The criminalisation of abortion, AI being used for good in Australia, global opportunities and resources.
A newsletter from Women Beyond Walls - together we can build collective power and amplify voices to end the over-incarceration of women and girls worldwide.
Dear friends
This month, we’re focusing on abortion laws around the world, an important issue that unjustly affects rates of women’s incarceration internationally.
In June, a woman in the United Kingdom was sentenced to more than two years in prison for taking pills to end her pregnancy after the 24-week limit during the COVID-19 pandemic. She pleaded guilty to the Offences against the Person Act, legislation that dates back to 1861. Women’s rights groups, politicians and medics are calling on the British government to reform these outdated abortion laws. In late July, it was announced that she has won her appeal and will be released from prison.
Similar controversies have arisen in the past year in the United States as well, where the Supreme Court made the decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, most abortions are now banned in 14 states and some states even mandate prison time for abortion providers.
This is not unique to the United Kingdom or the United States. Despite the liberalisation of abortion laws internationally in the past 50 years, a recently published study of the penalisation of abortion by BMJ Global Health shows that in 120 countries internationally people can face prison time for abortions. The research, which was based on a World Health Organization database of abortion policies, found that in more than 90 countries people that seek abortions face maximum penalties of up to five years of prison time, while 25 countries have sentences of between five and 10 years. In six countries - Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Barbados, Belize and Jamaica - some people that seek abortions can face life in prison. Eleven countries prohibit abortion entirely, even if the pregnancy poses a risk to the mother's life or results from rape or incest: Andorra, the Congo, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Madagascar, Malta, Nicaragua, Palau, the Philippines, and Suriname.
In 34 countries, it is penalised for healthcare providers to say that they offer abortion services, even when certain types of abortions may be legal. Germany had a law like this up until June 2022. Information about abortion services is also penalised in some circumstances.
Research suggests that laws against abortion are ineffective and don't necessarily reduce the rates of abortion, but rather restrict access to safe abortion for women. Where abortion is illegal or highly restricted, women resort to unsafe means to end unwanted pregnancies
Rebecca Cook, a professor emerita at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law whose research has focused on the decriminalisation of abortion, says that by criminalising abortion, states neglects the fact that "abortion really is an essential health care - particularly in cases where women are raped [or] adolescent incest. When it’s criminalised, it constructs women as potential criminals.” The WHO official guidelines align with this perspective and recommend decriminalising abortion and removing any other medically unnecessary policies that create barriers to safe abortion. Similarly, numerous international and regional frameworks have established that denying women, girls, and other pregnant people access to abortion is a form of discrimination and jeopardises a range of human rights.
News from around the world
El Salvador: Women in El Salvador who were imprisoned for years after suffering miscarriages, stillbirths and other complications are now fighting for the freedom of other women persecuted like them. El Salvador has some of the world’s harshest anti-abortion laws where abortion is not only prohibited in all circumstances but it is also severely punished – especially in cases of obstetric complications where women can be prosecuted for murder.
Malawi: There are at least 15 babies that are detained in overcrowded prisons in Malawi alongside their mothers. The law allows mothers to take breastfeeding children to prison until they can be weaned into the care of relatives or social welfare, however there are many children that remain in prison even after this point. “The courts should first consider the best interests of a child before incarcerating primary caregivers. In fact, there is a High Court decision that requires detention of mothers as a last resort where the mother has to take a child in prison,” said Victor Mhango, Executive Director of the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREAA).
Uruguay: A report published by the National Human Rights Institution (Inddhh) in Uruguay reported mistreatment in the Montevideo Women’s Prison.
Australia: Belle Walker, a formerly incarcerated woman, is designing a digital survival guide called “Arrest for Release” to support other women. The resource will use AI to offer information on topics from mothers talking to children about prison, to bail, to accessing post-release services.
Opportunities
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights are inviting information from civil society on efforts made to decriminalise offenses frequently associated with homelessness and poverty, such as street vending, begging, staying, sleeping, eating or undertaking any other life sustaining activities in public spaces. Please send any information by 15 September 2023.
Hibiscus Initiatives, an organisation that works with marginalised women trapped in the immigration and criminal justice systems is recruiting for new passionate Trustees.
Revolving Doors is recruiting for a Policy Manager passionate about championing criminal justice reform, with lived-experience at its heart. This new position is will play a key role in developing and delivering policy and influencing projects, ensuring people with lived experience are at the core of this work.
Colectivo Artesana, an organisation in Guatemala supporting women and children in prison, have launched a fundraising appeal.
Media and literature recommendations
The Comb, BBC’s podcast on African narratives, reported on the lifelong consequences of the criminalisation of petty crimes on marginalised and vulnerable groups. One of the interviewees in this podcast is a client of Sierra Leone based organisation AdvocAid. Her experience highlights how enforcement of these laws targets and disproportionately affects women and other marginalised individuals.
The book Free Them All: A Feminist Call to Abolish the Prison System by French activist and scholar Gwenola Ricordeau is a comprehensive study examining how the penal system harms women. Taking into account the perspective of those with lived experience, Ricordeau charts a new path to emancipation without incarceration.
Looking for a book for some summer or winter reading (depending where in the world you are)? Check out our book recommendations. Read/watched/listened to something great? Let us know so we can tell others.
Thank you for being here engaging this community.
If you have any events/resources/reports you want us to consider highlighting in future newsletters, please don’t hesitate to contact us on hello@womenbeyondwalls.org.
With gratitude to the community,
The Women Beyond Walls Team