Black Maternal Health Week Isn’t Complete Without Our Abortion Stories

This Black Maternal Health Week, our abortion stories are essential—without them, neither progress nor celebration is complete.

By Ambreia Meadows-Fernandez
April 15, 2026

Long before I understood the systemic consequences of abortion stigma on Black women and girls, I felt its harm. I had an abortion after an unintended pregnancy at 17. The would-be father’s hateful email, the crisis pregnancy center’s insistence that I give birth, and the protestors at the clinic suggested I’d proven that the most dangerous place for a Black child was in the womb. The resulting shame followed me. Even after I’d finished college, gotten married, and given birth to my first child, abortion stigma wasn’t done with me.

After delivery, an emergency room visit revealed retained placenta tissue as the cause of my low milk supply, weakness, and intense bleeding. Nearly six weeks after delivery, I received a positive pregnancy test and needed a Dilation and Curettage (D&C). The medical team said that the procedure helped save my life and avoid infection.

Continued: https://www.essence.com/health-and-wellness/abortion-black-maternal-health/

6 key insights to help fight abortion stigma from our 2025 research

March 26, 2026
Ipas

Abortion stigma causes more than social harm; it is a measurable barrier to global health. It determines whether someone feels safe seeking abortion, whether a provider feels confident about offering care, and it can influence whether communities and governments protect or restrict reproductive autonomy. Drawing from over 18 years of research, Ipas’s continuing work to understand and fight abortion stigma shows where it hides and how it works—and offers evidence-based strategies to confront it.

Why abortion stigma fuels a global health crisis
Abortion stigma targets people who seek abortions, their health-care providers, and anyone associated with abortion care. Research has long shown that stigma increases unsafe abortion because when people delay or avoid care out of fear of judgment, they are more likely to seek out unsafe options.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/6-key-insights-to-help-fight-abortion-stigma-from-our-2025-research/

26.03.2026

Three abortion rights defenders share their stories of hope

Amnesty International
By Cécile Yougbare, SRHR activist with Médecins du Monde, Kinga Jelińska, activist from Poland and Erin Grant, Abortion Care Network Co-Executive Director 
10 March 2026

Across the world, governments and other actors are rolling back on decades of progress on gender equality, including access to abortion. But people are fighting back, determined to protect the rights so many have fought so hard to achieve.   

As the Commission on the Status of Women holds its 70th session, three courageous human rights defenders from Burkina Faso, Poland and the United States share their strategies to protect access to abortion, their hopes for the future and the reasons why they believe that, despite the many increasing challenges, humanity must always win.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/three-abortion-rights-defenders-share-their-stories-of-hope

Abortion stigma persists at moderate levels in high-income countries

by Vladimir Hedrih
March 6, 2026

A systematic review of 19 studies examining abortion stigma in high-income countries found that it is present at moderate levels. Abortion stigma was stronger in males, people with lower income, political conservatives, and religious individuals. The paper was published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters.

Abortion stigma refers to the social discrediting and negative labeling of individuals who seek, provide, or support abortion services. It operates through moral judgments that frame abortion as deviant, irresponsible, or sinful. Stigma can be expressed interpersonally through gossip, shaming, exclusion, or hostility. It also functions through restrictive laws, institutional barriers, and policy discussions.

Continued: https://www.psypost.org/abortion-stigma-persists-at-moderate-levels-in-high-income-countries/

06.03.2026

Malaysia – Teen Pregnancy Data Is Incomplete Without Abortion Figures — Dr SP Choong

Dr SP Choong argues teen pregnancy data cited in a Ministry of Health report is misleading because it counts only hospital births, not abortions. He says the issue must also address access to safe, legal abortion and accurate information.

By CodeBlue
5 March 2026

I would like to comment on The Star‘s excellent and timely cover story on teen pregnancy, published on March 1, 2026. However, I must point out that the figures on teen pregnancies as quoted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) only indicate the number of teens delivering in hospital. They exclude those teens who have had their pregnancies terminated as they have no data on this.

As MOH hospital policy usually provide abortions where there is risk of severe medical complications, so most abortions are provided by the private sector, but the MOH does not collect this data, unlike most other countries. Therefore, the figures can only be estimates.

continued: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2026/03/teen-pregnancy-data-is-incomplete-without-abortion-figures-dr-sp-choong/

05.03.2026

Opinion

abortion stigma

National Population and Family Development Board

Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia

Zambia – She was denied a legal abortion and sent to prison over an illegal one. Now she tells her story

By JACOB ZIMBA and GERALD IMRAY
February 16, 2026

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — She says she was let down at every step. By a partner who abandoned her when she was pregnant. By a health service that denied her a legal abortion. And by a justice system that sent her to a maximum-security prison for illegally terminating her pregnancy on her own.

Violet Zulu, a house cleaner in Zambia earning $40 a month, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2024 after representing herself in court with little understanding of the consequences of her actions. She didn’t see her two children or other family members for nearly two years.

Continued: https://apnews.com/article/africa-abortion-zambia-prison-court-7008cfbc50b59229c764fbcd48c3adbb

16.02.2026

Commentary

abortion stigma

Center for Reproductive Rights

Rosemary Kirui

Sharon Williams

Violet Zulu

Women and Law in Southern Africa

Facing the reality of unsafe abortions head on

12 February 2026
FIGO - Reyes Castellano, Senior Communications and Engagement Manager

For years in Benin, unsafe abortion was a silent killer. Every year, nearly 500 women and girls died – not from rare diseases or unavoidable complications, but from clandestine unsafe procedures carried out in secrecy and fear. Lives lost quietly, often unnamed.

Dr Emmanuel Ewagnignon, President of the National College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Benin (CNGOB) saw the consequences firsthand.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/facing-reality-unsafe-abortions-head

12.02.2026

Commentary

abortion stigma

Advocating for Safe Abortion Project

clandestine abortion

Dr Emmanuel Ewagnignon

FIGO

International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics

National College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of Benin

Becca Rea-Tucker on Why We Shouldn’t Feel Bad About Our Abortions

“Abortion is OK, we know. But how are our kids supposed to believe us if we whisper it under our breath?”

Becca Rea-Tucker
January 26, 2026

My second book, The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey, is about to come out, and I’m feeling fussy. I’m scrolling through the long-finished page spreads, noting a .com where they should be a .org, an additional helpline I should have listed, a “definitely” where I could’ve written “absolutely.” The work is finished, but it’s never finished.

Later, on a break from that particular form of fussing, I’m sorting through an album in my phone titled “Repro Cakes.” I scroll past “Abortion. Any time. Any reason,” “Abortion Pills Forever,” and “No shame, no stigma” looking for one emblazoned with the phrase, “Abortion Isn’t A Bad Word” in Barney-purple script. I first posted an image of this cheerful little cake from the middle seat of a ride share sometime in 2018. I knew the not a bad word statement to be true then, but I certainly didn’t always.

Continued: https://lithub.com/becca-rea-tucker-on-why-we-shouldnt-feel-bad-about-our-abortions/

26.01.2026

The Abortion Companion: An Affirming Handbook for Your Choice and Your Journey

United States

Human Rights

NIGERIA – CSO seeks reduction of abortion stigma, maternal mortality in Akwa Ibom

January 16, 2026
By Lovina Anthony

A Non Governmental Organisation in Akwa Ibom State, Milestone Initiative for Human Rights and Empowerment is leading discussions on how to reduce stigma associated with Safe Termination of Pregnancy, SToP, and maternal mortality rate in the state.

The stigma, according to the organisation is deeply rooted in cultural, religious, social norms and drives the rate of maternal mortality in the state. SToP guidelines are conditions necessary for safe abortion to be carried out within the law.

Continued: https://dailypost.ng/2026/01/16/cso-seeks-reduction-of-abortion-stigma-maternal-mortality-in-akwa-ibom/

16.01.2026

Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation

maternal mortality

Milestone Initiative for Human Rights and Empowerment

Okposin Thompson

STOP guidelines for abortion

How dangerous are unsafe abortions? WHO report paints a grim picture

A WHO report reveals that 73 million abortions occur annually, with unsafe procedures causing severe physical complications, mental trauma, and major public health burdens

Tisha Elizabeth Jacob
December 10, 2025

The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that around 73 million induced abortions take place across the globe each year. Six out of 10 (61 per cent) of all unintended pregnancies, and 3 out of 10 (29 per cent) of all pregnancies, end in induced abortion.

While one might look at abortion as a matter of individual choice, it is also a public health issue that affects communities and countries.

Lack of access to safe, affordable, timely and respectful abortion care, and the stigma associated with abortion, pose risks to women’s physical and mental well-being throughout their lives. Estimates from 2012 also indicate that in developing countries alone, 7 million women per year were treated in hospital facilities for complications of unsafe abortion, WHO reported.

Continued: https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2025/12/10/how-dangerous-are-unsafe-abortions-who-report-paints-a-grim-picture.html

10.12.2025