WHAT the heck, America!
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I say "heck" because I'm well aware that "hell" is as offensive as cursing for many in the US.
Obviously, there are still subtle cultural differences between the world's leading democratic nations.
However, what's less understandable are substantial differences in human rights; particularly, women's rights to manage their own bodies.
When the landmark ruling that has protected abortion access in the US, Roe v Wade, was toppled late last week, it sparked a global wave of outrage.
Now 26 US states are certain or likely to ban abortion and one-quarter of abortion clinics are predicted to close. Many closed the day Roe was overruled.
(Abortion is likely to remain protected in 20 states and the District of Columbia, and some states have recently strengthened their capacity to become abortion "safe havens".)
With only 34 per cent of the US population backing the Supreme Court's decision, US pro-choice organisations should have significant force behind them, in theory.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Adern perhaps summed up the situation best:
"Here in New Zealand we recently legislated to decriminalise abortion and treat it as a health rather than a criminal issue. That change was grounded in the fundamental belief that it's a woman's right to choose.
"People are absolutely entitled to have deeply held convictions on this issue. But those personal beliefs should never rob another from making their own decisions. To see that principle now lost in the US feels like a loss for women everywhere.
"When there are so many issues to tackle, so many challenges that face women and girls - we need progress, not to fight the same fights and move backwards."
Picture this! Millennials have finally caught up to Baby Boomers in becoming the largest generation group in Australia. The ACT is the fastest-growing state or territory with growth of more than 14 per cent. A total of 16,242 people use Auslan at home.
As the US grapples with the fallout of last week's Supreme Court ruling, Australia is getting to know its new self all over again.
Picture this!
Millennials have finally caught up to Baby Boomers in becoming the largest generation group in Australia.
The ACT is the fastest-growing state or territory with growth of more than 14 per cent.
A total of 16,242 people use Auslan at home.
On Tuesday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released new data covering topics such as population flows between cities and regional areas, how Australians are housed, Indigenous health and education and employment.
Demographers were anticipating the release as a snapshot of mid-pandemic Australia; on the night the Census was taken, August 10, 2021, half the country was in lockdown while other states enjoyed some of the most relaxed rules on internal movement during the pandemic. Remember that?
All the same, the data has revealed that for the first time, fewer than half of Australians identified as Christian, though Christianity remained the nation's most common religion (declared by 43.9 per cent of the population).
Meanwhile, the number of Australians who said they had no religion rose to 38.9 per cent (from 30.1 per cent in 2016).
The data also shows almost half of Australians had a parent born overseas, and more than a quarter were themselves born overseas.
While we still lag too far behind on Indigenous health and education, Australians now enjoy freedoms increasingly others don't.
Sadly, it's not always a given.
Hell, no!
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