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US Christian right has taken aim at LGBTIQ+ rights, sex education and abortion in Africa – new book

US Christian right has taken aim at LGBTIQ+ rights, sex education and abortion in Africa – new book

A new book – The US Christian Right and Pro-Family Politics in 21st Century Africa – reveals the role played by some right-wing US Christian groups in trying to spread their social and moral influence in African countries. Sociologist Haley McEwen, who specialises in the subject, answers five questions about her book. HALEY MCEWEN, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Gothenburg What do you want readers to take away? I hope that readers can better understand the reasons why lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) rights, abortion and sexuality education have become so highly politicised in African countries (and other…
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How will U.S. abortion ruling impact other countries?

How will U.S. abortion ruling impact other countries?

EMMA BATHA and DIANA BAPTISTA THE U.S. Supreme Court's decision to revoke a woman's right to abortion could threaten efforts to liberalize laws in other countries and fuel calls to roll back progressive legislation, reproductive rights experts say. They warned that the court's bombshell ruling on June 24 would embolden anti-abortion groups and lawmakers in Africa, Latin America and beyond. It could also hurt funding for sexual and reproductive health services in developing nations, rights experts said. "When America sneezes, the world catches cold," said former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, chairwoman of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and…
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Freed after 10 years in prison for abortion, woman seeks new footing

Freed after 10 years in prison for abortion, woman seeks new footing

LIAMAR RAMOS SARA Rogel, a Salvadoran woman who spent 10 years in prison on charges of violating the Central American country's harsh abortion ban when she terminated her own pregnancy, is trying to get her life back after being released last week. Rogel, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison, was arrested in October 2012 after going to a hospital with bleeding caused by what she said was a fall at home. But she ​was prosecuted for having an abortion. She was released on June 8 from a jail in Zacatecoluca, 35 miles (56 km) southeast of San Salvador,…
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Polish abortion ban seen triggering wider retreat on women’s rights

Polish abortion ban seen triggering wider retreat on women’s rights

SOPHIE DAVIES  POLAND’S decision to ban most abortions in the face of mass protest is emboldening like-minded neighbours, campaigners say, predicting a retreat on women's rights across eastern Europe. The October 22 ruling outlaws any termination due to foetal defects, ending one of the few remaining grounds for a legal abortion in Poland and sparking two weeks of demonstrations. It has also stirred interest among like-minded neighbours of largely Catholic, conservative Poland, campaigners say, voicing fears of a knock-on effect for millions of women in Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Belarus and Romania. "Behind these latest moves, lies a profound contempt for…
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Proposal to ease Malawi’s strict abortion laws faces religious opposition

Proposal to ease Malawi’s strict abortion laws faces religious opposition

CHARLES PENSULO  LAWMAKERS in Malawi are preparing to debate a bill that would ease the country's tight restrictions on abortion, but they face stiff resistance from powerful religious groups. Malawi currently allows abortion only when it is necessary to save a woman's life and has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, in part because so many women resort to dangerous backstreet terminations. Now some lawmakers are pushing for a bill that would allow abortions in cases of rape, incest, or where the pregnancy endangers the mother's physical or mental health, to be tabled in parliament…
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Kenya condemns women to ‘death by unsafe abortion’, campaigners warn

Kenya condemns women to ‘death by unsafe abortion’, campaigners warn

NITA BHALLA THOUSANDS of women are dying every year in Kenya due to botched backstreet abortions, campaigners have warned, 10 years after the introduction of safeguards to abortion access when a woman's life is in danger. Kenya's 2010 constitution broadened access to abortion, permitting it when a woman's life is at risk or in case of an emergency, and guaranteeing the right to life and reproductive health services. But a report by the Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR) released ahead of the anniversary on Thursday said disregard for the provisions was fuelling stigma, resulting in the deaths of thousands of…
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