OPEN LETTER to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Heads of UN agencies & national leaders
RE: International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2019
24 September 2019
Dear Secretary-General Guterres, international & national leaders,
We write to you as leaders of the United Nations and its agencies, and through our members to national leaders, to invite you to make a public statement from your own office/agency in support of International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2019. We also ask that the United Nations makes it an official UN Day.
International Safe Abortion Day has been celebrated since 1990, initially in Latin America. The date was chosen in commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Brazil. It was declared an international day in 2011. In 2012, events and activities took place in some 50 countries, rising within a few years to 60-65 countries across all continents. A growing number of national leaders and human rights bodies now recognise the day and speak out in support of its goals. Journalists are giving it more media space with every year that passes, drawing prominent national figures into the discussion.