As we mark 28 March, the Global Day of Action to Destigmatise Abortions, SRHM joins a global movement to eliminate stigma and discrimination in health care and confront the narratives, laws, policies, and practices that continue to shame, silence, and restrict those who seek and provide abortion care.

Abortion is a recognised and essential part of health care, and access to safe abortion is a matter of fundamental human rights.
Yet, stigma continues to shape laws and policies worldwide, often under the guise of morality, “safety,” or tradition.

In reality, these restrictions are rooted in patriarchal control, disinformation and misinformation, and ideological agendas that contradict women and all people’s rights to access safe abortion services without fear, stigma, violence and discrimination.

Since the return of the Trump administration in 2025, abortion stigma has been re-institutionalised through a renewed Global Gag Rule, defunding of SRHR programmes, and the strategic spread of misinformation and disinformation.

At a recent meeting co-hosted by SRHM and the Guttmacher Institute, experts warned that politicised and ideologically controlled data systems are making it harder to generate and apply credible evidence, fueling a global environment where stigma thrives and care is denied.

Today, an estimated 753 million women live under restrictive abortion laws and around 45% of abortions are unsafe. Deaths from safe abortion are negligible, <1/100 000. On the other hand, in regions where unsafe abortions are common, the death rates are high, at > 200/100 000 abortions. Estimates from 2012 indicate that in developing countries alone, 7 million women per year were treated in hospital facilities for complications of unsafe abortion.
(WHO Fact Sheet – Abortion)

And while over 60 countries and territories have liberalised their abortion laws that provide the basis for accessing safe abortion services over the past 30 years, legal change alone is not enough. Abortion services in many of these contexts remain surrounded by stigma, discrimination, and unnecessary barriers.

Access to safe, legal, high quality abortion services enables individuals to exercise and enjoy their rights to health, non-discrimination, privacy and self-determination.

Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters (SRHM) is a global organisation linked to a scientific, highly reputed journal in the field of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) that provides an independent voice, has a long-time, trusted reputation, and offers space to a truly global network of researchers, policy makers, programme managers, lawyers and activists in the field of SRH.

Our mission is shaped by the understanding that rights- and evidence-based knowledge is power.