News Roundup: October

Here’s a roundup of abortion-related news:

1. The Queensland Case.

Adele Horin has an excellent opinion piece about the Queensland case in the Sydney Morning Herald (Oct. 10) titled “Time to stop dragging our heels on abortion law reform." There's a lot in the piece that echoes the situation in New Zealand.

2. Scary news from Britain

Sarah Bosely writes (Oct. 16) in the Guardian of a scary case in Britain under which the UK’s Pro-Life Alliance has won an information tribunal ruling that the government must release data on late pregnancy terminations. Family planning groups fear that doctors and patients will be identifiable, moving Britain closer to U.S.-style targeting of doctors.

Full statistical data was being released until 2003 when an anti-abortion group homed in on the case of a late abortion performed because of cleft palate, and asked the police to investigate. Eventually the hospital and doctor involved were named and targeted. After that case, Department of Health stopped publishing full statistical data on late abortions. But now the Dept is being forced to reveal it.

3. Unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women a year.

Anti-abortion advocates, especially those in so-called developed countries that have accessible, safe abortion services, like to say the “outlawing abortion will cause backstreet deaths” argument is passé. But it’s not in countries where abortion is outlawed, as this article, also from The Guardian, makes clear.

The source material, and so much more, is in the wonderful report from Guttmacher titled “Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress” which is downloadable from the Guttmacher site.

4. A Way of Reining in Rogue Counselling Agencies?

Baltimore City Council is showing pro-choice advocates a possible new way of reining in rogue pregnancy counselling agencies – the ones that tell lies to women about abortion.

“The Baltimore City Council passed legislation [first week of Oct.] entitled the Limited-Service Pregnancy Centers Disclaimer Bill, that will require crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to disclose that they do not provide information or referrals for certain services. According to NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, the bill "requires Limited Service Pregnancy Centers, also known as Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs), to post a sign clearly communicating that the facility does not provide or refer for abortion or birth control services."

Apparently, it’s the first such legislation in the U.S. to create a standard requirement for information disclosure. So if national government won’t act, perhaps local governments will? For more, visit the feminist newswire.