Body Politics: The struggle for access to reproductive rights

Sonia Narang Q&A_03

How Filipino moms endure a maternity ward that's like 'a blaring supermarket deli counter'

Sonia Narang recently returned from reporting on reproductive rights in the Philippines for Across Women's Lives. She visited Manila's Fabella Hospital and shows us through her photography what it's like for Filipino women to endure one of the world's most crowded maternity wards.

How Filipino moms endure a maternity ward that's like 'a blaring supermarket deli counter'
Purvi Patel was sentenced March 30, 2015 for feticide and child neglect.

Purvi Patel faces 20 years in prison for feticide and child neglect

Purvi Patel faces 20 years in prison for feticide and child neglect
In Buddhist Myanmar, there's a view that abortion is wrong because "human life happens only in a blue moon, so we shouldn't waste a life like this."

Providing safe illegal abortions in Myanmar is a ‘karmic balance,’ says one doctor

Providing safe illegal abortions in Myanmar is a ‘karmic balance,’ says one doctor
Peru abortion rights sin

Can your vote be a 'sin'? Abortion brings the church into Peru's presidential race

Can your vote be a 'sin'? Abortion brings the church into Peru's presidential race
Ianka Mikaelle Barbosa, 18, with Sophia, 18 days old, who was born with microcephaly, at her home in Campina Grande, Brazil.

A new bill aims to make Brazil's abortion law even tougher

As Zika spreads, a Brazilian lawmaker is pushing for harsher jail sentences for abortions in cases of microcephaly.

A new bill aims to make Brazil's abortion law even tougher
A model holds up a female condom in Kolkata, July 21, 2006.

India's condom showrooms: Where women can talk freely about sex and health

In a country considered prudish, who would walk into a store that sells only sex stuff? Just about everybody.

India's condom showrooms: Where women can talk freely about sex and health
A priest holds up a banner reading "Brazil alive! Without abortion" while standing near an altar where Pope Francis later celebrated mass.

Thanks to Zika, now we know Latin America has the toughest abortion policies in the world

There are only six countries in the world that ban abortion under any circumstances. Four of them are in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Thanks to Zika, now we know Latin America has the toughest abortion policies in the world
Julie Morrissy

These activists are putting a face to a taboo word in Ireland: abortion

Irish voters approved a constitutional ban on abortion in 1983. Thousands of Irish women have traveled abroad for the procedure since then — and there's a new movement to get them to tell their stories.

These activists are putting a face to a taboo word in Ireland: abortion
yoaborte

Abortion: What some Mexicans wish Pope Francis would take head on

In a country where abortion is illegal in all but Mexico City, some women seek alternatives that they call lifelines.

Abortion: What some Mexicans wish Pope Francis would take head on
Pro-choice activists demonstrate during March for Life Fund's 37th annual march marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion decision in Washington January 22, 2010

The coming showdown: A year for reproductive rights

Two potentially sweeping Supreme Court cases set the stage for a seismic shift in the battle over abortion and contraception in 2016.

The coming showdown: A year for reproductive rights
March against house speaker Eduardo Cunha's abortion bill on International Day to End Violence Against Women in Rio de Janeiro

A mother’s fight for abortion rights in evangelical Brazil

One woman in Rio de Janeiro has personally discovered how much harder and more expensive it is to access an abortion in Brazil now than it was when she was younger. And she says that's a concern for Brazil's democracy.

A mother’s fight for abortion rights in evangelical Brazil
Pro-life protestors demonstrate in Belfast 2012. Even after today’s ruling abortion remains illegal in Northern Ireland in most circumstances.

Despite ruling, abortion is mostly illegal in Northern Ireland. And clinic protests are common.

In most of the United Kingdom, abortion has been legal since the 1960s. But in Northern Ireland it is still banned in almost all circumstances. But a new high court ruling says some of those restrictions violate human rights

Despite ruling, abortion is mostly illegal in Northern Ireland. And clinic protests are common.
Reproductive rights in Ecuador

As Pope Francis visits Ecuador, women there say they're losing ground

Ecuador's president Rafael Correa may be best known in the US as a self-described socialist. But he's also a conservative Catholic. On the eve of the first papal visit since the 1980s, women in Ecuador say they're losing hard-won rights under Correa's administration.

As Pope Francis visits Ecuador, women there say they're losing ground
The World

‘I didn’t think I’d be able to get pregnant the first time I had sex’

Aumpon Paloa didn't realize she was pregnant until she was about seven months along, which was about the same time her high school teacher noticed and recommended she leave school.

‘I didn’t think I’d be able to get pregnant the first time I had sex’
police scene purvi

Who is the doctor who paved the way to prison for Purvi Patel?

The doctor who initially called police to report his child abuse suspicions of Purvi Patel is listed as a member of a pro-life medical association. Patel was charged with child neglect and later with killing her fetus, and she was sentenced to 20 consecutive years in prison. This makes her the first woman in the US to be convicted and sentenced fon "feticide" charges for ending her own pregnancy.

Who is the doctor who paved the way to prison for Purvi Patel?
Purvi Patel is taken into custody after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide and neglect of a dependent on Monday, March 30, 2015, at the St. Joseph County Courthouse in South Bend, Ind.

Six disturbing medical issues in the case of Purvi Patel, and one hopeful one

Purvi Patel was convicted of feticide in Indiana. Her case has raised concerns that it could become a precedent to support more convictions of women who lose their pregnancies or self-abort. But the case also shows how complex pregnancy and gestation really are — and how little we in the US want to talk about unexpected outcomes.

Six disturbing medical issues in the case of Purvi Patel, and one hopeful one