By Barbara Felix | 30 May 2007, 21:56

There’s a very good report in the May 19th edition of the Economist about abortion in an international context. It mentions the recent Irish case, whilst also mentioning that Mexico City has recently voted to legalise abortion. In China, meanwhile, the state’s “one child” policy means that abortion is controversial not because it’s banned, but because it is obligatory for women who already have a child: Recently, a father was fined 600,000 yuan for breaking the one child policy. I really recomend you read this because it takes the issue outside of a U.K/U.S context and as such, is discussing the issue in a new way, beyond the usual battle lines.

There’s also a profile of Hilary Clinton, and her bid for the presidency, that you might like to compare to the Giuliani feature in a previous edition of the magazine.

Also, in a non feminist yet equally interesting context, there’s a rare positive story about Iraq concerning Iraqi Kurdish soldiers in Baghdad.

Also, unrelated, there’s a darkly funny, scathing account of the death of the British “left-wing revolt” in the current issue of Private Eye, (“Left In The Lurch”, p7, 25th May - 7th June) that would be even more hilarious were it not so sad.