Women in Ghana can access safe abortions: why are so many still using unsafe methods?

March 5, 2026
D. Yaw Atiglo, Charlotte Abra Esime Ofori

Ghana’s abortion law is relatively liberal. Abortion is legally permitted in the first trimester when a pregnancy endangers the mother’s life or physical or mental health, or when it is due to rape or incest. Thus, medication abortion has become more widely available.

Medication abortion involves the use of mifepristone and misoprostol pills which stop pregnancy and enable the uterus to expel it naturally. When used correctly and with proper guidance it is an acceptable, effective and safe method.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/women-in-ghana-can-access-safe-abortions-why-are-so-many-still-using-unsafe-methods-274991

Aid Held Hostage: How Trump’s Expanded Global Gag Rule Weaponizes Foreign Assistance

How can a foreign aid policy that primarily hurts women and children be branded “pro-life”?

March 5, 2026
by Terry McGovern, Sabrina Das and Katherine Hartley

Global maternal and child health is already in crisis. Hundreds of thousands of preventable pregnancy-related deaths occur annually, and progress to address maternal mortality has stalled globally.

Now, the Trump administration’s expanded global gag rule—which took effect last week—will accelerate this already dangerous backslide. They’ve framed the policy as a reaffirmation of “pro-life” values. It is not. It is an ideological intervention into global health that ignores decades of evidence.

Continued: https://msmagazine.com/2026/03/05/global-gag-rule-trump/

05.03.2026

Commentary

child mortality

Doctors Without Borders

‘No Woman Should Lose Her Life, Giving Life’

17/02/2026
Kerry Cullinan

Over 60% of maternal deaths in 2023 took place in countries and territories experiencing conflict or institutional and social fragility, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) technical brief published on Tuesday.

“In 2023, an estimated 260,000 women died from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Around 160,000 of those deaths occurred in settings experiencing conflict or institutional fragility,” Jenny Cresswell, WHO sexual and reproductive health scientist, told a media briefing in Geneva on Tuesday.

Continued: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/no-woman-should-lose-her-life-giving-life/

17.02.2026

News

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jenny Cresswell

maternal mortality

United Nations Children’s Fund

United Nations Population Fund

World Health Organization

Rights group advocate reform of Nigeria’s abortion laws

By : Tina Abeku
17 February 2026

THE Network for Safeguarding Women’s Health and Rights (NSWHR), has launched a nationwide campaign advocating for urgent reform of Nigeria’s “colonial-era” abortion laws, which pose significant risks to women’s lives.

Executive Director and Founder of the group, Elizabeth Enu-Akan, noted the dangerous implications of existing legislation, which she said has remained unchanged for over six decades.

Continued: https://guardian.ng/news/rights-group-advocate-reform-of-nigerias-abortion-laws/

17.02.2026

Network for Safeguarding Women’s Health and Rights

Uganda – How abortion is eating away Busoga’s future

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
By Tausi Nakato

Unsafe abortions continue to quietly claim the lives of women in Busoga Sub-region, with medical experts warning that the scale of the crisis is far bigger than official figures suggest.

According to the 2024/2025 Annual Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (MNCH) and Maternal and Perinatal Death Surveillance and Response (MPDSR) report, Uganda’s maternal mortality ratio stands at 189 deaths per 100,000 live births. About four percent of these deaths are attributed to complications arising from unsafe abortions.

Continued: https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/how-abortion-is-eating-away-busoga-s-future-5354514

11.02.2026

Commentary

Association of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in Uganda

Dr Aggrey Bameka

Dr. Simon Peter Kayondo

Sri Lanka – End the silence on abortion law reform

Editorial
11 Feb 2026

Sri Lanka continues to live with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, rooted in sections of the Penal Code enacted in 1883. This colonial-era law criminalises abortion in almost all circumstances, allowing it only when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. Nearly 150 years later, the country is still governed by legal assumptions formed in a very different world. The cost of this inaction is borne by women and girl children, particularly survivors of rape, victims of incest, and those forced to carry pregnancies with fatal foetal abnormalities.

Calls to reform this law are not new, nor are they reckless. They have emerged repeatedly over decades, led by medical professionals, legal scholars and public health experts, who confront the human consequences of the law every day. Academic research published by the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka and scholars writing in local medical and legal journals consistently show that criminalisation does not prevent abortion. It only pushes it underground, increasing the risk of physical harm, psychological trauma and death.

Continued: https://www.themorning.lk/articles/EVIAFfyhzQpIICtfVhrp

11.02.2026

Editorial

abortion law reform

Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka

fatal foetal abnormality

Law Commission of Sri Lanka

maternal morbidity

maternal mortality

National Action Plan for Human Rights

Nepal – Legal safeguards fail to curb abortion prosecution

Nepal’s abortion law protects rights on paper but women still risk arrest and harassment.

Aarya Chand
February 8, 2026

Kalpana, a resident of Siraha, was not seeking to abort the child. She was seeking medical care.

After a miscarriage, Kalpana, who the Post is identifying with a pseudonym to protect her privacy, was taken to a hospital for treatment. Instead, she was accused of having undergone an illegal abortion. The police were informed and she was arrested.

Months later, Siraha District Court cleared her of the charges by declaring that what had actually occurred was a natural miscarriage.

Continued: https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/02/08/legal-safeguards-fail-to-curb-abortion-prosecution

Nigeria – Interfaith Leaders Back Safe, Legal Maternal Care In Oyo, Ogun

February 7, 2026

Leaders of Islamic, Christian and traditional faith communities in Oyo and Ogun states have jointly declared unsafe abortion a “grave moral and public health crisis,” pledging to support access to lawful, safe and confidential maternal healthcare to curb preventable deaths and injuries.

In a communiqué issued under the Interfaith Action for Health Care initiative of the REACH-OUT with Health Awareness Programme, the clerics said the rising toll of maternal mortality linked to unsafe procedures demands compassionate, evidence-based responses that prioritise women’s dignity, health and survival.

Continued: https://platformtimes.com.ng/interfaith-leaders-back-safe-legal-maternal-care-in-oyo-ogun/

07.02.2026

News

Interfaith Action for Health Care initiative

maternal mortality

REACH-OUT with Health Awareness Programme

New Foreign Aid Rules Will Threaten Lives

The Trump Administration is expanding foreign aid restrictions on abortion, transgender health care, and DEI initiatives.

by Susana T. Fried, Alicia Ely Yamin - The Progressive Magazine
February 4, 2026

On January 23, Vice President J.D. Vance launched the Trump Administration’s new plan to “promote families and human flourishing.” But rather than being, as he claimed, “pro-life,” these rules will threaten the lives of people around the world, especially women and people who don’t fit into the administration’s narrow, unscientific categories of gender.

The first of the new restrictions on foreign aid announced by Vance extends the existing Mexico City Policy prohibitions on abortion funding to encompass not just global health assistance but all non-military foreign assistance—including U.S.-based nonprofits and government-to-government funding. Known to critics as the “Global Gag Rule,” recipients receiving funding from the U.S. government are prohibited even from tapping other donors to provide information or education regarding women’s health. This expansion will severely limit access to abortion and the full range of sexual and reproductive health care, even in humanitarian emergencies.

Continued: https://progressive.org/op-eds/new-foreign-aid-rules-will-threaten-lives-fried-yamin-20260204/

04.02.2026

Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance

U.S. Agency for International Development

Expanded global gag rule puts Kenya’s maternal and child health at risk

Monday, February 02, 2026
By Linet Owoko

Kenya risks losing decades of progress in maternal and child health due to the expanded Global Gag Rule, a US policy that restricts organisations receiving American funding from providing, referring for, or advocating for abortion services.

The Global Gag Rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy, threatens to dismantle the comprehensive reproductive health system that has driven significant improvements in maternal outcomes across the country.

Continued: https://nation.africa/kenya/health/expanded-global-gag-rule-puts-kenya-s-maternal-and-child-health-at-risk-5343070

02.02.2026