9/5/2023
by CHRISTINA WEGS and EVE BRECKER

World leaders will gather in New York City on Sept. 21 for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to review progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). They will face this critical moment amid a hostile political climate—sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is being politicized and threatened (both in the U.S. and globally). Powerful anti-rights groups are lobbying to restrict access to critical SRH services and to exclude safe abortion care from health and development initiatives. How can advocates and activists harness this global convening to combat the anti-choice movement while protecting and expanding SRH, including access to safe abortion?

The goal of UHC is to create just and effective health systems that deliver healthcare services that cover everyone, everywhere, regardless of their ability to pay. To be truly just and effective, any UHC package must include comprehensive SRH services so that all people can fully protect their health and exercise their right to bodily autonomy and reproductive self-determination. When access to abortion is restricted, many people are left unable “to determine whether or when they have children and may be forced to continue unwanted pregnancies or end pregnancies in dangerous and degrading ways.”

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2023/09/05/sexual-and-reproductive-health-is-fundamental-to-achieving-universal-health-coverage/