Friday, November 2, 2012

Abortion rights developments in Uruguay and the EU

Recent developments in Europe and Uruguay reflect some progress in the realization of reproductive rights globally. The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Poland’s treatment of a 14-year-old who needed an abortion after she was raped, and a law was passed in Uruguay in October making abortion legal in the first trimester of pregnancy. Both of these stories mark positive developments in a country and a region that have become battlegrounds where women fight the Vatican’s denial of their most basic rights and where the Church will never retreat peacefully.

It’s important to recognize the people fighting for reproductive rights there (and here, for that matter), and to note that it does appear that the movement for reproductive rights is gaining momentum in Latin America especially. But reading the stories of girls and women in these two reports reminds you just how much suffering misogynistic cultures and laws are causing real people. I urge everyone to read them, especially the report about the Uruguayan law and its regional context.

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