Leading pro-abortion activists recently met in Bangkok, Thailand for The 2nd International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion. The meeting was organized by Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand (WHRRF) which describes "unsafe" abortion an "easily treated disease". The international board of advisors for the meeting is a who's who of pro-abortion strategists. Nearly all are from developed countries intent on exporting western concepts that allow the violent destruction of the child in the womb to countries which restrict or ban abortion. 

Thailand, a Buddhist country, allows abortion for life of the mother, physical or mental health and for rape or incest exceptions but abortion is not widely available. Over 90% of the population practices Theravada Buddhism which considers abortion to be murder and that "all violent acts cause horrific karmic consequences". Buddhism has played a key political role in preventing the expansion of abortion.

The pro-abortion congress was designed to build national and regional support for legal abortion and focused on expansion of abortion via medication. Owing to Thai law, which restricts abortion performance to hospitals and clinics by physicians only, topics were designed to expand abortion to nurses and midwives. Topics included "Medical Abortion: A Reproductive Health Revolution in Progress", numerous presentations on "unsafe" abortion and on the use of hotlines, cell phones, and pharmacists to provide "access to abortion" including in situations where abortion is illegal.

Among the 26 advisors for the congress, many of whom gave presentations, are familiar names: David A. Grimes (abortionist and chief architect for "medical proof" of the so-called "safety" of abortion), Nancy Northup (president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal organization promoting abortion as a human right), Rebecca J. Cook (Canadian law professor and leading inventor of legal arguments advancing abortion), Beverly Winikoff (president of Gynuity Health Products, an organization that works to register abortion inducing drugs, especially misoprostol, in countries around the world), Vicki Saporta (president and CEO of the National Abortion Federation), Mary Luke (oversees international programs at Ipas which trains nurses and midwives in distribution of abortion pills and in use of the manual vacuum aspirator) and Jon O'Brien (president of Catholics for Choice--a self-described organization that opposes Catholic teaching on abortion--who presented the religious perspective on abortion and conducted workshops on Values Clarification.)

Veteran abortionist and global abortion strategist, Malcolm Potts, and his wife Martha Campbell, were advisors as well as associates from The Bixby Center for Population, Health, and Sustainability at the University of California at Berkeley which Potts chairs. Drs Uta Landy and Philip Darney from Bixby were presenters who last year received that Margaret Sanger Award from Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The remaining advisors are from Australia, New Zealand and Europe, including Rodica Comendant from Moldova (coordinator of the International Consortium for Medical Abortion). Only two advisors are from Asia, Dr Pak Chung Ho of Hong Kong and pro-abortion activist Dr S.P. Choong from Malaysia who presented "Stigma of Abortion - Working Beyond Reason!". With a majority of countries banning or restricting abortion, including Thailand, and only 58 countries with abortion on demand policies, pro-abortion activists are forced to strategize on how to distort and manipulate religious and cultural values that respect the dignity of life from conception as these values are "barriers" to the radical pro-abortion agenda.

The meeting concluded with a declaration that included a call for "all governments to enact and implement laws enabling the provision of safe and legal abortion". Organizations that assisted in funding for the conference included Pathfinder International, Ipas, the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Concept Foundation. The Concept Foundation is described as a not-for-profit organization based in Thailand; its signature product is a version of RU 486, Medabon, the sale of which the Concept Foundation promotes around the world for abortion.

Pro-life leaders in 20 European countries have launched the "One of Us" campaign calling for the European Union to stop the funding of embryo-destructive research and abortion. The initiative follows a European Court of Justice finding in 2011 that human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection. Despite this ruling, EU policies do not reflect the court's decision. "Europe today is funding scientific research that destroys and manipulates embryos, funds international groups touting abortion, proposes voluntary interruption of pregnancy as a solution to the health problems of women," said Carlo Casini, Italian MEP, President of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament and President of the Italian Movement for Life.

Specifically, the "One of Us" initiative seeks to ban the EU's "financing of activities which presuppose the destruction of human embryos, in particular in the areas of research, development aid and public health." Pope Benedict XVI has expressed his support for the initiative saying, "I greet the Movement for Life and pray for the success of the "One of Us" project so that Europe will always be a place where the dignity of every human being is protected." The campaign is a European Citizen Initiative, a new way to propose legislation in the EU that was established in the Treaty of Lisbon. It requires signatures from at least one million EU citizens in at least 7 of the 27 member states, at which point the European Parliament is obligated to hold a debate on the matter. Signatures for the campaign are due November 1, 2013.

Local media reports state that the majority of physicians in Uruguay are choosing not to do abortions, rejecting the country's new law permitting abortion in the first trimester. Doctors are able to opt out of the system by registering as conscientious objectors; however, once the abortion is approved by the board of experts and after a five-day waiting period, doctors are obligated to participate in the abortion. Justo Alsonso, a professor in gynecology, said the legislation represents an "unacceptable intervention" in the doctor-patient relationship. "The Public Health Ministry can't tell us how to treat each one of our cases, each one of our patients," Alsonso declared. "Doctors work in an ethical way, and for doctors, ethics is above the law."

The Colombian government has made a decision to cover misoprostol in the nation's Obligatory Health Plan (POS). While misoprostol is only approved for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers, it is often used off-label as an abortifacient, especially in countries where abortion is prohibited. Leaders of the Catholic Church and other religious institutions criticized the decision. "The institutions that legislate and should be seeking the common good in our country are failing women,'" said Dr. Danelia Cardona Lozada, director of the Colombian Bishops' Department for the Promotion and Defense of Life. Lozada explained the dangers of misoprostol, "in addition to causing psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress, also has biological and physical consequences such as hemorrhaging and infections."

Colombian Senator Claudia Wilches Sarmiento spoke out against the ruling to include misoprostol in the list of permitted prescription drugs and questioned the lack of information regarding the drug's appropriate use and its medical implications. "This decision regrettably adds to the mounting steps towards the full legalization of abortion," said Wilches.  

Australia is considering funding abortion drugs, making abortions available for as little as $12. Last year, the Therapeutic Goods Administration approved the importation of RU 486 and GyMiso into the country to be distributed at authorized medical clinics, and now Marie Stopes International Australia has submitted an application with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBC) Advisory Committee to get the drugs subsidized. Currently the drugs are $300; if listed they would start at $5.90 each. It is expected the federal government will approve funding the abortion drugs if the committee recommends it.

Turkish abortion advocacy group, Women for Women's Human Rights (WWHR), has claimed that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is attempting to ban abortion through the back door. Last year, WWHR lead a public campaign against the Prime Minister after he said abortion is "murder" and called for its ban, he then appeared to step back from that position. Now, according to the abortion rights group, there is evidence of systematic efforts to reduce the instance of abortion in Turkey. Pınar Illkaracan, co-founder and president of WWHR said, "We know that all of Turkey's clinics or hospitals which feel politically close to the prime minister are refusing abortions." According to the group, doctors who had previously performed abortion beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks would not do so now, in effect, instituting an abortion ban in practice by discouraging abortions. The government is currently drafting unspecified legislation on Turkey's abortion law.

Japan's finance minister has said the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die", suggesting they are a drain on government funding. Taro Aso, a senior member of the new Japanese government who doubles as deputy prime minister told a meeting of the national council on social security reforms, ""Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government." He continued, "The problem won't be solved unless you let them hurry up and die." Aso's comments insult nearly a quarter of the 128 million population over 60, a population expected to grow to 40% in the next 50 years.

Aso also referred to patients unable to feed themselves as "tube people", saying it "costs several tens of millions of yen" a month for end-of-life care. The Japanese government plans to reduce welfare spending this year in light of stretched social services. The minister, who has a history of controversial remarks, later attempted to clarify his remarks, saying they were "inappropriate" for a public forum and were reflective of his personal preferences, not public policy.

A judicial meeting on sexual and reproductive rights featured a heated debate between a judge and professor over the use of the court to change the country's laws on abortion. Currently, abortion is not permitted in Uganda though the Ministry of Health has guidelines specifying exceptions when abortion is permitted. During the meeting, organized by abortion advocates FIDA-Uganda and Women's Link Worldwide, associate Professor Dr. Sylvia Tamale of Makerere University claimed that the Ministry of Health guidelines should be used by the court to permit abortion in those instances.

She also referenced the Maputo Protocol, which authorizes African states to legalize abortion in certain circumstances. Professor Tamale then argued that the Judiciary should be an "agent of change" and use the health guidelines as a "strategy" to change the country's abortion law. High Court Judge, Justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, refuted, saying guidelines are not laws and that he would not base his judicial decisions regarding abortion on them. He also suggested the ministry's guidelines be presented to the parliament for legislative consideration.