Empowering women, involving husbands: Engaging men in family planning in Indonesia 

September 24, 2025
Sabar Artiyono

In a village in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, 27-year-old Mama Odiana Nuban was surprised to learn she was pregnant again just five months after having her first baby. The pregnancy was unplanned because she had to wait for her husband’s approval to use contraception. By the time the decision was made, it was too late. 

Mama Odiana’s story is not unique. In many parts of eastern Indonesia, deeply rooted patriarchal norms mean that women must seek permission from their husband, and sometimes even their in-laws, before accessing reproductive health services. The same pattern was also found in Ipas Indonesia’s baseline assessment conducted in 2023.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/empowering-women-involving-husbands-engaging-men-in-family-planning-in-indonesia/

INDONESIA – Need sustainable contraceptive funding for quality families: govt

August 8, 2025

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Population and Family Planning Minister Wihaji has underlined the need for sustainable funding to support contraceptive access and build quality families in Indonesia.

“This is not just about funding, this also pertains to this nation’s (goals). We want to ensure that children are born from families who are ready, healthy, and happy,” the minister said here on Thursday.

During a meeting with the Representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for Indonesia, Hassan Mohtashami, he also drew attention to the need for sustainable funding to protect women’s rights, reduce the maternal mortality rate, and encourage sustainable economic growth.

Continued: https://en.antaranews.com/news/372005/need-sustainable-contraceptive-funding-for-quality-families-govt

08.08.2025

United Nations Population Fund

Indonesia – Komnas Perempuan Values The Need For Safe Abortion Services For Rape Victims

02 Oktober 2024

JAKARTA - The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) views that the fulfillment of the rights of women victims of rape and sexual violence to safe abortion services should be adequate and comprehensive.

"When this service is not available, victims are at risk of engaging in the practice of unsafe abortion which will be fatal to him, or then placing him as a party in conflict with the law on the request of abortion to take the life of the fetus he just born. This condition makes the victim of a criminal act of sexual violence even worse," said Komnas Perempuan member Satyawanti Mashudi when confirmed in Jakarta, Wednesday, October 2, confiscated by Antara.

Continued: https://voi.id/en/news/421604

02.10.2024

News

abortion and rape

Komnas Perempuan

National Commission on Violence Against Women

Indonesia – Safe abortion saves lives

In practice, women have long been struggling to access safe abortions, even when they have the right to terminate the pregnancy.

Editorial board (The Jakarta Post)
Sat, August 10, 2024

The government just enacted a new rule that makes it easier for women to get safe abortions in cases of rape or medical emergency. This is part of a larger health reform that was introduced last year to improve women's reproductive health and reduce maternal deaths.

The regulation requires certain large clinics and hospitals to provide medical assistance before and after abortion for rape survivors with a gestational age up to 14 weeks, and women with life-threatening medical conditions or if the fetus has lethal anomalies. The regulation has been welcomed by women's and human rights groups, but they have also criticized a requirement for rape survivors to obtain a statement from the police attesting that their pregnancy resulted from rape or sexual violence.

Continued: https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2024/08/10/safe-abortion-saves-lives.html

10.08.2024

Indonesian police granted exclusive authority to approve abortions for rape victims

Previously, women could obtain this document from medical professionals or psychologists.

Reuters
August 03, 2024

New rules issued this week by Indonesia will make the police the only authority allowed to give the go-ahead for abortions for rape victims, drawing criticism from rights activists who said the changes were regressive.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, except in the event of a medical emergency or rape. The new regulations stipulate that to be recognised as a rape victim, women must obtain a document that only the police can issue.

Previously, women could obtain this document from medical professionals or psychologists.

Continued: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2485260/indonesian-police-granted-exclusive-authority-to-approve-abortions-for-rape-victims

Indonesia widens abortion window for health emergencies, pregnancy due to rape

But Muslim-majority nation’s top clerical body slams move saying fetus has a soul at 40 days.

Pizaro Gozali Idrus and Arie Firdaus
August 1, 2024

Indonesia has widened the window to 14 from six weeks after conception for women to have abortions in cases of health emergencies and pregnancies from rape and sexual violence – a divisive change in the Muslim-majority country where termination is mostly illegal.

Gender rights activists in Southeast Asia’s most populous country who have been demanding the change welcomed the move that came two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending that nation’s right to abortion.

Continued: https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/abortion-window-widened-08012024185515.html

Government of Canada commits to increasing sexual and reproductive rights including access to abortion services

IPAS
July 21, 2023

Ipas is pleased to announce a partnership with the government of Canada to increase access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls in Bolivia, Indonesia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Canadian government has pledged $10 million CAD for programmatic work in Bolivia, Indonesia and Nigeria to increase the sexual and reproductive autonomy of women and girls by expanding their access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and enhancing their ability to make decisions about their own sexual and reproductive health.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/government-of-canada-commits-to-increasing-sexual-and-reproductive-rights-including-access-to-abortion-services/

New Indonesian law: No sex outside marriage, no abortion, no Marxism

December 6, 2022
BY NINIEK KARMINI

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)—Indonesia’s Parliament unanimously passed a long-expected revision of the country’s penal code on Tuesday that criminalizes sex outside of marriage for citizens as well as foreigners, prohibits promotion of contraception, forbids progressive political thought, and bans defamation of the president and state institutions.

The amended code also expands an existing blasphemy law and maintains a five-year prison term for deviations from the central tenets of Indonesia’s six recognized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Continued: https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/new-indonesian-law-no-sex-outside-marriage-no-abortion-no-marxism/

06.12.2022

Indonesia – Making abortion legal

Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post)
Wed, June 29, 2022

The United States Supreme Court recently overturned the constitutional right to abortion, reversing a nearly 50-year-old precedent that had been a milestone in the struggle for women’s rights in the country.

In the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling, the court found that the petitioner, who was known for the purposes of the proceedings as Jane Roe, had a right to end her pregnancy in Texas and established guidelines for legal abortion throughout the country. But the precedent continued to be challenged thereafter.

https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2022/06/28/making-abortion-legal.html

29.06.2022

Reproductive control of Indigenous women continues around the world, say survivors and researchers

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will meet with researchers to share stories, heal and advocate for change.

June 27, 2022
by Gillian Rutherford

Survivors of forced sterilization and coerced contraception from Canada, Peru and Indonesia will gather with academic researchers at a summit in Edmonton this summer to share stories, heal through art and ceremony, and set an agenda for change.

The full extent of reproductive control practices around the world is not known, but they have been historically — and continue to be — targeted at Indigenous, poor and migrant women, according to principal investigator Denise Spitzer, professor in the School of Public Health and former Canada Research Chair in Gender, Migration and Health.

Continued: https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2022/06/reproductive-control-of-indigenous-women-continues-around-the-world.html

27.06.2022