A selection of this week's news stories on women's rights, from TrustLaw and other media
LONDON (TrustLaw) – Here is our selection of this week’s stories on women's rights from TrustLaw and other media.
SPECIAL REPORT: TRUSTLAW POLL OF BEST AND WORST G20 COUNTRIES FOR WOMEN
Full coverage: G20women.trust.org
Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India worst - TrustLaw poll
Healthcare and reproductive rights divide U.S. and Canada
India advances, but many women still trapped in dark ages
Violence puts Mexico among worst G20 countries for women
Saudi Arabia takes tiny steps on women’s rights
NORTH AMERICA:
Michigan lawmakers approve key parts of hardline anti-abortion law package
The Guardian
Michigan lawmakers have voted in favour of key parts of anti-abortion laws that pro-choice campaigners claim could shut down most abortion clinics in the state. The state's House of Representatives voted by 70 to 39 in favour of the main new piece of proposed legislation on Wednesday, with two more bills still awaiting votes. The law is now set to move to the state's Senate in September and is likely to put Michigan are the forefront of America's battle over abortion rights.
AFRICA:
Childbirth mortality rate in Uganda sparks human rights court case
The Associated Press
More than 100 women die during childbirth each week in Uganda, a statistic that has energized activists to go to the Supreme Court in a bid to force the government to put more resources toward maternal healthcare to prevent the wave of deaths.
EUROPE:
Turkey's culture wars heat up after PM equates abortion with murder
The Christian Science Monitor
Thousands of women have protested across the country since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan last month denounced abortion as "murder," vowing to revise the current law allowing termination in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy.
“There is no difference between killing a baby in its mother’s stomach or killing it after birth,” Mr. Erdogan said on May 25, in the first of a series of condemnatory speeches.
MIDDLE EAST:
Arab women fight to keep gains won
The Guardian
Some members of Egypt's first freely elected parliament, in which the Muslim Brotherhood is the largest party, are pressing to scrap laws that protect women on the grounds that they were introduced by the Mubarak regime and are therefore illegitimate.
Bahrain joins fight for women’s rights
TradeArabia News Service
Bahrain has joined a regional coalition that aims to advance the status of women across the Middle East and North Africa region.
The newly-created Alwane (My Colours) programme is made up of experienced and emerging leaders from 17 countries and hopes to encourage them to stand up for their rights and influence national and international policies affecting their participation in society.
It was launched June 9 during simultaneous events in Dubai, Jordan and Tunis.
Saudi activist urges king to relax women's driving ban
BBC News
A women's rights activist in Saudi Arabia has written to the Saudi king repeating demands to allow women to drive.
The woman who defied Saudi's driving ban and put it on YouTube
CNN
Manal Al-Sharif, 33, gained international attention last summer after she uploaded a YouTube video of herself driving in a country where women are banned from doing so. Now she is the face of Saudi Arabia's Women2Drive movement, which plans to hold demonstrations on June 17 calling for women in the country to be able to drive.
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