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Press release

"How women can do a safe abortion with pills themselves" hotline launch in Buenos Aires, Argentina

WHAT: Press conference and street action.

WHEN: Thursday July 30, 2009, 17:00hs

WHERE: Cultural Center Archibrazo, C/ Mario Brave 437.

WHO: Lesbians and Feminists for the Decriminalization of Abortion and a network of feminist organizations from all over Argentina. The hotline is supported by Women on Waves (Netherlands) and the Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Género (Ecuador)

After the press conference, at 19:00 there will be a street action at the intersection of Corrientes and Callao for the legalization and decriminalization of abortion.

Background information:

In Argentina abortion is illegal except in cases where the health or life of the woman is endangered or when a mentally disabled or insane woman ("idiota o dementa") becomes pregnant after being raped.
According to the National Health Department of Health, 60% of pregnancies in Argentina are unplanned. Nationally, there are about 500,000 abortions per year, most of them clandestine. About 68,000 women enter the public hospitals each year with post-abortion complications, and annually around 100 of these women die. Unsafe abortion practices are principal the cause of death of pregnant women in Argentina.

The use of medicines to carry out safe abortions exists for more than twenty years as an established practice and is recommended by the World Health Organization and other agencies for its efficacy and low risk of death and complications when used correctly. Abortion using the medicine misoprostol is recommended by the World Health Organization as safe until the 12th week of pregnancy. There is no need for hospitalization; it involves little risk, with minimum subsequent medical care, equal to that following a miscarriage. Many women do not know that this method exi...

Tekst artikel zoals geplaatst in Nederlands Juristenblad 23 2009

Huisartsen moeten toegang krijgen tot de abortuspil: de voorgestelde BAZ-wijziging maakt de overtijdbehandeling zonder vergunning niet strafbaar

Dr. Gunilla Kleiverda, gynaecoloog-opleider Flevoziekenhuis Almere, voorzitter bestuur Women on Waves
Mr. Els H. Swaab, advocaat, Boekel De Neree
Drs. Rebecca Gomperts, directeur Women on Waves

Correspondentie: kleiverd@xs4all.nl

Inleiding
De toenemende populariteit van de abortuspil die sinds 10 jaar op de Nederlandse markt is roept de vraag op of de overtijdbehandeling (OTB) door huisartsen mag worden uitgevoerd.
Voorheen was een OTB alleen mogelijk door middel van een curettage. Bij een zeer jonge zwangerschap, zoals tijdens de OTB-periode, verdient vanuit wetenschappelijk oogpunt medicamenteuze behandeling met de abortuspil Mifegyne de voorkeur. Deze behandeling kan verantwoord in een thuissituatie plaats vinden. Momenteel wordt de medicamenteuze OTB, juridisch onverplicht, alleen in abortusklinieken en ziekenhuizen uitgevoerd. De laatste jaren neemt de interesse van huisartsen toe om de medicamenteuze OTB uit te voeren. Zowel de VNVA als de KNMG ondersteunen dit hulpverleningsaanbod.
Staatssecretaris Bussemaker stelde echter in februari 2008: ‘zowel de overtijdbehandeling als abortus volgens de Wet afbreking Zwangerschap (WAZ) mag alleen plaatsvinden in een kliniek met een vergunning. Of de overtijdbehandeling al dan niet onder de WAZ valt maakt hiervoor niet uit. De abortuspil is bedoeld een zwangerschap af te breken en de toepassing ervan valt daardoor onder de WAZ’. Ook de Inspectie voor de Gezondheidszorg (IGZ) uitte zich op dergelijke wijze. Huisartsen zouden volgens deze denkwijze een vergunning als abortuskliniek moeten aanvragen alvorens de medicamenteuze OTB te kunnen aanbieden.
Recent ging de Ministerraad akkoord met een Wijziging Besluit Afbreking Zwangerschap (BAZ) , suggererend dat de OTB onder de Wet Afbreking Zwangerschap (WAZ) zou zi...

Press inquiries: +56 984668855
Women needing help in Chile: 08-8918590.
To follow to activities surrounding the launch, please visit the Women on Waves website: www.womenonwaves.org/set-1936-en.html

Press release:

Today, on the International Day of Action for Women´s Health, is the public launch of an hotline that gives women information on how to safely abort using a medication known as misoprostol.

Where: Plaza de la Constitución, Santiago, Chile.

When: 13:30 hrs., Thursday, 28 May, 2009.

The launch is being carried out by the Red Salud Mujeres Chile, or Women´s Health Network of Chile, a network of feminist organizations from all over the country. Similar actions will be held in the cities of Temuco and Concepción.

The hotline is supported by Women on Waves (Netherlands) and the Coordinadora Juvenil por la Equidad de Género (Ecuador).

Press inquiries: +56 984668855

Women needing help in Chile: 08-8918590.

To follow to activities surrounding the launch, please visit the Women on Waves website: www.womenonwaves.org/set-1936-en.html

Further information:

Chile has one of the highest rates of abortion in Latin America ? between 120.000 and 160.000 women have abortions every year, meaning that about 1 in 3 pregnancies end in abortion (The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 1994: ¨Clandestina Abortion: a Latin American Reality.¨ Nueva York, Estados Unidos). Abortion is penalized in all possible circumstances, causing women having abortions to risk their health, lives, and freedom, because they can be denounced, mistreated, and imprisoned.

The Women´s Health Network of Chile seeks to facilitate access to information for women, to allow them to truly exercise their human rights. We state that
*1- Women have the right to freely and autonomously decide about their own lives and bodies
*2- The access to information is a human right
*3- Unsafe abortion is a public health problem and an issue of social justice.

For more information about abortion please see:

Women on Waves: ...

The European Court of Human Rights ruled today that article 10, that guarantees the freedom of expression, was violated when the Portuguese government send warships to prevent the Women on Waves ship from entering Portugal in 2004. With a ship, Women on Waves sails to countries where abortion is illegal. After sailing to international waters, early medical abortions can be provided safely and legally. National penal legislation, and thus also abortion laws, extends only to territorial waters; outside that 12-miles radius the law of the country where the ship is registered applies. Women on Waves’ mission is to prevent unsafe abortions and empower women to exercise their human right to physical and mental autonomy. Every year 20 million women resort to unsafe abortion services as a result of which 70.000 women die unnecessary.
The case was filed by Women on Waves and two Portuguese associations, Clube Safo and Não te Prives (for the press release and the ruling of the ECHR please visit echrblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/women-on-waves.html

The purpose of the ships visit to Portugal was to call attention to the consequences of illegal abortion, to give information and sexual health education and to catalyze change of the restrictive abortion law. Until 2007, when abortion was legalized Portugal was the only country within the EU that actively prosecuted women and doctors for illegal abortion.
When the ship arrived at Portuguese national waters, the Portuguese minister of Defense forbade the ship to enter national waters. Even though the ship did not violate any Portuguese, Dutch or international laws with the activities on board.
The minister of Defense even send two war ships to monitor the ship Borndiep during 24 hours a day while it was drifting in international waters. The majority of Portuguese population supported the campaign.
Early December 2004, only two mo...

Today several women with unwanted pregnancies contacted the medical staff of the ship seeking abortion services. The ship will sail to international waters again on monday. In international waters, the ship is ruled by Dutch law. Under Dutch law, women with unwanted pregnancies can take the abortion pill free of charge and without the permission of a psychiatrist that is required by Spanish law.

Press Information

From October 15-22: +34 610065157
Before and after October 15-22: +31652052561 or +31204650004
Or send an email to press@womenonwaves.org

Help

Spanish women in need of help can call (+34) 600050553

Program

For the program during the ship?s visit please click here

Women on Waves

Women on Waves works to guarantee the right to objective sexual education, availability of contraceptives and legal and safe abortion services. In countries where abortion is illegal, we call attention to the dire situation of women due to illegal and unsafe abortions. Every year 20 million women have to resort to invasive illegal and unsafe abortions as a result of which 68.000 women die unnecessary.
Women with early unwanted pregnancies will be able to receive the abortion pill legally and safely on board the Women on Waves ship outside the territorial waters of countries where abortion is illegal. Medical abortion is very safe and effective. Counseling, treatment and aftercare will be done according to High Dutch standards.

At the invitation of local women?s organizations, Women on Waves sailed before to Ireland in 2001, Poland in 2003 and Portugal in 2004, where abortion was legalized in 2007.

Abortion in Spain

In Spain, abortion is only legal in case the pregnancy poses a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman, or in case of rape or fetal malformations. Every year approximately 100.000 abortions take place in Spain, once a psychiatrist has determined that the woman's mental health is endangered.

There is a great lack of clarity about the Spanish abortion law. This recently led to the prosecutions of Spanish abortion doctors, the closure of abortion clinics and the investigation of Spanish women who had an abortions. Also, a Dutch woman from Boxtel, who had a late abortion in Spain in 2007, is still under investigation in the Netherlands.

The Spanish government has now appointed a committee to recommend changes to the abortion law.

By inviting of the Women on Waves ship, the Spanish organizations want to urge the Spanish government to:

- Remove abortion from the penal code. Abortion is a regular medical procedure.

- Stop the criminalization of wo...