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Responding to Texas Governor Greg Abbott signing into law TX SB8, which bans the right of people to seek an abortion at the six-week mark, before many are aware of their pregnancies, Tarah Demant, the director of the Gender, Sexuality and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA, said: “The attempt by the state of Texas to chip away at one of the most personal and intimate of human rights is absolutely shameful. The only person who should ever make decisions about a pregnancy is the person who is pregnant. Horrifyingly, this ban could yank away people’s decision to do so…

May 20, 2021

Press Release

Ahead of executive actions rescinding the Global Gag Rule by United States President Joe Biden, Tarah Demant, Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program said: “The rescinding of the Global Gag Rule is a victory for human rights and for the health and lives of every woman, girl, or person who can become pregnant. “This disastrous policy undermines the human rights to health, equality, information, privacy, and expression. It’s ineffective and it is deadly: the Global Gag Rule decreases the availability of contraceptives, increases the rates of maternal death, increases the rate of closed health clinics and places poor…

January 26, 2021

Press Release

Ahead of a vote in the lower chamber of the Argentine Congress on December 10, on Human Rights Day, Tarah Demant, the director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity program at Amnesty International USA said: “Abortion is a human right that respects the dignity and autonomy of anyone who can become pregnant. Everyone must be able to access safe abortion, care, and information, and decriminalization is absolutely central. The Argentinian Congress has the opportunity now to recognize the rights of all women, girls and people who can become pregnant to make free decisions about their own bodies.” “It’s well past…

December 8, 2020

Press Release

Responding to the United States signing on to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, Tarah Demant, the Director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity program at Amnesty International USA said: “Today’s news marks another giant step backwards for the United States as it joins a list of countries willingly endangering people’s health and lives. The United States’ stance flies in the face of human rights and decades of health research.   “Every woman, girl or person who can become pregnant has the human right to abortion. Full stop. This is about people living full lives that are their own - not the lives…

October 22, 2020

Press Release

Responding to reports that there have been hysterectomies performed on immigrant women detained in the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia, Denise Bell, Researcher on Refugee and Migrant Rights, said:

September 16, 2020

Press Release

Responding to a report issued today by the Commission on Unalienable Rights, Tarah Demant, the director of the Gender, Sexuality, and Identity Program at Amnesty International USA said: “The U.S. government cannot unilaterally redefine which human rights will be respected and which will be ignored. “The U.S. State Department’s effort to cherry-pick rights in order to deny some their human rights is a dangerous political stunt that could spark a race to the bottom by human rights-abusing governments around the world. "The administration is seeking to create a hierarchy of rights, where it gets to decide which rights are ‘unalienable’…

July 16, 2020

Press Release

European governments should urgently guarantee safe and timely access to abortion care for women and girls in the region during the COVID-19 pandemic, 100 nongovernmental organizations said today. Many women and girls in Europe are struggling to safely access abortion care during the pandemic as barriers caused by highly restrictive abortion laws and onerous administrative requirements to access abortion services make safe access to this essential health care extremely difficult. The call comes as Poland’s parliament prepares to debate a draconian new law that would make one of the region’s most highly restrictive abortion laws significantly more stringent. “European governments must act urgently to guarantee safe and timely…

April 8, 2020

Press Release

As Texas announces plans to aggressively roll back abortion rights to halt the spread of COVID-19, Amnesty International USA released the following statement in response: 

March 25, 2020

Press Release

In response to the U.S. State Department releasing its third human rights report compiled under the Trump administration, Joanne Lin, national director of advocacy and governmental relations at Amnesty International USA, said:

March 11, 2020

Press Release

The decision by the Constitutional Court of Colombia not to take action to decriminalize abortion represents a missed opportunity for the realization of the sexual and reproductive rights of women and other people who can become pregnant in the country, said Amnesty International.

March 3, 2020

Press Release

Amnesty international USA's director of the Gender, Sexuality and Identity Program, Tarah Demant, said the following in regards to regulations on requirements for ultrasounds for people seeking abortions in Kentucky: "The only person who should be making decisions about a pregnancy is the person who is pregnant. The regulation in Kentucky is meant to slowly chip away at people's rights to their own bodily autonomy with medically unnecessary interventions. "What is at stake with this law and those like it is the right of people to control their own bodies." More information about Amnesty International USA's work on abortion is available here. Media contact:…

December 9, 2019

Press Release

Responding to the news that journalist Hajar Raissouni, sentenced to one year in prison over an “unlawful” abortion, was released last night, after she, her fiancé and the three members of medical staff involved in the case received a royal pardon, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director, said: 

October 17, 2019