Nepal – Childhood memory sparks a film on unsafe abortions

Patrika Ghimire, who won the Best Student Film Award at the European Union Film Festival, talks about her debut film and how growing up in a remote village inspired her to be a filmmaker.

Britta Gfeller
November 24, 2025

Nine films by Nepali students were selected for screening at the 14th European Union Film Festival in Nepal (EUFF). The EUFF had received more than 50 submissions. Out of the nine short films screened at the festival, the jury awarded Patrika Ghimire’s ‘What Grows in Thari Maila’s Vegetable Garden?’ as the best student film, stating that “this is a film that has chilled our hearts and provoked our minds.”

In this interview with the Post’s Britta Gfeller, Ghimire reflects on her dreams and struggles as a young Nepali filmmaker.

Continued: https://kathmandupost.com/art-culture/2025/11/24/childhood-memory-sparks-a-film-on-unsafe-abortions

24.11.2025

Film, Art, Books

abortion film

European Union Film Festival

Patrika Ghimire

What Grows in Thari Maila’s Vegetable Garden?

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

NEPAL – Call for Safe Abortion Legal Reform and Expanded Services

Still women and girls are not able to exercise this right easily.

(Google translated by the site)
Sep 26, 2025

The 11th National Safe Abortion Service Day is being celebrated across the country today with the message that 'safe abortion service is not an option for a safe life, it is a fundamental right'. But still women and girls are not able to exercise this right easily.

Health workers, women's rights workers and stakeholders have emphasized that the government should take concrete steps for immediate legal reform, expansion of services and effective implementation.

Continued: https://ekantipur.com/health/2025/09/26/en/call-for-safe-abortion-legal-reform-and-expanded-services-58-54.html

26.09.2025

News

International Safe Abortion Day

Safe Maternal and Reproductive Health Rights Act

Women Law and Development Forum

Five Wins to Celebrate this International Safe Abortion Day

September 28 is International Safe Abortion Day, a chance to shine a light on the crucial role that accessible, quality abortion care plays in global health. These five wins for abortion rights are proof that a better future is not only possible—it’s already in the making.

Center for Reproductive Rights
09.26.2025

Abortion is one of the world’s most common health care services. It’s considered an essential service by the World Health Organization—and when carried out properly, it’s also a safe and simple one.

Almost 30% of all pregnancies end in abortions, and they happen all around the world: in places where they’re legal, restricted, and altogether banned. In fact, the legal status of abortion makes little difference in overall abortion rates.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/five-wins-international-safe-abortion-day-2025/

Rising together: How grassroots leaders are lifting the next generation in Nepal

Ipas
Aug 8, 2025

In rural Nepal, women’s lives have often been restricted by silence and unspoken rules. From menstruation taboos to misinformation on family planning and abortion, many young women are taught to accept harmful practices as normal. For years, Himali Khatri did too. “I am almost 40 years old, and until now, I have never received such knowledge about reproductive health,” she says.

Everything shifted for Khatri when she was selected for Natural Leaders training through Ipas Nepal, a five-day program designed for women with the potential to influence change in their communities. The training covers sexual and reproductive health and rights, safe abortion, family planning, gender-based violence, and climate resilience.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/rising-together-how-grassroots-leaders-are-lifting-the-next-generation-in-nepal/

08.08.2025

Commentary

Videos/Images

gender-based violence

Himali Khatri

Ipas Nepal

Natural Leaders training

Current abortion law in Nepal leading to unsafe practices

Although Nepal's Constitution and international women's rights movements guarantee the right to safe abortion, experts have pointed out that the recent Safe Abortion Act has narrowed this right, effectively criminalizing both service seekers and providers.

By Pabitra Sunar
June 17, 2025

KATHMANDU, June 17: Although Nepal's Constitution and international women's rights movements guarantee the right to safe abortion, experts have pointed out that the recent Safe Abortion Act has narrowed this right, effectively criminalizing both service seekers and providers.

This concern was raised by presenters during a recently held dialogue on reproductive rights. … experts argue that despite these provisions, the law has effectively criminalized the right to abortion. Pushpa Joshi, a member of YoSHAN, stated that the existing legal framework automatically leads to criminalization. As a result, instead of accessing safe abortion services, many women are forced into unsafe abortions, she said.

Continued: https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/current-abortion-law-in-nepal-leading-to-unsafe-practices-92-31.html

Experts Gather for Screening and Discussion of New Documentary on Abortion Reform in Nepal

Event in Kathmandu organized by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Nepal-based Forum for Women, Law and Development.

May 30, 2025

The Center for Reproductive Rights and the Nepal-based Forum for Women, Law and Development (FWLD) marked the release of a new documentary on Nepal abortion reform by hosting a screening and panel discussion in Kathmandu.

The documentary, Collective Voyage: A Tireless Journey for Ensuring the Right to Safe Abortion in Nepal, showcases Nepal’s remarkable 25-year journey from abortion as a crime to what is now a fundamental, constitutional right.

Continued; https://reproductiverights.org/documentary-launch-abortion-reform-nepal/

30.05.2025

Film, Art, Books

Anubha Rastogi

Center for Reproductive Rights

Clara Rita Padilla

Collective Voyage: A tireless journey for ensuring the right to safe abortion in Nepal

Dr. Gauri Pradhan

Forum for Women Law and Development

The Right to Abortion in Nepal: A Decades-Long Journey

New documentary showcases the progress of abortion from criminalization to a fundamental, constitutional right.

05.29.2025
Center for Reproductive Rights

Two decades ago in Nepal, a woman seeking an abortion would be denied care—and if she managed to obtain care outside the legal medical system, she’d likely be imprisoned. But today, the right to abortion is guaranteed in Nepal’s Constitution and legislation.

How was that progress accomplished?

Find out about the decades-long struggle for legal abortion protections in the new documentary Collective Voyage: A tireless journey for ensuring the right to safe abortion in Nepal. The film showcases how advocates, legal experts, health workers, policymakers, and others worked diligently over a 25-year period to ensure abortion became a fundamental human right for women in Nepal.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/nepal-documentary-abortion-rights/

29.05.2025

Film, Art, Books

abortion law reform

Center for Reproductive Rights

Collective Voyage: A tireless journey for ensuring the right to safe abortion in Nepal

Forum for Women Law and Development

Nepal – Legal error in women’s rights: criminalization of abortion!

May 27, 2025
Prakash Dhaulakoti

While safe abortion is being established as a reproductive right of women all over the world, in Nepal, the social stigma imposed on women due to abortion has not decreased.

The current law reflecting the patriarchal social thinking and its influence also hinders the rights of women over their own wombs

An 18-year-old girl from Dailekh and a 17-year-old boy from Dolpa, who were studying at Birendranagar in Surkhet, were in a relationship for about one and a half years. Taking precautions, the girl suddenly became pregnant last May.

Continued: https://ekantipur.com/en/News-Folder/2025/05/27/legal-error-in-womens-rights-criminalization-of-abortion-50-16.html

27.05.2025

Commentary

Gauri Pradhan Shrestha

Meera Dhungana

patriarchal abortion law

Prakash Dhaulakoti

Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act

Illegal female infanticide on rise in Kalikot

Determination of the sex of a fetus and abortion based on the results are illegal in Nepal. Both the person conducting the test and the one requesting it can face legal action.

By Lalit Bista
April 19, 2025

KALIKOT: Determination of the sex of a fetus and abortion based on the results are illegal in Nepal. Both the person conducting the test and the one requesting it can face legal action.

However, a 28-year-old woman from Khadachakra Municipality in Kalikot recently underwent an abortion for the second time, just a week ago. She chose to terminate the pregnancy after discovering she was carrying a daughter again.

Continued: https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/illegal-female-infanticide-on-rise-in-kalikot-41-19.html

19.04.2025