Rollback and Resistance: The Erosion of Abortion Access in Argentina

Dec 10, 2025
Mercedes Sayagues

The movie “Belén”, Argentina’s submission for the 2026 Oscars, tells the story of a 26-year-old woman who suffered a miscarriage in a hospital in Tucuman province in 2014 and was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2016 after being convicted of procuring an illegal abortion.

Her case sparked a nationwide campaign to decriminalize abortion, known as the Green Tide after the green scarves protestors wore.

In December 2020, the Green Tide won: abortion was legalized on request up to 14 weeks, and later in cases of rape or risk to the woman’s physical or mental health.

Continued: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/rollback-and-resistance-the-erosion-of-abortion-access-in-argentina/

Building climate-resilient reproductive health care in Zambia: Ipas’s on-the-job training innovation

Ipas
December 8, 2025

For nearly two decades, Ipas Zambia has worked closely with the Ministry of Health to reduce maternal deaths caused by unsafe abortion and to expand access to safe abortion services nationwide. However, despite the progress made, persistent and emerging challenges, including the growing impact of climate change, continue to affect sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

As climate-related disasters intensify globally, Zambia has been severely affected. The country has been experiencing adverse impacts for several years, including an increase in the frequency and severity of seasonal droughts, occasional dry spells, increased temperatures in valleys, flash floods, and changes in the growing season, according to the United Nations Development Programme. These extreme weather events often cut off communities from central health facilities, limiting women’s access to timely and essential reproductive health services.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/building-climate-resilient-reproductive-health-care-in-zambia-ipass-on-the-job-training-innovation/

The crisis of unsafe abortion in Malawi: When human rights are denied, women and girls die

By Mandipa Machacha and Tsidi Leatswe
8 December 2025

When Tadala Zindawa**, (21) from Tata village in Lilongwe’s Chitukula area, fell pregnant while in secondary school, she was overcome by fear and panic. Scared of her parents’ disapproval and with abortion criminalized in Malawi, Tadala resorted to unsafe methods using Aloe Vera or Surf Soap to induce abortion. The procedure not only failed, but it led to severe pain and heavy bleeding. She survived after post-abortion care, but the psychological and physical scars are lifelong.

Nevertheless, Tadala is one of the lucky ones.

Every year, hundreds of women and girls in Malawi die or are injured from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. According to the Malawi Ministry of Health and the Guttmacher Institute, about 141,000 abortions occur annually in Malawi, the vast majority unsafe and accounting for 6–18% of maternal deaths.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2025/12/the-crisis-of-unsafe-abortion-in-malawi-when-human-rights-are-denied-women-and-girls-die/

European Citizens’ Initiative on abortion rights reaches milestone after hearing

Thursday 4 December 2025
By The Brussels Times Newsroom

The European Parliament hosted on Tuesday a hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “My Voice, My Choice” on safe and accessible abortion for all women in the EU.

At the heart of the initiative is a concrete proposal which respects that health is a national competency: A European financial mechanism that supports EU Member States in providing access to safe abortion care free of charge to women without access in their own country and does not interfere with national legislations.

Continued:; https://www.brusselstimes.com/1867634/pro-choice-european-citizens-initiative-holds-hearing-in-the-european-parliament

Historic win as Malawi High Court approves abortion access for survivors of sexual violence

November 14, 2025
Ipas

The High Court in Malawi has ruled that adolescent survivors of sexual violence have the right to access abortion services in both public and private health facilities. Previously, abortion was only legally permitted to save a pregnant person’s life.

Ipas Malawi welcomed this landmark decision affirming the right of women and girls to sexual and reproductive health. This win is the result of relentless advocacy by Ipas and partner organizations in a country that has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Africa, despite unsafe abortion accounting for 18% of maternal deaths.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/malawi-high-court-approves-abortion-access-survivors-sexual-violence/

14.11.2025

News

abortion law reform

Coalition for the Prevention of Unsafe Abortion

COPUA

Felix Chinguwo

Ipas Malawi

Malawi Human Rights Commission

Safe abortion is life-saving healthcare: A call to action

3rd October 2025
Equality Now
By: Mumbi Mugo, Program Officer and Elizabeth Alukudo, Associate Program Officer

On the 2025 International Safe Abortion Day, commemorated on 28 September, we join women, girls, and human rights defenders across Africa and the globe in reaffirming a simple truth: safe abortion is life-saving healthcare.

As we reflect on progress made, and the road still ahead, we are reminded of the transformative potential of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, more widely known as the Maputo Protocol. Adopted by the African Union in 2003, the Protocol remains one of the most progressive and comprehensive legal instruments for the promotion and protection of women’s rights globally, particularly in the realm of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Continued: https://equalitynow.org/news/news-and-insights/safe-abortion-is-life-saving-healthcare-a-call-to-action/

03.10.2025

Commentary

African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Article 14(2)(c)

Equality Now

International Safe Abortion Day

Maputo Protocol

maternal deaths

Mumbi Mugo

sexual and reproductive health and rights

NIGERIA – As Abuja court affirms right to safe abortion for sexual violence survivors

As Abuja court affirms right to safe abortion for sexual violence survivors

By Caroline Wambui
September 29, 2025

For far too long, survivors of rape and incest in Nigeria have faced significant challenges, second trauma: being forced by law and stigma to carry unwanted pregnancies.

A Federal High Court judgement in Abuja may finally begin to change that reality. In June 2025, Hon. Justice Olotu delivered a groundbreaking judgment affirming that when a woman or girl is impregnated through sexual violence, forcing her to continue the pregnancy violates her fundamental rights.

Continued: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/09/as-abuja-court-affirms-right-to-safe-abortion-for-sexual-violence-survivors/

Unsafe Abortions Contribute to 13% of Preventable Deaths

28 September 2025
The Namibian (Windhoek)

As the world marks International Safe Abortion Day, an alarm has been raised over the staggering prevalence of unsafe abortions worldwide, urging decisive action to ensure women and girls have access to safe and legal abortion services.

Gynaecologist Dr Koketso Pule, speaking on Sunday during an interview on Newsroom Afrika, highlighted the critical risks associated with unsafe abortions, stating that globally approximately 45% of abortions are performed unsafely. She stated that this contributes to an estimated 3% of preventable maternal deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.

Continued; https://allafrica.com/stories/202509290059.html

28.09.2025

News

Dr Koketso Pule

International Safe Abortion Day

Nigeria – Unsafe abortions claim thousands of live annually – Expert

18 September 2025
By Vivian Deladem

Thousands of Nigerian women die every year from complications arising from unsafe abortions, Dr. Nwigwe Peter Obiora, a reproductive health expert, has said.

Dr. Obiora disclosed this in an interview with Weekend Hope, calling for urgent improvement in access to safe abortion care, family planning and comprehensive sex education in the country.”

Continued: https://www.thehopenewspaper.com/unsafe-abortions-claim-thousands-of-live-annually-expert/#google_vignette

18.09.2025

News

Dr. Nwigwe Peter Obiora

Nigeria – Doctors link 40% of maternal deaths to unsafe abortion

By Sodiq Ojuroungbe
August 19, 2025

Maternal and reproductive health experts have described unsafe abortion as a “silent killer” of women in the country, blaming poverty, ignorance, and Nigeria’s restrictive abortion laws for the growing number of preventable deaths.

The experts lamented that at least 40 per cent of maternal deaths in the country were linked to abortion-related complications, many of which occur outside proper medical facilities.

Speaking exclusively to PUNCH Healthwise, the gynaecologists called for urgent reforms, including the decriminalisation of abortion under specific conditions, expansion of access to family planning services, and the provision of free maternal healthcare.

Continued: https://healthwise.punchng.com/doctors-link-40-of-maternal-deaths-to-unsafe-abortion/

19.08.2025