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Your daily dose of news stories in the world of intersectional feminism.
**Trigger Warning - The following story discusses self-harm and domestic violence.**
Studies Show Cost Of Abortions Are Causing Queensland People To Self Harm
Researchers at the University of Queensland found that people across Queensland continue to have limited access to termination services due to cost, stigma and domestic violence.
Almost 2,000 anonymous client records from the pregnancy counselling service Children by Choice were analysed for the UQ study.
Studies show people are self-harming and searching for pills on the black market to induce abortions as they face chronic delays, financial pressures and a lack of support from healthcare providers.
"We’re still facing inequitable barriers to access,” says UQ researcher Maryanne Cleetus, "that includes socioeconomic factors like affordability, the ability to get information, the ability not to experience domestic violence and to be able to experience full reproductive autonomy."
The research also found more than 40 per cent of clients had been exposed to family or intimate partner violence, including reproductive coercion and abuse.
And 42 per cent of clients required financial assistance in order to access an abortion.
Queensland Seanator Larissa Waters says "legal abortion remains a postcode lottery in Australia," as people seeking abortion continue to face "different rules, costs and availability depending on where they live."
"Some people are having to travel for hours at significant expense to access this basic healthcare service," says the Queensland senator, "abortion should be safe, accessible, legal, and free across the country."
School Claims Student Wearing Hijab "Violated School Uniform Policy"
A school in Massachusetts is being called out for punishing a student for wearing a hijab.
Mystic Valley Regional Charter School claims the student violated their uniform policy, and in the write-up called the student's headscarf a 'jihab.'
The school has since responded to the backlash and claims they allow students to express "their sincerely held beliefs," but they first need to provide a letter from a "member of their clergy."
This isn't the first time the school has discriminated students for their culture and race.
In 2017, two Black girls were forced to remove their braid extensions which later led to detention and being banned from school clubs.
The girls called out the school for not punishing the white students who continually violated the same 'hair/makeup' policy regulations.
Singapore Ends Ban on Gay Sex
Gay sex has finally been decriminalised in Singapore.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says people in Singapore, particularly young people, are becoming more accepting of gay people.
"I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept," he says.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says gay people are now better "accepted" and scrapping the 377A law will "provide some relief to gay Singaporeans."
However, he still vows to "protect" the traditional definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman.
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