On this Wednesday, March 2, edition of Sundial:
Abortion in Latin America
Across the U.S., many states are cracking down on abortion laws. There’s a bill in Florida moving through the legislature that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The state currently allows most abortions until the third trimester, which is 24 weeks.
Meanwhile, in Latin America, abortion accessibility is becoming more widespread.
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Colombia is the latest country to join the region’s legal abortion wave. Recently, its highest court legalized abortion, permitting all abortions within 24 weeks of pregnancy. This ruling could pose a potential ripple effect as more Latin Americans demand abortion legalization.
WLRN Americas Editor Tim Padgett joined Sundial to discuss what this means for Latin American countries and for South Floridians. You can read Padgett’s take on what’s been happening across the region here.
Voter fraud in South Florida
Midterm elections are in November, but some South Floridians are already experiencing issues with voter registration fraud. The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald are investigating how some residents’ voter registration was changed from one party to the other without their consent.
Seven reporters went door-to-door to speak to more than 100 people who initially registered as Democrats but then were later changed to Republican. The reporters found that canvassers from the Republican Party of Florida targeted mostly elderly first-generation Americans in low-income housing areas in Hialeah and Little Havana.
Sarah Blaskey is one of the Miami Herald investigative reporters who’s been covering this story. She said they spoke to 168 voters and 141 of them said they didn’t intend to switch their party affiliation.
Blaskey also mentioned that many of these people came to America in pursuit of a transparent voting system, which is something they consider to be an inherent right.
“To have that undermined through this process, for some people, they couldn’t even believe it had happened to them,” Blaskey said.
If you want to learn more on how to protect your voter registration information or how to properly change it, you can visit the Miami Herald’s or El Nuevo Herald’s guides.
The legacy of a beloved doctor
The world lost a global health advocate last week. Dr. Paul Farmer was a renowned infectious disease doctor, anthropologist, and author. He died at age 62 in Rwanda in his sleep following a cardiac event, according to his Partners in Health organization.
Farmer primarily focused his advocacy work on bringing community health and family medicine to Haiti. His mission expanded to other parts of the world as well. Farmer helped many people suffering from illnesses like tuberculosis, HIV, AIDS, and Ebola.
Dr. Michel Dodard is a former professor of family and community health at the University of Miami. He was a close colleague of Farmer’s, and he worked alongside him in Haiti.
Dodard mentioned Farmer’s selfless humility as he advocated for quality healthcare for all while inspiring others to do the same. He said Farmer was a very simply man.
“He actually always would give more credit to his right hands and people who worked with him than to himself,” Dodard said. “He has inspired careers all over the world.”
Farmer is survived by his wife, Didi, and their three children.
You can read his full obituary by the Miami Herald here.
