Guttmacher Releases Most Comprehensive Evidence to Date on Global Family Planning Gaps, Investment and Economic Returns

Two new studies show dual impact of family planning: saving lives and driving women’s economic empowerment

November 3, 2025

Today the Guttmacher Institute unveiled findings from two groundbreaking research initiatives revealing the most comprehensive evidence to date of the transformative impact of family planning on women’s lives—underscoring the urgent need for sustained investment in global sexual and reproductive health. The new evidence has been released at the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), which kicked off today in Bogotá, Colombia.

The two complementary studies—Adding It Up and FP-Impact—demonstrate that investing in comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care delivers immediate, life-saving benefits while simultaneously functioning as economic “seed funding” that expands national workforces and generates sustained economic returns.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2025/guttmacher-releases-most-comprehensive-evidence-date-global-family-planning-gaps

“Strengthening Feminist Movements for Reproductive Autonomy” launches at Latin American Feminist Conference

3 Nov 2025
MDM,

My body belongs to me! My body, my choice—amplifying the power of feminist and women-led civil society organizations.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a bold new initiative—Movements for Reproductive Autonomy, Equality and Solidarity (MAREAS). A multi-country initiative across Africa and Latin America to amplify the power of feminist and women-led civil society organizations (CSOs).

Continued: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/strengthening-feminist-movements-reproductive-autonomy-launches-latin-american-feminist-conference

Global anti-feminist backlash gains ground after decades of equality gains

Spain and France justify enshrining the right to abortion in their Constitutions as a safeguard against a ‘reactionary’ wave that could roll back achievements

Marc Bassets, Berlin
OCT 31, 2025

History never advances in a straight line. Although, as Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Progress always moves in fits and starts: two steps forward, one step back. This is also the case with women’s rights and equality.

For a decade or more — in Western countries and in the Global South — there have been numerous cases of rights being stripped away after a long period of progress. This regression — according to progressive and liberal political leaders — is linked to the global rise of new forms of authoritarianism and nationalism.

Continued: https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-01/global-anti-feminist-backlash-gains-ground-after-decades-of-equality-gains.html

How the Contraception Crisis Threatens Progress for Women in Leadership

By Anusha Couttigane, Vogue
October 30, 2025

On 23 October, 50 women in leadership across fashion, luxury, beauty and more convened for a private dinner at the Corinthia London. Attended by business leaders and celebrity personalities alike, the specially curated evening brought together women of influence for a rare moment of cross-industry female solidarity. Unlike typical events hosted by Vogue Business, this one focused on an underexplored issue: the global contraception crisis. Throughout decades of hard-won progress, access to modern contraception has played a critical role in enabling women to learn, earn and lead by preventing unwanted or unsafe pregnancies and giving women the chance to pursue education and careers. That progress is currently in jeopardy, with global policy and legal changes restricting access, compounded by up to 80% of donor funding for family planning being cut or threatened globally.

Continued: https://www.vogue.com/article/how-the-contraception-crisis-threatens-progress-for-women-in-leadership

30.10.2025

Made Possible campaign

Contraceptives are essential and life-saving – and they are under threat globally

30 October 2025
Statement by UNFPA Executive Director Ms. Diene Keita

Contraceptives save lives. For almost 50 years, global health authorities have recognized contraception as essential medicine. People want them, use them, and rely on them every day.

The evidence is abundantly clear: When women and adolescent girls have access to contraceptives, their pregnancies are more likely to be planned and safe, they are more likely to complete school, be employed and fulfil their potential, their children are healthier, and their societies are more prosperous. The truth is that contraceptives reduce abortion rates and lower the incidence of death and disability related to complications of pregnancy and childbirth.

Continued; https://www.unfpa.org/press/contraceptives-are-essential-and-life-saving-%E2%80%93-and-they-are-under-threat-globally

30.10.2025

News

contraception is essential medicine

Global: Amnesty delegation meets abortion defenders as backlash against human rights intensifies

29 October 2025

An Amnesty International delegation will join abortion providers and defenders from across the globe at two gatherings in Bogotá, Colombia, to review progress on expanding access to safe abortions and to discuss new strategies to counter rising threats to human rights.

The delegation will take part in a number of panels at the Latin American Consortium Against Unsafe Abortion (CLACAI) (30 Oct – 1 Nov), and the International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP) (4-6 Nov). 

“While many advances have been made towards ensuring life-saving abortion services are available and accessible, anti-abortion narratives and legislation are gaining ground around the world, posing new threats,” said Fernanda Doz Costa, Director of the Gender Justice, Racial Justice, Migrants and Refugees Programme at Amnesty International, who will take part in a number of panels.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2025/10/global-amnesty-delegation-meets-abortion-defenders-as-backlash-against-human-rights-intensifies/

29.10.2025

Events/Campaigns

Amnesty International

CLACAI

ernanda Doz Costa

International Conference on Family Planning

Latin American Consortium against Unsafe Abortion

Abortion Wins and Losses: A Graphic Novel’s Deep Dive

‘The A Word’ tells the story of a worldwide fight for rights that’s been raging for thousands of years. A Tyee Q&A.

Michelle Gamage Today, The Tyee
Oct 24, 2025

In an era of powerful men pushing creepy pronatalism views, and the overturning of U.S. abortion rights, comes an extremely handy graphic novel that works as a field guide to understand the anti-abortion playbook.

The A Word: A Global History of the Abortion Struggle, written by Elizabeth Casillas, illustrated by Higinia Garay and translated by Karen Simon, takes a deep dive into the history of abortion access across thousands of years and dozens of countries, cultures and religions.

Continued: https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/10/24/Abortion-Wins-Losses-Graphic-Novel/

24.10.2025

Advancing disability-inclusive abortion care

“Women with disabilities are often excluded in information on sexual and reproductive health, including safe abortion and contraception.”

Ipas
Oct 2025

Disability Justice is reproductive justice.
Everyone has the right to make decisions about their body and health. But for people with disabilities, that right is often denied by health systems that ignore their needs and exclude them by design.

At Ipas, we know that reproductive justice is impossible without disability justice. That’s why we’re transforming programs, policies, and spaces to center accessibility and include the leadership of people with disabilities. Guided by our Feminist Principles for Partnership, we’re working to build abortion and contraception ecosystems that serve everyone.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/our-work/advancing-disability-inclusive-abortion-care/

22.10.2025

Commentary

abortion and disability

Advocacy for Women with Disabilities

Deaf Women Association of Nigeria

disability justice

Ipas

Ipas Nepal

Sins Invalid collective

A global reminder that the fight for abortion rights is far from over

Women’s right to control our own bodies is not a battle that can be checked off as won

Review by Pamela Cross
October 21, 2025

The A Word: A Global History of the Abortion Struggle, by Elizabeth Casillas and Higinia Garay, University of Regina Press, 2025

The A Word is aptly named. I’m always struck by how, even in Canada, people still feel compelled to whisper when they talk about abortion. It’s a legal medical procedure—we don’t whisper about appendectomies, heart surgery, or root canals. And yet abortion continues to carry, for many, a faint air of impropriety.

I shouldn’t be surprised. In television and film, when a character with no plans for children becomes pregnant, the script rarely includes abortion. Instead, she either miscarries conveniently or turns her life upside down to give birth and, somehow, happily raise a child. Abortion is seldom even mentioned.

Continued: https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/a-global-reminder-that-the-fight-for-abortion-rights-is-far-from-over

The Ripple Effects of the U.S. Retreat from International Reproductive Care

U.S. cuts to global health funding are putting reproductive rights, healthcare access and human rights at risk worldwide. Human rights experts discuss exactly what’s happening—and what would stop the suffering.

10/19/2025
by Jaime M. Gher, Payal Shah and Floriane Borel

The U.S. has long been the largest donor to global health programs, but under the Trump administration, that support is rapidly disappearing. The resulting funding cuts are devastating reproductive health access, disease prevention efforts and human rights around the world.

In this Q&A, global health and human rights experts Jaime M. Gher, Payal Shah and Floriane Borel break down the global ripple effects—and the urgent need for action.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2025/10/19/usa-trump-international-global-health-aid-cuts/