Refugee Update: Pregnant woman on Nauru
For the usual tedious health reasons I can't make it to today's rally, so I'll have to do my activism from my keyboard.
Lots to catch up on. First, some great news:
Pregnant refugee to be flown from Nauru to Australia to give birth (GA, 3 February 2017) | Pregnant asylum seeker on Nauru flown to Australia (ABC, 3 February 2017). On a personal note, I finally broke through the social anxiety barrier and called PM Malcolm Turnbull's office about this. Twice!
Nauru had overruled Australia on the woman's need for urgent medical attention, but then changed their minds and said it was up to Australia. My impression is that they didn't try to stop her being transferred, but just blustered about their notoriously inadequate medical facilities.
The Australian government is playing Russian roulette with women's lives (GA, 3 February 2017). "Since 2015, the government’s policy has been to leave pregnant women, including those identified as extremely high risk, on Nauru. Not because there has been an adequate improvement in the facilities and specialist care available on the island for women diagnosed with high-risk pregnancies, but because the government is instead concerned that if returned to Australia, they may be able to access legal assistance... medical consensus remains that the island is unable to accommodate complicated deliveries. Local Nauran women, for example, are still routinely flown to Australia in complex cases."
On the subject of reproductive health, I think I missed this last year: Nauru scraps proposed abortion laws for refugees and asylum seekers (ABC, 11 November 2016). IIUC, abortion is legal for Nauruan women but illegal for refugee women on Nauru.
Lots to catch up on. First, some great news:
Pregnant refugee to be flown from Nauru to Australia to give birth (GA, 3 February 2017) | Pregnant asylum seeker on Nauru flown to Australia (ABC, 3 February 2017). On a personal note, I finally broke through the social anxiety barrier and called PM Malcolm Turnbull's office about this. Twice!
Nauru had overruled Australia on the woman's need for urgent medical attention, but then changed their minds and said it was up to Australia. My impression is that they didn't try to stop her being transferred, but just blustered about their notoriously inadequate medical facilities.
The Australian government is playing Russian roulette with women's lives (GA, 3 February 2017). "Since 2015, the government’s policy has been to leave pregnant women, including those identified as extremely high risk, on Nauru. Not because there has been an adequate improvement in the facilities and specialist care available on the island for women diagnosed with high-risk pregnancies, but because the government is instead concerned that if returned to Australia, they may be able to access legal assistance... medical consensus remains that the island is unable to accommodate complicated deliveries. Local Nauran women, for example, are still routinely flown to Australia in complex cases."
On the subject of reproductive health, I think I missed this last year: Nauru scraps proposed abortion laws for refugees and asylum seekers (ABC, 11 November 2016). IIUC, abortion is legal for Nauruan women but illegal for refugee women on Nauru.