New FIGO-ICM statement on comprehensive abortion care

28 March 2026

As we mark another Global Day of Action to Destigmatize Abortions on 28 March, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) and the International Confederation of Midwives are delighted to share our first joint statement on comprehensive abortion care (CAC).

Following on from our 2024 joint statement on contraception, this CAC statement unites the guiding principles, strategic aims, policy requirements, professional standards and service actions required to ensure quality, equitable and rights-based CAC. 

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/new-figo-icm-statement-comprehensive-abortion-care

28.03.2026

Commentary

Comprehensive Abortion Care

FIGO

Global Day of Action to Destigmatize Abortions

International Confederation of Midwives

International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Global

Clinical

Health

Reform of frameworks for sexual and reproductive health: A regional dynamic between Togo, Cameroon and Benin

FIGO
4 March 2026
ATBEF – the Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial

In February 2026, Centre ODAS, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) conducted a regional initiative in Lomé, Togo and in Grand-Popo, Benin, aimed at strengthening the legal framework for sexual and reproductive health in Francophone Africa.

Bringing together governmental and civil society stakeholders from Togo – the Association Togolaise pour le Bien-Être Familial (ATBEF), the Société de Gynécologie et d’Obstétrique du Togo (SGOT), the Direction de la Santé de la Mère et de l’Enfant (DSME), and the Legal Division of the Ministry of Health – Cameroon – the Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare (CAMNAFAW), the Société des Obstétriciens et Gynécologues du Cameroun (SOGOC), a national Think Tank, and the Ministries of Health and Justice – and Benin – the Association Béninoise pour la Promotion de la Famille (ABPF), the Conseil National des Gynécologues et Obstétriciens du Bénin (CNGOB), the Direction de la Santé de la Mère et de l’Enfant (DSME), and the National Assembly – the proceedings enabled an in-depth analysis of national legal and health environments.

Continued: https://www.figo.org/news/reform-frameworks-sexual-and-reproductive-health-regional-dynamic-between-togo-cameroon-and

South Korea – Pros and cons of physicians’ right to refuse abortion procedures discussed at forum

Kim Jung-hyun
7 Aug 2025

Six years after Korea's abortion ban was ruled unconstitutional, renewed calls are emerging to grant doctors the right to refuse to perform abortion procedures.

Proponents argue that medical professionals should be allowed to opt out of performing abortions based on personal conscience, beliefs, or religious convictions.

Continued: https://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=28532

Global: People defending abortion rights are being ‘stigmatised, abused, discriminated against, even killed’ – major new report

24 November 2023
Amnesty International

People who are defending the right to have an abortion and those who provide them, and related essential services are being stigmatised, intimidated, attacked and subjected to unjust prosecutions, making this work increasingly difficult and dangerous to carry out, said Amnesty International in a major new report today (24 November).

In the 59-page report, An Unstoppable Movement: A global call to recognise and protect those who defend the right to abortion, reveals how many healthcare workers, activists and advocates around the world face abuse, arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for supporting the right of women, girls and people who can become pregnant to access abortions.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/global-people-defending-abortion-rights-are-being-stigmatised-abused-discriminated

Born Alive Abortion Survivors: Parsing Fact from Fiction

Born Alive Abortion Survivors: Parsing Fact from Fiction

March 11, 2019
by Libby Anne

Last week, a friend sent me an article bearing the headline They Are Real: Meet Born-Alive Abortion Survivors. Could I maybe blog about it, she asked? This article led me down to a rabbit hole with numbers that kept getting bigger. When I reached an article that argued that there are 44,000 abortion survivors living in the U.S. today, I knew we had a definitional problem. What is really going on here?

The article my friend sent me profiled five individuals it labeled “abortion survivors.” These individuals are real people. The first one profiled Gianna Jesson, whose mother had a saline abortion at 30 weeks in 1977, and Gianna survived. When she was born alive, she was provided with care and given up for adoption. Melissa Ohden’s biological mother had a saline abortion at 31 weeks in 1977; she, too, survived and was provided care.

Continued: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfeminism/2019/03/born-alive-abortion-survivors-parsing-fact-from-fiction.html