The Women's March for the Decriminalization of Abortion took place on 18 March 2017 in Luanda, Angola. The march was organized by a group of women from civil society, including several members of the Ondjango Feminista collective. [1] The march began at 10:00 am at the Santa Ana Cemetery, in homage to the women who died because of clandestine abortions (unsafe abortions), and ended at 2:00 pm at Largo das Heroínas. [2]
The organizers of the march considered unconstitutional the approval of the proposal for a Penal Code that criminalizes abortion, without any kind of exception, passed on 11 March 2017 in the National Assembly. In this proposal, the previous exceptions for abortion were eliminated (unviability of the fetus, pregnancies that put the mother's life at risk and pregnancies resulting from rape). The proposal called for the criminalization of abortion, stipulating a sentence of four to ten years. [3]
The march was supported by prominent figures such as Isabel dos Santos, Ana Paula Godinho, Aline Frazão, and Mihaela Webba. [4]
Abortion laws vary widely among countries and territories, and have changed over time. Such laws range from abortion being freely available on request, to regulation or restrictions of various kinds, to outright prohibition in all circumstances. Many countries and territories that allow abortion have gestational limits for the procedure depending on the reason; with the majority being up to 12 weeks for abortion on request, up to 24 weeks for rape, incest, or socioeconomic reasons, and more for fetal impairment or risk to the woman's health or life. As of 2022, countries that legally allow abortion on request or for socioeconomic reasons comprise about 60% of the world's population.
Chile's abortion laws have undergone significant changes in recent years. Prior to 2017, Chile had one of the strictest abortion laws globally, prohibiting the practice altogether. However, since then, abortion has become legal in certain circumstances.
Abortion in Brazil is a crime, with penalties of 1 to 3 years of imprisonment for the pregnant woman, and 1 to 4 years of imprisonment for the doctor or any other person who performs the abortion on someone else. In three specific situations in Brazil, induced abortion is not punishable by law: in cases of risk to woman's life; when the pregnancy is the result of rape; and if the fetus is anencephalic. In these cases, the Brazilian government provides the abortion procedure free of charge through the Sistema Único de Saúde. This does not mean that the law regards abortion in these cases as a right, but only that women who receive abortions under these circumstances, and the doctors, will not be punished. The punishment for a woman who performs an abortion on herself or consents to an abortion performed by another outside these legal exceptions is one to three years of detention. The base penalty for a third party that performs an illegal abortion with the consent of the patient, ranges from one to four years of detention, with the possibility of increase by a third if the woman comes to any physical harm, and can be doubled if she dies. Criminal penalties fixed at four years or less can be converted to non-incarceration punishments, such as community service and compulsory donation to charity.
Abortion in Argentina is legal as an elective medical procedure during the first 14 weeks from conception. The abortion law was liberalized after the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Bill was passed by the National Congress in December 2020. According to the law, any woman can request the procedure at any public or private health facility. Doctors are legally bound to either perform it or, if they are conscientious objectors, refer the patient to another physician or health facility. Only three other Latin or South American countries legalised abortion on request nationwide before Argentina did: Cuba in 1965, Guyana in 1995 and Uruguay in 2012. According to polling in 2021, around 44% of Argentines support the legalization of abortion on request; other polls showed 50–60% of Argentines opposed the bill.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Angola have seen improvements in the early 21st century. In November 2020, the National Assembly approved a new penal code, which legalised consenting same-sex sexual activity. Additionally, employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been banned, making Angola one of the few African countries to have such protections for LGBT people.
Since 2021, abortion has no longer been a federal crime in Mexico. The criminal law in Mexico varies by state. On 7 September 2023, the Mexican Supreme Court unanimously ruled that penalising abortion is unconstitutional, setting an important precedent across the whole country. Before 2019, abortion had been severely restricted outside of Mexico City, where it was legalized on-request in 2007. As of August 2023, abortion is available on request to any woman during the first twelve weeks of a pregnancy in Mexico City and the states of Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Coahuila, Colima, Baja California, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur, Quintana Roo, and Aguascalientes. However, even in states where abortion is legal, there continue to be women in pre-trial detention for murder due to spontaneous miscarriage.
Afro-Portuguese(Afro portugueses or Lusoafricanos), African-Portuguese(Portugueses com ascendência africana), or Black Portuguese are Portuguese citizens or residents of Portugal with total or partial ancestry from any of the Sub-Saharan ethnic groups of Africa.
Abortion in Colombia is freely available on request up to the 24th week of pregnancy, due to a ruling by the Constitutional Court on February 21, 2022. Later in pregnancy, it is only allowed in cases of risk of death to the pregnant woman, fetal malformation, or rape, according to a Constitutional Court ruling in 2006.
Abortion laws in Portugal were liberalized on April 10, 2007, allowing an elective abortion to be provided if a woman's pregnancy has not exceeded its tenth week. There is a three-day waiting period for abortions. President Aníbal Cavaco Silva ratified the law allowing abortion, recommending nevertheless that measures should be taken to ensure abortion is the last resort. Despite the liberalization of the laws, as of a 2011 survey, many doctors were refusing to perform abortions – which they are allowed to do under a conscientious objection clause. Abortions at later stages are allowed for specific reasons, such as risk to woman's health reasons, rape and other sexual crimes, or fetal malformation; with restrictions increasing gradually at 12, 16 and 24 weeks.
Abortion in Spain is legal upon request up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and at later stages for serious risk to the health of the woman or fetal defects.
Abortion in Liechtenstein is illegal in most circumstances with limited exceptions in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at risk, or where the pregnancy has resulted from a sexual offence. Religion in Liechtenstein is mainly Roman Catholic, which is reflected in the faith of the ruling Princely House of Liechtenstein and in the country's laws and culture around pregnancy.
Abortion in Costa Rica is severely restricted by criminal law. Currently, abortions are allowed in Costa Rica only in order to preserve the life or physical health of the woman. Abortions are illegal in almost all cases, including when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest and when the foetus suffers from medical problems or birth defects. Both social and economic factors have led to this legal status. It remains unclear whether abortions are legal to preserve the mental health of the woman, though the 2013 United Nations abortion report says Costa Rica does allow abortions concerning the mental health of a woman.
ADPF 54 is a landmark case of the Supreme Court of Brazil. The rapporteur, minister Marco Aurélio Mello, voted in favor of decriminalization of abortions involving anencephalic fetuses. The minister considered it unconstitutional the interpretation that interrupting a pregnancy of anencephalic fetus is a crime according to the Penal Code of Brazil:
Aborto é crime contra a vida. Tutela-se a vida em potencial. No caso do anencéfalo, não existe vida possível. O feto anencéfalo é biologicamente vivo, por ser formado por células vivas, e juridicamente morto, não gozando de proteção estatal. [...] O anencéfalo jamais se tornará uma pessoa. Em síntese, não se cuida de vida em potencial, mas de morte segura. Anencefalia é incompatível com a vida.
Abortion is a crime against life. The potential life is protected. In the case of the anencephalic, there is no possible life. The anencephalic fetus is biologically alive, being composed of living cells, and juridically dead, not warranting state protection. [...] The anencephalic will never become a person. In short, it is not about caring for a potential life, but an assured death. Anencephaly is incompatible with life.
Women in Portugal received full legal equality with Portuguese men as mandated by Portugal's constitution of 1976, which in turn resulted from the Revolution of 1974. Women were allowed to vote for the first time in Portugal in 1931 under Salazar's Estado Novo, but not on equal terms with men. The right for women to vote was later broadened twice under the Estado Novo. The first time was in 1946 and the second time in 1968 under Marcelo Caetano, law 2137 proclaimed the equality of men and women for electoral purposes. By the early part of the 1990s, many women of Portugal became professionals, including being medical doctors and lawyers, a leap from many being merely office employees and factory workers.
Aline Frazão is an Angolan singer-songwriter.
The Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy Law was approved by the National Congress of Argentina in 2020, legalizing abortion in Argentina. The first draft of the bill was created in 2006 by the National Campaign for the Right to Legal, Safe, and Free Abortion, which sought to have Congress consider it in seven different occasions, to no avail.
Communist and Marxist ideologies generally allow state-provided abortion, although there is no consensus among Communist parties and governments about how far into the pregnancy abortion should be allowed.
Nome Mulher was a pioneering women's issues television programme commissioned by RTP1 in 1974, shortly after the Carnation Revolution. The series, hosted by journalists Maria Antónia Palla and Antónia de Sousa, debuted on 10 August 1974, featuring a documentary-style look at the lives of women in the small town of Monforte da Beira, Castelo Branco, and what their hopes and dreams were now that they lived in a "post-25 April world". The first episode produced, a look into the life of the esteemed journalist Maria Lamas, was the second to air, on 31 August 1974.
ADPF 442 is an ongoing case of the Supreme Court of Brazil concerning the decriminalization of abortion, in any circumstance, up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. As it stands, the Brazilian Penal Code prohibits abortion except in cases of rape and risk to the mother's life, and in the case of anencephalic fetuses.
The Camy Squadron was a guerrilla column formed by fighters from the People's Armed Forces of Liberation of Angola (EPLA), the armed wing of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), in the struggle for Angola's independence.
 | This Angola-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
