian women’s access to abortion is a postcode lottery. Here’s what needs to change appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Residents will be able to access medical abortions up to nine weeks gestation at a range of medical clinics, including trained GPs, telehealth services (such as Tele-Abortion, or Abortion Online — a Medical Abortion at home, with the Abortion Pill, for women who can’t easily access in-clinic abortion services) and MSI Australia — which offers surgical abortions up to 16 weeks gestation.

At this stage, free abortions will only be available through MSI Australia, while the ACT government works on expanding the initiative to other providers. 

The announcement comes eight months after the ACT Government pledged a $4.6 million commitment over four years to remove out-of-pocket costs for those seeking the healthcare service. 

ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said that free access to abortions is the “first step” towards expanding people’s reproductive rights. 

“We’re really proud that the ACT is becoming the first jurisdiction to provide people with free surgical and medical abortions for anyone who needs it, up to 16 weeks,” Stephen-Smith said.

“This is about providing women and people who need an abortion with access to the right supports and services without stigmatisation or financial burden.”

“Abortion is a health service and not being able to access appropriate care in a timely way can have a detrimental impact on a person’s mental and physical health as well as socioeconomic consequences.” 

“The ACT Government will continue to invest in appropriate, accessible and equitable healthcare to ensure all Canberrans can access the right care, at the right time.” 

Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Women Yvette Berry said giving citizens access to free abortions was a key commitment in the ACT Women’s Plan 2016-26 — an initiative that also plans to cover the cost of providing selected patients with long-acting reversible contraception including the intra-uterine device (IUD).

“The ACT Government is committed to ensuring that women and people who can become pregnant can be in control of and make informed decisions about their health care based on what is best for them and their circumstances,” Berry said. 

CEO of independent think tank, Women’s Health Matters, Lauren Anthes is enthusiastic about the new initiative, though admits she wants to see more done to ensure everyone has access to the service, no matter their life circumstance. 

“We’ve learnt through our research how different barriers work together to make it really challenging to access what is a time-sensitive medical procedure,” Anthes told ABC. 

“We also have an issue in the ACT at the moment around gestational limits, which means that women who are over 16 weeks’ gestation can’t access surgical abortions — and that is due to facility and workforce limitations.” 

“It means that [those patients] will still need to go to NSW, and that’s a critical problem.”

MSI Canberra Clinic Nurse Unit Manager Melissa Ryan is excited about helping deliver free abortion care for people in the ACT.

“Abortion care is basic healthcare and it is wonderful that the ACT has stepped up and become the first jurisdiction in Australia to fund free access to abortion care,” Ryan said in a Facebook post. “We regularly see people who are struggling to pay for the cost of abortion care and this will make such a huge difference to the lives of countless people.”

“It means women and pregnant people in the ACT can make an informed decision without having to worry about the financial burden it will have.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by MSI Australia (formerly Marie Stopes Australia) (@msiaustralia_)

The implementation of this latest initiative comes as ACT Legislative Assembly released its Inquiry into Abortion and Reproductive Choice report which analysed the experiences of those seeking the service in the territory. 

The report made 18 recommendations to the government, including subsidising access to long-acting reversible contraception, working with universities to include reproductive health care as part of core medical training courses, promote awareness of the different types of abortion care amongst the general public and trialing a policy for reproductive health and wellbeing leave in ACT Government workplaces. 

The post ACT becomes first jurisdiction to make abortions free to residents appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Senator Larissa Waters announced the push for the inquiry on Wednesday, which also marks International Safe Abortion Day.

Senator Waters said in the aftermath of Roe v Wade in the United States, it is critical Australia looks at abortion access issues, calling for national consistency.

“Access to safe, legal abortion remains a postcode lottery in Australia, with different rules, costs and availability depending on where you live,” Senator Waters said on Wednesday.

“Some people are having to travel for hours at significant expense to access this basic healthcare service.”

The Greens said the inquiry will investigate physical and financial barriers to access to contraceptives, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and termination services. It will also look at how to improve quality and availability of these services, particularly in the regions and remote Australia where access is typically more restricted than in major cities.

“In remote and regional areas, like Townsville and Mackay, many women are forced to travel long distances, at significant expense, to access to sexual and reproductive health services including long-acting contraception, medical and surgical abortions and counselling,” Senator Waters said.

“Abortion remains expensive and inaccessible for many, especially those who already face massive healthcare barriers, including First Nations people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.”

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Health Minister Mark Butler said the government is committed to looking at how it can improve access to reproductive health services, although it was “not on the agenda right now”.

“It is a commitment in the National Women’s Health Strategy and a number of us, me, the Minister for Women Senator Gallagher, Ged Kearney, the Assistant Minister for Health…have said that we’re committed to that element of the Women’s Health Strategy to raise equity of access to reproductive health services,” Butler said.

“It’s not on our agenda as health ministers quite now, we’re focused right now on COVID and some of the measures going to potentially a national cabinet through the first secretaries’ group. But we’re working internally on how we will progress that element of the National Women’s Health Strategy.”

The push for the inquiry into abortion access comes as a new report from women’s health company Organon reveals that almost 40 per cent of pregnancies in Australia are unintended. Women in rural areas are 1. 4 times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy, while rates of unintended pregnancies are disproportionately higher for First Nations women and those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

The report shows a massive $7.2 billion of direct and indirect costs were incurred in 2020 as a result of unintended pregnancies, which are categorised as pregnancies that are either mistimed or unwanted. According to Organon, the average cost of an unintended pregnancy is $36,384.

The post ‘Postcode lottery’: Greens push for Senate inquiry into abortion access appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Ocasio-Cortez was with a group of Democratic politicians, including Ilhan Oar, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush, who gathered at the steps of the US Capitol with other protestors and marched to the supreme court.

The group of protestors were shouting “our bodies, our choice” and “hands off our bodies”, among other chants. They proceeded to sit down in the middle of the street, before being escorted away by police. The action was led by organisers and activists with CPD Action.

Capitol police said they made 35 arrests, including 17 members of Congress, for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding”.

Ocasio-Cortez posted videos of the protest on social media, writing that of the 17 politicians arrested, 16 were women. She also posted an image of the $50 fine she received from the police.

“This is my charge and fine. Worth it! #BansOffOurBodies” she wrote on her Instagram story.

Fellow Democrat Ilhan Omar shared a video of herself being escorted from the protest by police, and wrote on Twitter: “Today I was arrested while participating in a civil disobedience action with my fellow Members of Congress outside the Supreme Court.”

“I will continue to do everything in my power to raise the alarm about the assault on our reproductive rights!”

Cori Bush posted a photo of a group of Democrat women on Twitter, writing, “The Supreme Court will not stop us. Even though they arrested us, we won’t stop our organising, agitating and legislating for justice. We got us.”

72-year-old Jackie Speier was also among the group of Democrats arrested. She later wrote that she had never been arrested before, but she could “hear the late, great Congressman John Lewis imploring me to ‘make some noise and get in good trouble.’”

“We must be willing to speak out for patients who have the right to basic health care, and the fundamental right to bodily autonomy,” she said in a statement.

Image: Cori Bush/Twitter

The post Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats arrested at abortion rights protest appeared first on Women's Agenda.

“If you really want to end abortion then I would invite you to co-author a bill that I’m considering next year that would mandate that each male, when they reach puberty, get a mandatory vasectomy that’s only reversible when they reach the point of financial and emotional stability,” Dollens said in the Republican-led state legislature.

“If you think that’s crazy, then I think that maybe you understand how 50% of Oklahomans feel, as well.”

Oklahoma has just passed what is considered the most restrictive abortion law in modern history in the United States, banning all abortions from fertilisation (with exception in cases of rape or incest but only when the victim has filed a police report), and allowing private citizens to enforce the law, and punish those who pay for it.

Dollens, who strongly opposes the new laws, later told MSNBC his idea of enforcing reversible vasectomies for young men to prevent unwanted pregnancies was a “tongue in cheek” suggestion, designed to call out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who supposedly champion personal freedom.

“The GOP has a super majority in Oklahoma and their policies continue to get more and more extreme. The party of so-called limited government and personal freedom has become the party of intrusion,” Dollens said.

“To fight fire with fire as they say, I proposed a tongue in cheek proposal to mandate vasectomies to just prove a point of how absurd and ridiculous it is to regulate one’s bodily autonomy. I don’t believe that government should regulate anyone’s reproductive system.”

Dollens said there was no data to back up that this law is what the majority of Oklahomans want.

“There is a carve out for rape and incest, only if the victim has a police report. It allows people to tell on others, present their own law suits. It’s really draconian and we’re really only one of three states that has done this,” he said.

United States Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has also spoken on Oklahoma’s abortion law.

“Today’s action by the Oklahoma legislature is the most extreme effort to undo these fundamental rights we have seen to date,” said Jean-Pierre. “In addition, it adopts Texas’ absurd plan to allow private citizens to sue their neighbors for providing reproductive health care and helping women to exercise their constitutional rights.”

The post A Democrat in Oklahoma suggests reversible vasectomies for young men in ‘tongue in cheek’ response to abortion law appeared first on Women's Agenda.

Of course, I had heard a lot about ‘black umbrella’ protests – feminists fighting for women’s rights – but my life wasn’t impacted, so I didn’t have any reason to fight. I believed my country was good for women – we can work, live, earn money, join political parties, access healthcare and maternity leave. I thought everything in my country was kind of fine. Until now. 

Being always aware and careful about pregnancy and contraception methods wasn’t enough. Unfortunately, an unplanned pregnancy happened to me. In the worst possible moment, I saw four positive pregnancy tests.

That day, stress and insomnia became my norm. I tried to think straight and handle the whole situation. I was sure I could do it somehow. After all, I lived in a civilised country with technology, wi-fi, electric cars– so surely I’d find a safe way to stop an unwanted pregnancy.

I didn’t know how naive I was.

Confirming the pregnancy was fast and easy and the doctor was kind and gentle. During the consultation however, she told me: “I see the baby on your USG test”. For me “baby” was the last word I wanted to hear.

When I left the doctor’s office and started calling my friends, one of them reminded me that during the women’s protests, a phone number appears for girls who seek abortion. I called the hotline – managed by two activists – and I found out that I had two options: order pills via post and manage things independently at home, or go to a professional clinic in another country. 

I was absolutely shocked! Such a simple thing as making decisions about my own body turned into a ridiculous mission. I started feeling like I was in a third world country. I didn’t have time to decide what I wanted, I knew I may need the pills so I ordered them in advance. Nobody was able to tell me how long I should wait– maybe one week, maybe 5 weeks. What would the package look like?

During that period, I felt like time ran much slower than usual. I was overthinking my decision and checking my mailbox everyday. To kill the time I started walking alone. It was March 2021, when pro-life campaigns were absolutely everywhere in Poland. I felt like I was slowly going crazy, seeing huge billboards illustrating embryos emblazoned with slogans like, “don’t kill them”.

They wanted to make me doubt my decision, but they only succeeded in making me hate them.

After two weeks, I finally found the letter in my mailbox. It was anonymous and the pills were wrapped inside in a newspaper. Before it came I was studying this topic a lot. I was perfectly prepared and everything was ready. Even so, the fact I had to do this at home, with the risk of possible complications made me terrified.

The whole abortion was an easier process than I expected and I got through that experience by the book. After everything, I knew it was the best decision. I lost the fear, stress and compulsive thoughts.

I expected the last step to be just a formality. I went to the hospital to make sure I was not pregnant anymore. During the few hours of waiting I was searching for words to tell the doctor what I did. I was scared to say those words.

When I saw a middle-aged woman inviting me to her office, I suddenly started feeling unsafe. Without thinking, I turned on the voice recorder on my smartwatch. I mentioned the pills I took and was immediately told that I had broken the law. The doctor told me she’d need to notify the authorities.

She didn’t ask me about my health, or how I was feeling, only in the process of how I’d accessed the pills. When I asked her if I was still pregnant, she told me, “I will not comment on it”.

She said she wanted to keep me in the hospital for a few days but I ran away. The doctor didn’t cause me doubts. She made me even more angry. 

At that moment, I knew I had nothing to lose. I could help other people and maybe educate doctors how to treat people with a minimum level of respect. I published the recording anonymously on YouTube and it went viral in one day. Every newspaper in Poland started publishing articles about me. When the whole situation became a big national affair, and my name had been published, I was scared of other people’s opinions. How would my friends, workmates and family react?

Unexpectedly, most people supported me. Left-wing organisations offered me huge help and I felt the power of words, they’re always chanting at protests – “you will never walk alone”. These words gave me strength that I didn’t even worry about the haters and people calling me a murderer. 

That day I started feeling like a part of a crew. I knew I had done something really important for my society, for girls my age and I stopped being ashamed of my story. Now, I share it every time I can, like on tonight’s episode of SBS Dateline.

Sometimes I think that I’m grateful it happened to me and opened my eyes to the ridiculous, sad and dramatic situation in Poland. If none of this happened I’d still stand aside without any awareness. I hope people of this country don’t need to experience what I did, but listen to stories of others and continuously fight for equal rights and respect, because Poland really needs it.

You can watch Klaudia’s story tonight on SBS Dateline at 9.30pm.

The post An unplanned pregnancy made me realise that my country wasn’t ‘fine’ for women appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The court has taken up a new case concerning Mississippi’s bid to enforce a ban on abortions after fifteen weeks of pregnancy. It will be the first time the Supreme Court’s new conservative majority – now including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a devout Christian – has presided over a case on abortion rights.

Justice Amy Coney Barret was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2020 by former US President Donald Trump, replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg who was considered a liberal champion of women’s rights. The court is now ruled by a conservative 6-3 majority.

The case is considered pivotal in establishing how inclined the court’s new conservative majority will be in restricting abortion rights in the United States.

In 1973, the Supreme Court established the constitutional right to abortion in the United States in Roe v Wade, which was reaffirmed in 1992. While the Mississippi abortion case is not asking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, it is viewed by many as a clear threat to abortion rights. A favourable decision for Mississippi could lay groundwork for permitting further restrictions.

Nancy Northup, the president of the Center for Reproductive Rights in the US, said in a statement that “alarm bells are ringing loudly” regarding the threat this case poses to reproductive rights.

“The Supreme Court just agreed to review an abortion ban that unquestionably violates nearly 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and is a test case to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Northup said.

“We will keep fighting to make sure that people do not lose this fundamental right to control their own bodies and futures.”

Northup said abortion is nearly impossible to access for people in states like Mississippi where lawmakers have been “chipping away at the right to abortion for decades”.

During his term as president, Donald Trump appointed three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, including Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch. Six of the court’s nine justices now lean conservative.

Last year, when Justice Ginsberg was still alive, the court struck down a restrictive abortion law in Louisiana that imposed restrictions on doctors who perform the procedure. Justice Kavanagh and Justice Gorsuch, Trump’s appointees, voted in dissent.

The supreme court will hear the Mississippi case in their next term, beginning in October and will likely deliver a decision in 2022.

The post US Supreme Court to hear case that could majorly set back abortion rights appeared first on Women's Agenda.