Pope laments abortion with controversial ‘hit man’ remark

The crowds expressed optimism that the conservative-majority Supreme Court might soon overturn the Roe vs. Wade ruling, which guarantees a constitutional right to abortion.

Former Pope Benedict XVI has apologized for giving false testimony during a child sexual abuse probe. For many Catholics, the statement isn't enough; they are bitterly disappointed and demand an admission of guilt.

German Cardinal Reinhard Marx has said he is still willing to step down in response to a damning report on decades of sexual abuse in his archdiocese. The cardinal once again asked victims for forgiveness, "personally and in the name of the diocese."

A case of whether to uphold a Mississippi law that bans terminations of pregnancy after 15 weeks has made it to the country's highest court. A ruling could see the landmark 1973 'Roe versus Wade' case that legalized abortion overturned.

Abortion rights in America are under threat with the nation's landmark ruling, Roe v Wade, at risk of being overturned or significantly weakened later this year. In response, California is already declaring itself a sanctuary state for women seeking a termination. Annette Young talks to Amanda Becker, the Washington correspondent for the 19th, an American website reporting on gender and policy, on what the Supreme Court is likely to do. Plus we meet photographer, Pamela Tulizo from the Democratic Republic of Congo whose work challenges clichés about women in her country who are often presented as victims.

It's being hailed a “historic victory” by campaigners, as Colombia becomes the latest Latin American nation to decriminalise early abortions for all women. Terminations will now be permitted in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, having previously only been possible in limited circumstances, such as in cases of rape, or if there was a risk to the mother's health. President van Duque, whose term in office ends later this year, has slammed the constitutional court's ruling as “heinous”.

More than 120 priests and employees of the Catholic Church in Germany have come out as queer and launched a campaign demanding an end to discrimination against LGBTQ people. DW met with one of them in Frankfurt.

Abortion is legal in Spain yet a number of doctors in the public system still refuse to carry out the procedure, calling themselves "conscientious objectors." Their stance forcing women to use private clinics. We also head to Kibera in the Kenyan city of Nairobi which is Africa's largest urban slum; and where women outnumber men, as they struggle to exit a life of poverty. Plus we meet the Lebanese gay female stand-up comic who has no fear when it comes to breaking taboos.

We look at the extraordinary US Supreme Court leak of a draft majority opinion that plans to roll back the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling. On International Press Freedom Day, the Swiss paper Le Temps features Dmitri Mouratov, editor of the Kremlin critic newspaper Novaya Gazeta on its front page. Also, controversial changes to the Olympic sport of pentathlon, and a little Dutch boy who goes for an early morning joyride in his mother's car!

The publication of a leaked document that could overturn a landmark abortion rights ruling in the US has sparked angry demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court. The decision would change a bedrock of American law.

It was only a leak of a draft. Yet punches have already been thrown outside the US Supreme Court in the first standoff over Justice Samuel Alito's 98-page argument in favour of overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion in the United States. We ask whether the document leaked to Politico is a turning point for more than just reproductive rights.

In this week's show, we take a look at why the constitutional right to abortion in the United States appears to be in the crosshairs of the Supreme Court. This happened after a leaked draft showed the Court may be ready to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which ruled that the constitution protected a woman's right to legal termination. Our international commentator Douglas Herbert will break down the implications of this event.