The Government of Sweden has disclosed that it remains steadfast in supporting pro-choice activists and funding campaigns that advocate for the legalization of abortion in Liberia even though it “respects the views of religious leaders” who oppose abortion.

The Swedish position, which was made known by Ambassador Urban Sjöström, comes a few days after members of Liberia’s Religious Council strongly criticized the Swedish Embassy in Liberia for funding campaigns that push for the legalization of abortion in Liberia.

The Council’s remarks comes as the Senate is currently debating an amendment to the Public Health Law to make abortion legal after coming under intense pressure from the Amplifying Rights Network, a coalition of ten civil society organizations, which is supported by the Swedish government and has been pushing and holding campaigns for decriminalization of abortion. //

Abortion is illegal in Liberia as per the current law and, on the moral front, is considered a sin by the majority of Liberians who identify as Christians and Muslims. By law, it is prohibited in all forms, with a few exceptional cases such as when the life or health of the mother is at risk. The law affirms the views of many religious leaders and is reflective of the predominant ethnic and cultural values within the country.

However, abortion rights advocates, including the Amplifying Rights Network, argue that legalization is necessary for women’s reproductive rights and to reduce maternal mortality rates in the country. They believe that criminalizing abortion puts women’s lives at risk as the practice never gets stopped.

The Amplifying Rights Network’s claims are supported by a recent report by Clinton Health Access Initiative and partners, in which it was revealed that more than 38,000 illegal abortions were performed in 2021 alone. //

Yet, religious leaders and critics disagree and argue that legalizing abortion undermines the sanctity of life and contradicts religious and moral teachings. A key concern for many religious leaders is the focus solely on the perceived benefits without fully considering the social and moral implications.

In their view, the emphasis should be on improving healthcare services to combat maternal mortality rates, not abortion. They argue that Liberia is a country of morals; therefore legalizing abortion will drive the country into a dark era. //

Meanwhile, Sweden is the second largest bilateral donor to Liberia and supports Liberia in democracy, human rights, gender equality and the rule of law; peaceful and inclusive societies; inclusive economic growth and environment, climate change, and the use of natural resources.

Setting up a ZFS pool involves a number of permanent decisions that will affect the performance, cost, and reliability of your data storage systems, so you really want to understand all the options at your disposal for making the right choices from the beginning.

Webb's First Deep Field

This stunning infrared image was released one year ago as the James Webb Space Telescope began its exploration of the cosmos. The view of the early Universe toward the southern constellation Volans was achieved in 12.5 hours of exposure with Webb's NIRCam instrument.

The thousands of galaxies flooding the field of view are members of the distant galaxy cluster SMACS0723-73, some 4.6 billion light-years away. Luminous arcs that seem to infest the deep field are even more distant galaxies though. Their images are distorted and magnified by the dark matter dominated mass of the galaxy cluster, an effect known as gravitational lensing. Analyzing light from two separate arcs below the bright spiky star, Webb's NIRISS instrument indicates the arcs are both images of the same background galaxy. And that galaxy's light took about 9.5 billion years to reach the James Webb Space Telescope.

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The ISFDB is a community effort to catalog works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It links together various types of bibliographic data: author bibliographies, publication bibliographies, award listings, magazine content listings, anthology and collection content listings, and forthcoming books.

• Author: Isaac AsimovAuthor Record # 5
• Legal Name: Asimov, Isaac
• Birthplace: Petrovichi, Smolensk Governorate, Russia
• Birthdate: 2 January 1920
• Deathdate: 6 April 1992
• Language: English
• Note: Became a US citizen in 1928. Undergraduate degree in chemistry from Columbia University, 1939; MA in 1941; PhD in chemistry from Columbia University, 1948. Brother of Stanley Asimov. Married Janet Asimov in 1973.