Countries: Russia
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"[N]ew regulations soon will make many emergency contraceptives virtually unavailable and drive up the cost of others" (para 5). "In the Soviet Union, abortion laws meant that some women had the procedure multiple times due to difficulties in obtaining contraceptives. After the USSR’s collapse, government and health experts promoted family planning and birth control, sending abortion rates falling" (para 8-9). "A recent Health Ministry decree restricted circulation of abortion pills, used to terminate pregnancies in the first trimester. The decree puts mifepristone and misoprostol, used in the pills, on a registry of controlled substances requiring strict record-keeping and storage. For hospitals and clinics, where the pills are usually dispensed, the...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"Last month, the Taliban even begun enforcing blanket bans on all forms of contraception in capital Kabul and fourth largest city Mazar-e-Sharif, according to Afghan media" (Para 7).

Countries: Nigeria
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"Most of the women Reuters interviewed said they were given no explanation for the injections and pills they received. Others, like Fati, said medics and soldiers passed off injections and pills as cures for weakness or disease. In reality, the medications were intended to terminate their pregnancies, according to documentation from hospitals and military facilities. Nigerian facilities often used misoprostol, which helps induce labour or contractions, according to the documentation reviewed by Reuters. The drug is also used to treat ulcers and post-partum hemorrhaging, and is widely available in Nigerian cities, including through unofficial abortion-drug distribution networks. Women sometimes were also given the progesterone-blocker called mifepristone, which in many countries...more

Countries: Honduras
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"[I]t notes with concern… (b) The prohibition of the promotion, use, sale and purchase of emergency contraception, including when pregnancy results from rape or incest… (d) The limited access for women and girls to sexual and reproductive health information, including information on responsible sexual behaviour, and to family planning and modern contraceptives, especially in rural areas" (13).

Countries: Costa Rica
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"This transition process has been strengthened by increased access to modern contraceptive methods for young women and the strengthening of care programmes. In that regard, the female condom was registered in the official list of medicines, guidelines were prepared for the dissemination and promotion of the right to use such condoms, and the Costa Rican Social Insurance Fund made its first purchase of this product. It should be noted that the take-up of modern contraceptive methods such as Implanon has been quite successful among the adolescent population and that Executive Decree No. 41722 of 23 April 2019 authorizes the registration and sale of emergency oral contraceptives without a medical prescription"...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"Taliban fighters have stopped the sale of contraceptives in two of Afghanistan’s main cities, claiming their use by women is a western conspiracy to control the Muslim population. The Guardian has learned that the Taliban has been going door to door, threatening midwives and ordering pharmacies to clear their shelves of all birth control medicines and devices. 'They came to my store twice with guns and threatened me not to keep contraceptive pills for sale. They are regularly checking every pharmacy in Kabul and we have stopped selling the products,' said one store owner in the city" (para 1-3) "A veteran midwife, who did not want to be named, said...more

Countries: Honduras
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"Until last year, it was also the only country to outlaw emergency contraceptives" (para 3). "An Indigenous Nahua woman, Fausia, which is a pseudonym, was attacked by two men and raped by one of them in 2015 in retaliation for her work as an environmental and human rights defender. She could not access the emergency contraception pill due to it being banned at the time, and when she sought medical assistance – despite threats from her attackers – she was met with hostility and intimidation" (para 7).

Countries: Tajikistan
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"National, regional and municipal reproductive health centres in Tajikistan provide counselling services to the general public. Contraceptives are distributed free of charge. Medical evaluation of pregnant women is conducted at the State centre for medical genetics" (p. 35). "Tajikistan has adopted a number of laws, regulations and policy papers in the field of reproductive health: • The procedure for providing medical counselling on reproductive health to minors and young people, including members of at-risk groups, was approved by Government decision No. 748 of 28 November 2015. • On 25 February 2017, a programme of State guarantees for the provision of medical and sanitary care in pilot districts in Tajikistan for...more

Countries: China
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"It is already becoming more difficult to get vasectomies" (para 16).

Countries: Russia
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"A lack of contraceptives during the Soviet era meant that abortion, whether performed more safely while legal or dangerously while illegal, was the country’s primary form of birth control, said Michele Rivkin-Fish, an associate professor at the University of Carolina’s Department of Anthropology. 'The Soviet government was not opposed to contraceptives, but they never did much to ensure they’d be available. In the 1990s, there was much more openness to family planning, but it took about a decade for people to understand the safety and usefulness of contraception,' she said. Some of that resistance to contraceptives was linked to the same demographic fears that still haunt Russia today, according to...more

Countries: Norway
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"Access to contraceptives is free of charge only for young people under 20 years of age" (12). "The Committee is concerned about the very narrow definition of emergency health care accessible to undocumented migrants, which is limited to care that is necessary within three weeks. The Committee is concerned that this may adversely affect the health of undocumented migrant women, who are often in a particularly disadvantaged situation because of discriminatory structures, institutions and systems, and need adequate access to sexual and reproductive health services and mental health services" (15).

Countries: Japan
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2, ABO-PRACTICE-1

"Emergency contraception cannot be bought in Japan without a doctor’s approval. It is also the only medicine that must be taken in front of a pharmacist to stop it being sold on the black market" (para 11).

Countries: India
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"In the Kishanganj district of the impoverished eastern state of Bihar, health worker Pratima Kumari said supporting female politicians was an important way to ensure policies aimed at women empowerment. She offers free condoms and birth-control pills and talks to couples about family planning, opens new tab and the benefits of having just two children" (para 34).

Countries: Belize
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

"In terms of access to contraceptives, the 2009 Sexual Behaviour Survey found only 47 per cent of young people correctly identified ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV. However, as much as 71.7 per cent of young people aged 15-24 reported using a condom during their last sexual encounter with a non-regular partner. The 2014, Knowledge, Practices, and Attitudes (KAP) in Sexual Behaviour and HIV in Belize Survey conducted by the Statistical Institute of Belize and National AIDS Commission show this had declined to 61.4 per cent (25,995). Urban youth were more likely to use a condom at first sex (70.2 per cent) than rural youth (52.9 per cent)....more

Countries: Denmark
Variables: DACH-PRACTICE-2

Denmark and Greenland have formally agreed to launch a two-year investigation into historic birth control practices carried out for many years on Inuit Greenlanders by Danish doctors. Thousands of Inuit women and girls were fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD), commonly known as a coil, during the 1960s and 70s (para 1-2). "A recent podcast, Spiralkampagnen ('coil campaign'), found records indicating that up to 4,500 women and girls - roughly half of all fertile females - had an IUD implanted in Greenland between 1966 and 1970. But the procedures continued into the mid-1970s. Of these, it is unclear how many cases lacked consent or proper explanation. Among those affected were...more