Justice for Women and Girls: Five Global Wins to Celebrate this International Women’s Day

To mark International Women’s Day and the UN’s 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Center is celebrating our biggest wins on securing access to justice for women and girls.

March 6, 2026
Center for Reproductive Rights

Ensuring women’s access to justice is key to the Center’s mission of protecting reproductive rights around the world. It is also a central pillar of International Women’s Day (IWD) and the theme of this year’s session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), taking place March 9-19 at the United Nations.

CSW is an annual opportunity for the global community to take stock of progress on gender equality, to identify challenges and roadblocks, and to set goals for the future. This year Center leaders and partners will join human rights experts on panels across the session, as well as hosting two public side events that examine the intersection of women’s access to justice and their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/news/international-womens-day-five-wins/

06.03.2026

Commentary

A.R. v. Poland

Center for Reproductive Rights

European Court of Human Rights

International Women's Day

Termination of Pregnancy Act

UN Commission on the Status of Women

Why US abortion restrictions matter beyond borders

To restore its position as a global advocate for human rights, the United States must ensure access to abortion within its borders.

March 10, 2025
By Jena Merritt

Abortion is healthcare—essential, life-saving, and fundamental to bodily autonomy. However, access to this critical service has become increasingly uncertain in the United States. Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, state-level restrictions have created a patchwork of access, leaving many without options. While the immediate effects are felt domestically, the ramifications extend far beyond US borders, influencing global attitudes toward reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.openglobalrights.org/why-US-abortion-restrictions-matter-beyond-borders/

Trump administration drops lawsuit seeking to ensure abortion access in emergency rooms

By Tierney Sneed, CNN
Wed March 5, 2025

President Donald Trump’s administration took a major step Wednesday in support of states with sweeping abortion bans, dropping a Biden-era lawsuit against Idaho that sought to protect abortion access in medical emergencies.

The Biden administration had prevailed in early stages of the lawsuit challenging Idaho’s extremely strict abortion restrictions, with the Supreme Court last year leaving in place a temporary court order that allows Idaho hospitals to provide abortion when a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life or health.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/abortion-idaho-emergency-rooms-emtala-supreme-court/index.html

05.03.2025

News

Center for Reproductive Rights

emergency abortion

Emergency Medical And Labor Treatment Act

EU must guarantee access to reproductive healthcare for Ukrainian refugees

Third anniversary of Russia invasion highlights ongoing gaps in care and protection

02.24.2025
Center for Reproductive Rights

BRUSSELS — Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many refugees—particularly women and girls—continue to face serious barriers in accessing essential sexual and reproductive healthcare in some parts of the EU.

The recent decision to renew the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) extends member states’ obligations to provide crucial support to millions fleeing the war, including healthcare. However, its inconsistent implementation in some countries, and the lack of detailed guidance from the European Commission on its requirements, has left many women from Ukraine without affordable access to good quality maternal healthcare, contraception services and urgent abortion care.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/eu-access-reproductive-healthcare-ukrainian-refugees/

24.02.2025

News

Care in Crisis report

Center for Reproductive Rights

European Institute for Gender Equality

Katrine Thomasen

Mihela Kralj

refugees and abortion

Temporary Protection Directive

What the UN’s ruling on abortion in Ecuador and Nicaragua means for the rest of the world

Although implementation will depend on each country, these sorts of rulings have a potential for global influence

By Elizabeth Hlavinka
February 19, 2025

The United Nations Human Rights Committee issued a ruling last month with the potential to expand reproductive rights in Ecuador and Nicaragua. Although it’s unclear how each country will implement the UN mandates handed down, the ruling is a step forward for a growing reproductive rights movement working to decriminalize abortion in Latin America.

In 2016, Planned Parenthood Global, Amnesty International, and other Latin American activism groups came together to form the “Son Niñas, No Madres” (Girls, Not Mothers) movement. They have filed legal cases before the UN Human Rights Committee against Ecuador and Nicaragua, representative of a regional pattern of girls forced to become mothers due to sexual violence and a lack of access to reproductive health services like abortion in 2019.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2025/02/19/what-the-uns-ruling-on-abortion-in-ecuador-and-nicaragua-means-for-the-rest-of-the-world/

Germany Fails to Advance Critical Abortion Law Reform

Statement from the Center for Reproductive Rights on stalled abortion law reform in Germany

Feb 12, 2025

The Center for Reproductive Rights expresses deep disappointment over the failure of Germany’s Legal Affairs Committee to advance a cross party proposal aimed at modernising the country’s outdated abortion laws and improving access to essential reproductive care.

Introduced in November, the proposal sought to fully legalise abortion on request up to 12 weeks and remove the mandatory three-day waiting period, among other key reforms. It followed a report from a government-appointed expert commission, released last year, which highlighted how Germany’s current abortion law falls short of international human rights and public health standards.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/germany-fails-abortion-law-reform/

12.02.2025

News

abortion law reform

Center for Reproductive Rights

Legal Affairs Committee

three-day waiting period

USA – People are paying for state abortion bans with their lives

Women are dying preventable deaths due to denied or delayed care, and doctors have started avoiding states with bans—restricting health care access for all

by Mina Manchester
February 11th, 2025

I had an ectopic pregnancy in 2014 while on the birth control pill. In an ectopic pregnancy, a fertilized egg develops in the fallopian tube. These pregnancies are never viable, and in every case, the condition is life-threatening to the pregnant person.

When this happened to me 11 years ago, I was 29, newly married, and privileged in many ways: white, educated, housed, and employed with health insurance. I was in rough shape when I was admitted to the hospital via the emergency room, where an ultrasound detected that my right fallopian tube had burst. I’d been bleeding internally for a week and was on the brink of turning septic. I was rushed into emergency surgery, where tissue and my fallopian tube were removed.

Continued: https://prismreports.org/2025/02/11/abortion-bans-deaths-health-care/

Kenya – Health experts warn restrictive policy will drive more women toward unsafe abortions

Unsafe abortions, driven by restrictive laws and pervasive stigma, continue to claim lives and destroy futures.

Monday, February 10, 2025
By Angeline Ochieng

A few hours after leaving a herbalist's house, Mercy* started experiencing strong abdominal pains. A sudden, hot rush of a warm liquid running down Mercy's inner thighs startled her. To her shock, she noticed blood flow.

The 16-year-old felt a little relieved. Hours earlier, she had been a guest of the herbalist, and she knew for certain these were after-effects of the unsafe abortion procedure she had undergone in the company of a friend at her rural home in Bungoma.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/health-experts-warn-restrictive-policy-will-drive-more-women-toward-unsafe-abortions--4921212

Planning for the Worst in Trump’s Next Term: Prepare, Don’t Panic, and Don’t Comply in Advance

Amy Hagstrom Miller championed abortion rights in Texas, and she’s ready for the next fight.

Mary Tuma
January 30, 2025

In the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent and tenacious independent abortion providers in the country, with six Whole Woman’s Health clinics in four states, it was a safe bet that she and her staff of 125 would find themselves in the crosshairs of a Donald Trump presidency and the anti-abortion extremists his second term will empower.

Hagstrom Miller could feel the alarm and dread that washed over some of her employees as they contemplated an America in which the 1873 Comstock Act might be enforced to institute a national abortion ban, the abortion pill would come under myriad other relentless attacks, federal appointees would use their bureaucratic powers to target providers in states where abortion remains legal, and patients would face new risks to their physical safety and constitutional rights.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/trump-amy-hagstrom-miller-championed-abortion-rights-in-texas-and-amy-hagstrom-miller-is-ready-for-the-next-fight/

UN Ruling: Ecuador and Nicaragua Must Legalize Abortion to End Violations of Girls’ Human Rights

The Human Rights Committee recognizes that abortion bans violated the rights of girls who survived sexual violence and were forced into motherhood.

22.01.2025
Center for Reproductive Rights

(PRESS STATEMENT) — In a major victory for girls’ and women’s rights, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled Monday that Ecuador and Nicaragua violated the human rights of three girls who were forced into motherhood due to abortion bans in those States. In its decision, the Committee recognized that forced pregnancies and forced motherhood disrupts the personal, family, educational, and professional goals of girls, and constitutes a form of cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment by severely restricting their right to a dignified life.

The cases of Norma (Ecuador), and Susana and Lucia (Nicaragua), were brought before the Committee in 2019 by the Center for Reproductive Rights and allied organizations. The girls were 12 and 13 years old when they became pregnant after being raped by men in positions of power and authority whom they trusted (the biological father, the grandfather, and a priest, respectively).

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/un-ruling-ecuador-and-nicaragua-must-legalize-abortion-to-end-violations-of-girls-human-rights/