NEWSWORTHY
Missouri's Republican-led Legislature passes eight-week abortion ban
Missouri's Republican-led House on Friday passed sweeping legislation designed to survive court challenges, which would ban abortions at eight weeks of pregnancy. If enacted, the ban would be among the most restrictive in the U.S. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies, but not for pregnancies ...
States should oppose Trump 'gag rule,' says Planned Parenthood
It's time for states with leaders who support abortion rights to go on the offensive against Trump administration attempts to restrict abortion that would reduce access to health care, the president of Planned Parenthood said Tuesday. "States are a critical backstop at a time when ...
Only for 'naughty girls': Stigma lingers after South Korea abortion ban overturned
South Korea is set to legalize abortion after a decadeslong ban was struck down, but women's rights campaigners have warned those who undergo the procedure will still be "punished in the eyes of society." In a landmark verdict last week, a South Korean court ruled ...
South Korean court strikes down decades-old law banning abortion
In a landmark ruling over a law that campaigners say puts women at risk, South Korea's Constitutional Court on Thursday ordered the country's decades-old abortion ban to be lifted. South Korea remains one of the few industrialized nations that criminalizes abortion, except for instances of ...
China lawmakers urge easing of family planning curbs to 'liberate fertility' as birth rates plunge
Delegates to China's parliament are urging the overhaul or even scrapping of controversial family planning rules and say radical steps are needed to "liberate fertility" and reverse a decline in births and a rapidly shrinking workforce. With its population aging as a result of longer ...
As population zooms toward 100 million, Egypt tells poor families 'Two is Enough'
Nesma Ghanem is hoping for a fourth child even though her doctor says her body can't handle a pregnancy at the moment. She has three daughters and would like them to have a brother. "In the future he could support his father and the girls," ...
Pregnant, desperate and poor, Pakistani mother Zameena faced a stark choice: Risk her life by having a secret abortion, or risk her life bearing her husband a sixth child. In the end, she opted for the former, one of more than 2 million women a ...
U.S. Supreme Court blocks restrictive Louisiana abortion law while litigation continues
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday stopped a Louisiana law imposing strict regulations on abortion clinics from going into effect in its first major test on abortion since the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy last summer. The court on a 5-4 vote granted an ...
Concerned by high cost of raising children, many South Koreans opt to dote on pets
Kang Sung-il buys Sancho, his Pomeranian, a toy every business trip and will dress it up in a new $50 suit when he visits his mother this Lunar New Year holiday. Kang and his wife say children are too expensive and bring too much pressure. ...
China's population shrinks for first time in 70 years despite two-child policy: experts
China's population shrank last year for the first time in 70 years, experts said, warning of a "demographic crisis" that puts pressure on the country's slowing economy. For decades the world's most populous nation, with about 1.4 billion citizens, China limited most families to one ...
With plan to show women more respect, South Korea tries to fix its demographic crisis
In just over a decade, South Korea has spent the equivalent of a small European economy trying to fix its demographic crisis, yet birthrates have dropped to the lowest in the world. This year, President Moon Jae-in, who describes himself as a feminist president, is ...
