Abortion is essential healthcare and women’s health must be prioritized over politics

International Safe Abortion Day
28 September 2021
United Nations Human Rights, Office of the High Commissioner

On the International Safe Abortion Day, a group of UN experts* stress that abortion is essential health care and a human right. Denial of access to abortion services jeopardizes a person's physical and mental health and takes away their autonomy and agency. It unjustly denies them the freedom to live with dignity and on equal terms with other human beings while exposing them to various forms of violence and oppression.

Furthermore, and as Human Rights bodies have long acknowledged, the denial of abortion services through the criminalization of abortion or through barriers and delays in access to lawful services can in certain circumstances constitute cruel, degrading, and inhumane treatment, may amount to torture and could lead to arbitrary detention.

Continued: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=27549&LangID=E

United Nations: U.S. Authorities manipulating COVID-19 crisis to restrict access to abortion, say UN experts

United States: Authorities manipulating COVID-19 crisis to restrict access to abortion, say UN experts

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
May 27, 2020

GENEVA (27 May 2020) – UN experts* said today that some US states appear to be manipulating the COVID-19 crisis to curb access to essential abortion care.

The UN Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls said COVID-19 emergency orders suspending procedures not deemed immediately medically necessary had been used by states such as Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Iowa, Ohio, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee to restrict access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25907&LangID=E

Independent submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Philippines

Independent submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Philippines as requested by the Human Rights Council (the Council) in its Resolution 41/2 adopted on 11 July 2019

Posted 10 February 2020
Supplementary information on the grave human rights violations resulting from women’s and girls’ lack of effective access to safe and legal abortion in the Philippines

Respectfully submitted on January 31, 2020

by Catholics for Reproductive Health
Center for Reproductive Rights
EnGendeRights, Inc.
Family Planning Organization of the Philippines
Filipino Freethinkers
Philippine Safe Abortion Network
WomanHealth Philippines
Women’s Clinic Pilipinas
Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights

1. This submission was prepared by a coalition of civil society groups working in the Philippines to contribute to the upcoming report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on the situation of human rights in the Philippines as requested by the Human Rights Council (the Council) in its Resolution 41/2 adopted on 11 July 2019 on the promotion and protection of human rights in the country. We would like to direct the attention of the OHCHR to grave violations of fundamental human rights resulting from one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world which causes preventable deaths and injuries among women and girls who are unable to access safe and legal abortion services.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/feature-independent-submission-to-ohchr-on-human-rights-violations-in-the-philippines-related-to-abortion-10-february-2020?e=372dd34034

10.02.2020

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United Nations: International Safe Abortion Day

International Safe Abortion Day
All states must ensure access to safe and legal abortion as a matter of human rights, say UN experts

28 September 2019

GENEVA (27 September 2019) – As an essential reproductive healthcare service for women and girls, access to safe and legal abortion is critical to ensure their fundamental right to autonomy, equality and to physical and mental health, UN human rights experts* said.

On the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day, the experts issue the following statement:

“Denial of access to safe and legal abortion drives service provision underground into the hands of unqualified practitioners, and exacerbates the risks to the health and safety of the affected women, in the form of pregnancy-related injuries and death. It is estimated that 25 million unsafe abortions take place every year, causing the preventable deaths of about 22,000 women, almost all in developing countries. Additionally, an estimated seven million women and girls experience injuries resulting in impairment and infertility. In contrast, countries where women have the effective right to abortion on request, supported by affordable and effective family planning measures, have the lowest abortion rates.

Continued: https://ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25066&LangID=E

Stop regression on sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls, UN experts urge

UN OHCHR NEWS RELEASE – Stop regression on sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls, UN experts urge

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Oct 19, 2018

Rollback and regression on respect for international human rights norms threatens the sexual and reproductive health rights of women, including women with disabilities, UN human rights experts warned on 5 September 2018.

In a joint statement, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) said access to safe and legal abortion, as well as related services and information are essential aspects of women’s reproductive health. Access to such services is a prerequisite for safeguarding women’s human rights to life, health, equality before the law and equal protection of the law, non-discrimination, information, privacy, bodily integrity and freedom from torture and ill treatment, the Committees said.

Continued: http://www.safeabortionwomensright.org/un-ohchr-news-release-stop-regression-on-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-of-women-and-girls-un-experts-urge/