"Safe abortion rights are part of sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice – and not separate. That is why in 1990, we first observed Safe Abortion Day on 28th September (Campaña 28 Septiembre) in Argentina and other places in Latin America, to advocate for decriminalising abortion and access to safe abortion services. The meeting was held in San Bernardo, Argentina with Latin American groups where we proposed to have 28th September as a day for united advocacy for safe abortion rights. Not giving safe abortion rights is violation of women’s rights,” said Dr Mabel Bianco, physician activist and founding president of FEIM (foundation for studies and research on women), Argentina.
“We support the call for accessible, safe, legal and stigma-free abortion care for all. Abortion is essential, life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare, a fundamental human right, and central to reproductive freedom and justice. It is also a cornerstone of gender equality and a critical component in achieving SDGs,” said Shobha Shukla, coordinator of SHE & Rights (Sexual Health with Equity & Rights).
“Yet today, we are witnessing a coordinated backlash against abortion rights, reproductive justice, and broader human rights movements—including gender diverse peoples and feminist movements. With less than 64 months left to deliver on SDGs, we have a vital opportunity to strengthen our movements, amplify our demands, and push for concrete, transformative action to advance reproductive freedom and justice, through intersectional, intergenerational, and cross-movement solidarity. We demand world leaders at 80th UNGA and all governments must make abortion, including abortion self-care, safe, legal, available, accessible and affordable by eliminating all laws and policies that restrict or criminalise access,” added Shobha Shukla, who was also the Lead Discussant for SDG-3 (Health and wellbeing) at intergovernmental United Nations High Level Political Forum 2025 (HLPF 2025) at UN HQ.
“Opposition to gender equality and human rights is getting stronger and more organised. We are seeing a pushback on development and development aid. We are seeing more conflicts around the world. We cannot be seen as small dots on a large plane. The more we hold hands, the more we come together, the bigger the movement we can be, the louder our voice can be, bigger the mark we will make,” said Tomoko Fukuda, Director of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) for East, South-East Asia and Oceania Region.
Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director, Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK) said that “Despite regional and international treaties on gender equality and right to health, we are yet to see full support in terms of implementation from our governments. Abortion in Africa continues to be one of the contested issues. We have countries that are very progressive in ensuring access to safe abortion rights like South Africa, Mozambique and Tunisia. But countries such as Kenya have restricted laws and abortion is only allowed under certain conditions.”
“Well-coordinated strong anti-rights and anti-gender groups are attacking ‘family values’ and wanting to define how ‘family values’ look like (in order to push their anti-gender agenda). They use ‘religious’ or ‘culture’ garbs against abortion rights. Such anti-rights and anti-gender people have infiltrated political spaces where feminists, activists and healthcare providers sit (who have been championing the cause of access to safe abortion services and rights). Such anti-rights and anti-gender groups are also becoming a part of technical working groups where policies are formulated. Some of them are even trying to push for becoming part of the judiciary so that they can legislate on some of these issues. Providers are being arrested or delicensed, or women are being arrested for accessing services (not allowed as per current domestic regressive laws). Such anti-rights groups are even carrying out a surveillance on organisations or healthcare providers that provide safe abortion services, or those who are championing petitions,” said Nelly of RHNK.
“We are so proud that we have been able to domesticate the WHO 2019 guidelines and develop Kenya’s reproductive health self-care guidelines. This is very critical because it supports women to have autonomy but also allow them the agency to be able to manage safe abortions at the comfort of their home. Also, we have the self-injectable contraceptives. Self-care is a changemaker because it ensures that self-abortion services can be accessed as well as cost that comes with accessing these services also gets significantly reduced - and – gives women the autonomy and the agency to be able to manage their abortion. We must develop strategies that can work and ensure that no woman is dying because of something that is preventable,” added Nelly Munyasia.
"Everyone should have the right to control their body and to take the decisions of how they want to live their lives, unfettered or free from coercion and violence. I think that is really very important to me because I remember Anand Grover (former UN Special Rapporteur on Right To Health and noted lawyer) had said that “being forced into having an unsafe abortion is a kind of torture." Everybody deserves to be free from coercion and violence in order to be able to control their own bodies," said Dr Suchitra Dalvie, co-founder and coordinator of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP).
“Despite progress, maternal mortalities are alarmingly high – especially in the Global South countries. Women continue to die during pregnancies, at time of childbirth, or other complications but also due to unsafe abortion. Most of the countries with high maternal mortality rates are also the ones with a very critical shortage of healthcare providers. We need to connect these dots in context of patriarchy, capitalism, colonisation, rising fascism, ableism, and cisgender heteronormativity hegemony (dominance of heterosexual and cisgender norms and beliefs within a society, where non-heterosexual and non-cisgender individuals are seen as outside the norm and often marginalised),” said Dr Suchitra Dalvie of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP).
“Women face burden of unpaid household work. A lot of it is also because of uncontrolled fertility and being forced into having more children. Patriarchy and colonisation only make it more challenging. In Asia we have the largest number of young people in history today. But unfortunately, young people are growing up in an environment where there are still crippling obsolete laws of entrenched colonisation, the penal codes which criminalise abortion and miscarriage in many of our countries which have been colonised – although colonising countries have gone on to have advanced and liberal laws,” added Dr Suchitra of ASAP.
“We are seeing pronatalism on the rise. So, there are many countries - in Europe particularly - where populations are declining because of the declining fertility rate and we know what happens when the populations decline: market forces become problematic, because we need labour. So, countries like France, Japan or people like famous Mr Elon Musk say ‘civilisation is going to crumble if people do not have more children,’ which means ‘my capitalist structure is going to be dismantled if you do not have enough unpaid and un-unionised labour.’ Child marriages, struggles girls go through to get education, struggles girls and women go through to access safe and potable water, lack of healthcare facilities, people with disabilities, gender diverse non-binary peoples, other marginalised and criminalised communities, those facing violence, poverty, forced to be a refugee or struggling through disasters – we need to take realities into account when we try to understand safe abortion rights and access for all to safe abortion,” said Dr Dalvie of ASAP. “We must contextualise struggle for safe abortion rights with other intersectional realities that we have to navigate and even battle with.”
“We support the call for accessible, safe, legal and stigma-free abortion care for all. Abortion is essential, life-saving sexual and reproductive healthcare, a fundamental human right, and central to reproductive freedom and justice. It is also a cornerstone of gender equality and a critical component in achieving SDGs,” said Shobha Shukla, coordinator of SHE & Rights (Sexual Health with Equity & Rights).
Less than 64 months left to deliver on promises of SDGs
“Yet today, we are witnessing a coordinated backlash against abortion rights, reproductive justice, and broader human rights movements—including gender diverse peoples and feminist movements. With less than 64 months left to deliver on SDGs, we have a vital opportunity to strengthen our movements, amplify our demands, and push for concrete, transformative action to advance reproductive freedom and justice, through intersectional, intergenerational, and cross-movement solidarity. We demand world leaders at 80th UNGA and all governments must make abortion, including abortion self-care, safe, legal, available, accessible and affordable by eliminating all laws and policies that restrict or criminalise access,” added Shobha Shukla, who was also the Lead Discussant for SDG-3 (Health and wellbeing) at intergovernmental United Nations High Level Political Forum 2025 (HLPF 2025) at UN HQ.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights are non-negotiable
“Opposition to gender equality and human rights is getting stronger and more organised. We are seeing a pushback on development and development aid. We are seeing more conflicts around the world. We cannot be seen as small dots on a large plane. The more we hold hands, the more we come together, the bigger the movement we can be, the louder our voice can be, bigger the mark we will make,” said Tomoko Fukuda, Director of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) for East, South-East Asia and Oceania Region.
Abortion in Africa: Progress but challenges remain
Nelly Munyasia, Executive Director, Reproductive Health Network Kenya (RHNK) said that “Despite regional and international treaties on gender equality and right to health, we are yet to see full support in terms of implementation from our governments. Abortion in Africa continues to be one of the contested issues. We have countries that are very progressive in ensuring access to safe abortion rights like South Africa, Mozambique and Tunisia. But countries such as Kenya have restricted laws and abortion is only allowed under certain conditions.”
“Well-coordinated strong anti-rights and anti-gender groups are attacking ‘family values’ and wanting to define how ‘family values’ look like (in order to push their anti-gender agenda). They use ‘religious’ or ‘culture’ garbs against abortion rights. Such anti-rights and anti-gender people have infiltrated political spaces where feminists, activists and healthcare providers sit (who have been championing the cause of access to safe abortion services and rights). Such anti-rights and anti-gender groups are also becoming a part of technical working groups where policies are formulated. Some of them are even trying to push for becoming part of the judiciary so that they can legislate on some of these issues. Providers are being arrested or delicensed, or women are being arrested for accessing services (not allowed as per current domestic regressive laws). Such anti-rights groups are even carrying out a surveillance on organisations or healthcare providers that provide safe abortion services, or those who are championing petitions,” said Nelly of RHNK.
“We are so proud that we have been able to domesticate the WHO 2019 guidelines and develop Kenya’s reproductive health self-care guidelines. This is very critical because it supports women to have autonomy but also allow them the agency to be able to manage safe abortions at the comfort of their home. Also, we have the self-injectable contraceptives. Self-care is a changemaker because it ensures that self-abortion services can be accessed as well as cost that comes with accessing these services also gets significantly reduced - and – gives women the autonomy and the agency to be able to manage their abortion. We must develop strategies that can work and ensure that no woman is dying because of something that is preventable,” added Nelly Munyasia.
Make all SRHR services available for all
"Everyone should have the right to control their body and to take the decisions of how they want to live their lives, unfettered or free from coercion and violence. I think that is really very important to me because I remember Anand Grover (former UN Special Rapporteur on Right To Health and noted lawyer) had said that “being forced into having an unsafe abortion is a kind of torture." Everybody deserves to be free from coercion and violence in order to be able to control their own bodies," said Dr Suchitra Dalvie, co-founder and coordinator of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP).
Connect the dots to effectively advocate for safe abortion rights
“Despite progress, maternal mortalities are alarmingly high – especially in the Global South countries. Women continue to die during pregnancies, at time of childbirth, or other complications but also due to unsafe abortion. Most of the countries with high maternal mortality rates are also the ones with a very critical shortage of healthcare providers. We need to connect these dots in context of patriarchy, capitalism, colonisation, rising fascism, ableism, and cisgender heteronormativity hegemony (dominance of heterosexual and cisgender norms and beliefs within a society, where non-heterosexual and non-cisgender individuals are seen as outside the norm and often marginalised),” said Dr Suchitra Dalvie of Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP).
“Women face burden of unpaid household work. A lot of it is also because of uncontrolled fertility and being forced into having more children. Patriarchy and colonisation only make it more challenging. In Asia we have the largest number of young people in history today. But unfortunately, young people are growing up in an environment where there are still crippling obsolete laws of entrenched colonisation, the penal codes which criminalise abortion and miscarriage in many of our countries which have been colonised – although colonising countries have gone on to have advanced and liberal laws,” added Dr Suchitra of ASAP.
“We are seeing pronatalism on the rise. So, there are many countries - in Europe particularly - where populations are declining because of the declining fertility rate and we know what happens when the populations decline: market forces become problematic, because we need labour. So, countries like France, Japan or people like famous Mr Elon Musk say ‘civilisation is going to crumble if people do not have more children,’ which means ‘my capitalist structure is going to be dismantled if you do not have enough unpaid and un-unionised labour.’ Child marriages, struggles girls go through to get education, struggles girls and women go through to access safe and potable water, lack of healthcare facilities, people with disabilities, gender diverse non-binary peoples, other marginalised and criminalised communities, those facing violence, poverty, forced to be a refugee or struggling through disasters – we need to take realities into account when we try to understand safe abortion rights and access for all to safe abortion,” said Dr Dalvie of ASAP. “We must contextualise struggle for safe abortion rights with other intersectional realities that we have to navigate and even battle with.”
This SHE & Rights session on the theme “Abortion rights are human rights” marked 1st year anniversary of SHE & Rights initiative. It was organised ahead of 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), World Contraception Day (26 September) and International Safe Abortion Day (28 September). SHE & Rights session was together hosted by This session is co-hosted by Global Center for Health Diplomacy and Inclusion (CeHDI), International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) 2025, Family Planning News Network (FPNN), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP), Asia Pacific Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media) and CNS.
(Shobha Shukla is a feminist, health and development justice advocate, and an award-winning founding Managing Editor and Executive Director of CNS (Citizen News Service). She was also the Lead Discussant for SDG-3 at United Nations inter-governmental High Level Political Forum (HLPF 2025). She is a former senior Physics faculty of prestigious Loreto Convent College; current President of Asia Pacific Regional Media Alliance for Health and Development (APCAT Media); Chairperson of Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA received AMR One Health Emerging Leaders and Outstanding Talents Award 2024); and coordinator of SHE & Rights (Sexual Health with Equity & Rights). Follow her on Twitter/X @shobha1shukla or read her writings here www.bit.ly/ShobhaShukla)
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