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NEWS & LETTERS, April - May 2007Women World Wideby Mary Jo Grey On International Women’s Day Portugal’s parliament voted to liberalize their restrictive abortion laws, which only allowed abortions during the first ten weeks of pregnancy for health reasons, rape or saving a woman’s life. Now all abortions during that same time period are legal after a mandatory three-day “reflection period." This followed a February referendum where 60% of the voters supported liberalized abortion laws in an effort to end the estimated 20,000 back alley abortions each year, and a three year prison term for women who have abortions. * * * The third American woman to die in the Iraq war (in 2003) was not killed from a “non-hostile weapons discharge" as officially reported, but committed suicide. Alyssa Peterson, an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at an air base in northwestern Iraq, objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners and refused to participate after two nights working in the unit known as the cage. The Army has refused to describe those techniques, and all records of them have been destroyed. Her parents have yet to be told the real circumstances of her death. --Information from off our backs * * * Hundreds of defiant women marched through the working class city of Manchester, England, March 8, demanding safety for women on the streets, in the home and workplace. They first marched to “Reclaim the Night" 30 years ago demanding safe streets and expressing anger at police advice to stay inside because of the “Yorkshire Ripper" killings. Organizers stated that today 26% of women suffer domestic violence, two women are killed by their partner each week; one in four women experienced rape or attempted rape, and 30% have suffered child sexual abuse. |
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