NEW DELHI, August 5, 2008 (AFP) - An Indian woman is deciding whether to appeal a court ruling barring her from aborting a 26-week-old foetus with a heart defect in a case that has riveted the nation, reports said Tuesday.

SEOUL, July 31, 2008 (AFP) - South Korea's top court ruled Thursday that parents have the right to know the sex of their unborn babies, sparking concerns the decision might result in more sex-selection abortions.

SYDNEY, July 17, 2008 (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI reiterated the Catholic church's opposition to abortion and human cloning Thursday in a speech in Australia, where both practices are legal in some states.

The pope told hundreds of thousands of World Youth Day pilgrims that every human being possessed innate dignity from conception to natural death.

BRASILIA, July 9, 2008 (AFP) - Lawmakers in Brazil voted Wednesday to keep abortion a crime, disappointing groups seeking to decriminalize an operation estimated to be carried out three million times a year in the country with the world's largest Catholic population.

BUCHAREST, June 30, 2008 (AFP) - An 11-year-old Romanian girl who became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her uncle has travelled to Britain for an abortion despite being given last-minute permission to undergo the procedure in her native country, officials said Monday.

BUCHAREST, June 27, 2008 (AFP) - An inter-ministerial panel in Romania ruled Friday that an 11-year-old girl who became pregnant after allegedly being raped by her uncle can have an abortion.

'The committee has decided that a voluntary termination of the pregnancy can be carried out,' said health ministry official and panel member Vlad Iliescu.

SYDNEY, June 4, 2008 (AFP) - The Australian government may overturn a ban on aid money being spent on abortion advice in developing nations, leaving the United States isolated on the issue, an official said Wednesday.

The ban was imposed 12 years ago by the former conservative government led by John Howard, a close ally of the US, which has a similar policy.

NAIROBI, May 17, 2008 (AFP) - Police recovered seven foetuses in Kenya's capital Nairobi on Saturday, a police commander said, prompting fears that illegal abortions are taking place.

The decomposing foetuses were found wrapped in plastic bags on waste ground in the Huruma slum district, in a case that recalled the discovery of 13 foetuses in Nairboi in 2004.

ROME, May 13, 2008 (AFP) - Italy's new Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday vowed to encourage families to have children with a plan that he said would also remove 'material reasons' for women to have abortions.

WARSAW, May 2, 2008 (AFP) - Poland's Roman Catholic bishops protested strongly Friday against a resolution by the Council of Europe, a rights watchdog, that appealed to all member-states to legalise abortion.