Written by Dr Rishita Nandagiri, Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science In early May 2022, the leaked US Supreme Court draft opinion calling for an overturn of Roe v. Wade was swiftly met with an avalanche of anger at the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights. The leaked opinion galvanised […]

Written by María Mercedes Vivas, Executive Director of the Orientame Foundation in Colombia On the 21st of February, after more than 500 days of deliberation the Constitutional Court in Colombia ruled to decriminalize, under any circumstance, abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation. This enormous victory is the result of a lawsuit presented by Causa Justa, […]

Written by Gul Meena, Program Manager with YAD Pakistan The Youth Association for Development, YAD Pakistan, is a civil society initiative which has been working in Balochistan from 2005. Sexual and reproductive health and rights is a major thematic area of work including maternal health, access to safe abortion and ending early and forced marriages, […]

Written by Anna Reed, J.D. candidate at the Georgetown University Law Center and current intern at SRHM. Anna is one of the Executive Producers of Self Managed, a new podcast dedicated to destigmatizing and demystifying the practice of self-managed abortion.   The hem of my dressy pants is coming undone, I notice, as I screech […]

Written by Patty Skuster, Senior Legal Advisor, Ipas While governments around the world reform laws to make abortion less restrictive, self-managed abortion—ending a pregnancy without formal supervision by a health-care provider, often with pills—remains unauthorized in most countries. The Policy Surveillance Program at Temple University School of Law, USA and Ipas released new data that […]

Rachel Rebouché & Adrienne Ghorashi Over the last six weeks, abortion access in the state of Texas has been unclear at best and unavailable at worst. Dueling court orders between a federal trial court and the region’s federal appeals court lifted the suspension of almost all abortions – deemed by the state as “non-essential” healthcare […]

Written by: Soukeyna Diallo, Juriste, Member, Comité de plaidoyer pour l’accès à l’avortement médicalisé, and l’Association des Juristes Sénégalaises; Heidi Moseson, Epidemiologist & Associate, Ibis Reproductive Health Ramatou Ouedraogo, Post-doctoral research scholar/Anthropologist, African Population Health Research Center Amy Sakho, Chargée de Programmes et de Communication, Association des Juristes Sénégalaises; Coordonnatrice, Comité de plaidoyer pour l’accès […]

Written by Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng: Abortion provider for 11 years, consultant at Nalane for Reproductive Justice and SRHR expert with a focus on policy, health communications and advocacy. It is 2:14 a.m. on a Friday. I receive an email, with the subject line “Please respond” written in capital letters. I read the body of the email and […]

Written by Snigdha Chigurupati, Sophia Cordes, Hannah Kralles, Sophie Kurschner, Rachel Nassau, Priya Sathyanarayan – a group of medical students in Washington, DC, USA   On June 24, 2022, women and people who are able to get pregnant were stripped of one of their most fundamental human rights: their right to bodily autonomy. The Supreme […]

Written by Siti Nurul Qomariyah, Research and Evaluation Director, Jhpiego Indonesia and Michael Muthamia, Senior Technical Officer, Jhpiego Kenya  A woman’s right to use family planning throughout her reproductive years should be valued, protected, and secured—especially in the period of time right after giving birth or losing a baby. This right is enshrined in numerous […]

Written by Andrea Sprockett, Chief Operating Officer at Metrics for Management. She is also passionate about equitable health service delivery. Despite widespread recognition that reproductive health should embrace the full range of choices including contraception, antenatal and postnatal care, and safe abortion, we, as a community, too often fail to include the other side of […]

Written by Emily Harris, a Master of Public Health student at the University of Waterloo. She also holds a Master of Arts in globalization and international development with a concentration in women’s studies. She is passionate about the intersection of health and reproductive rights and has worked in different capacities with institutions that aim to promote […]

Written by Sneha Sharma, Senior Research and Program Associate (ICRW ASIA); Sharmishtha Nanda, Technical Specialist (ICRW ASIA); Kuhika Seth, Technical Specialist (ICRW ASIA); Aishwarya Sahay, Research Associate (ICRW ASIA) and Pranita Achyut, Director-Research and Programs (ICRW ASIA)[1] Our lives have radically changed since the onset of the pandemic at the beginning of the year. COVID-19 […]

Written by Kerigo Odada, human rights lawyer who specialises in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights and currently serves as a Board Member of The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights. For many adolescent girls and young women around the world, adolescence marks not only the commencement of puberty, but also a time where […]

In September 2020, SRHM partners, the Moroccan non-governmental organisation All for Reproductive Health/Ensemble pour la Santé Sexuelle et Reproductive (ESR) and the National School of Public Health (ENSP), published the 6th edition of the French SRHM Journal – Questions de Santé Sexuelle et Reproductive. Read the journal issue here   One month prior to the […]

Written by Pilar Montalvo, Senior Program Officer, Planned Parenthood Global Latin America Program   When Elena* first realized she was pregnant, her first reaction was fear. Not the nervous jitters experienced by many first-time parents—but true terror. Her domestic partner, who had forbidden her to use contraception, was using drugs and was prone to violence […]

By John Skibiak John Skibiak is the Director of the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition, the world’s largest voluntary network of reproductive health organizations, working with health systems, manufacturers, distributors, providers and educators to increase access to a range of quality-assured, affordable contraceptive methods.   Women should have access to the contraception they need, when they […]

Kerigo Odada is a human rights lawyer based in South Africa, specialising in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Africa at the Centre for Human Rights-University of Pretoria.  She currently serves as a Board Member of The Youth Coalition for Sexual and Reproductive Rights   The Novel Coronavirus, known as COVID -19 has disrupted […]

Written by Christina Zampas, human rights lawyer and Associate Director of Global Advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights Barriers to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services have always existed but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the stark reality of these barriers. The general population across the globe is now experiencing what […]

Written by Sarah Pugh, Independent Consultant, Cape Town, South Africa On Sunday, 15 March, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national State of Disaster, encompassing measures such as visa bans, travel restrictions, school closures and the restriction of gatherings over 100 people. The first case of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 was reported on 5 […]

Written by Dominique Vidale-Plaza, Gender Based Violence Specialist, Mukwege Foundation   While the prevention of and response to conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) has become a hot-topic issue in recent years, victims still remain largely without access to critical, and in some cases, life-saving assistance. Survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, particularly CRSV[1], must cope with […]

By Maria Carmen Punzi (PSI/Europe), Odette Hekster (PSI/Europe), Chelsea Polis (Guttmacher Institute), Rubina Hussain (Guttmacher Institute) and Amanda Berry (Guttmacher Institute) Image by Kimber Beck (www.bimberkeck.com) Menstruation profoundly affects the way women and girls experience life, form their identities and make decisions about their bodies and sexualities. Despite how important menstruation is throughout girls and […]

Written by Naomhán O’Connor, Communications Officer, GATE (Global Action for Trans* Equality) Historically, the movement for reproductive rights and justice hasn’t been the most trans-inclusive space. Reproductive justice is, in essence, about the right to have a child, or to not have a child. For trans and gender diverse people, this goes beyond access to […]

Written by Marion Stevens, Director, Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition   Reproductive Justice is defined by three principles: The right to have child; the right not to have a child; and the right to parent children in safe and healthy environments. Twenty years after the evolution of the concept in the United States, the government of […]

Written by Dr. Stephen Bell, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Australia* Associate Professor Angela Kelly-Hanku, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Australia; and PNG Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR), Goroka, PNG  This blog is presented on behalf of the authorship team of this recently published article. *Corresponding author: sbell@kirby.unsw.edu.au   Despite persistent international attention, adolescent pregnancy remains a […]

Written by Emma Campbell: Artist, activist, lapsed academic and Abortion Nerd®, all of which she throws into her role as Co-Chair for Alliance for Choice. Learning from previous generations of feminist artists and activists, she illuminates the structural inequalities that face abortion seekers and activists through education, art, campaigning and disruption.   The 25th of May 2018 […]

Written by Lizzie Kiama, Founding Director at This-Ability. She is based in Nairobi, Kenya.   Bodies are where we put our theories of social justice into practice. It therefore follows that the categories in which bodies are placed, willingly or unwillingly, need to be subject to careful critique. In a society driven by narrow, visual […]

Written by Nina Sun, Global Advocacy Advisor at the Center for Reproductive Rights.   Access to evidence-based, unbiased and scientifically accurate health information is one of the foundational pillars of medical ethics, as well as the right to health. While this is important in any interaction with the health system, access to accurate information is […]

Written by Cynthia Rothschild, a feminist activist and author who focuses on human rights, sexuality, gender and UN advocacy. She’s based in New York. The United Nations’ leading expert on poverty recently issued a fiery report condemning poverty in the USA and the calculated decisions and policies that lead to it.  Philip Alston, the UN […]

Written by Dr Ben Kasstan (Research Fellow, University of Sussex) and Ms Anamaria Bejar (Director of Advocacy at International Planned Parenthood Federation, UK; Research student, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) On Friday, 25 May 2018, voters in Ireland unanimously decided to repeal article 40.3.3 inserted into the Irish constitution by its Eighth Amendment, which, […]