Last week’s developments on abortion were head-spinning: Ohio’s governor signed into law one of America’s most restrictive abortion bans, following the passage of similar “heartbeat laws” in Kentucky and Mississippi that criminalise abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. Meanwhile, legislators in Texas debated a bill that would classify abortion as homicide, making it punishable by death.
As the United States – under the increasingly cruel, anti-woman Trump-Pence administration – continues to restrict access to abortion and considers expanding penalties, to the point of death, remarkable things are happening in other countries.
In equal mind-spinning measure, the government of South Korea decreed their 66-year-old ban on abortion illegal. In Rwanda, President Paul Kagame pardoned 367 women and girls incarcerated for illegal abortions, and a ministerial order was published greatly reducing barriers to accessing legal abortions.
