Advocacy/Communications Job about Gender, Health and Protection and Human Rights, requiring 5-9 years of experience, from International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion; closing on 17 Jun 2021
Latin American feminists have been tirelessly working to eradicate criminal abortion laws from the regional map. Public prosecutors can give us a hand.
I received Lidia’s message on a late night. [ Her name has been changed to protect her privacy.]
“Hi, I am the woman from the news. Can we talk?,” it read.
I did not need further explanation. Lidia’s story had been all over Brazilian news and social media websites. Accused of two crimes inducing her own abortion and “hiding a corpse” she was facing up to six years in jail and reached out to me as a lawyer who has worked for reproductive rights in Brazil.
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In a year that saw access to reproductive health services diminish due to COVID-19 and associated restrictions, International Women’s Day 2021 provided a welcome opportunity to reflect on, learn about and advocate for important women’s health topics, including access to safe abortion. Unsafe abortion remains a huge cause of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.
The World Health Organization estimates that around 13% of maternal deaths are attributable to unsafe abortion, and that around 3 in every 4 abortions in Africa and Latin America are unsafe. According to the 2011 Demographic Health Survey, unsafe abortion was a leading cause of preventable maternal death in Mozambique, one of ten countries in FIGO’s Advocating Safe Abortion Project. In order to reverse this dramatic situation that affects girls and women, the new Penal Code of 2014 was approved (law Nr 35/2014 of December 31st), that was revised in 2019 (Law Nr 24/2019 of December 24th), which included,
Nisha Devi, who lost her baby due to anaemia
Credit: Cheena Kapoor
A loving husband, a steady income, and a healthy child on the way – at the beginning of last year Nisha Devi s future seemed bright. Then, her life started crumbling.
On March 22, with just four hours’ notice, a nationwide lockdown was imposed on India. As businesses and other activities ground to a halt, workers, especially migrant labourers like Devi s husband Sandeep Kumar, lost their livelihoods. Sandeep – along with hundreds of thousands of others – returned to their home villages to sit out the pandemic.
Days turned into months. With the family’s income reduced to almost nothing, there were days when the young couple had barely enough to eat. Then the government delivered the final blow by suspending its nutritional programmes.