Building on C4W: Strengthening Midwifery Education for Family Planning and Comprehensive Abortion Care

ICM
15 September 2026

The Collaborate for Women: Abortion and Contraception Care Together (C4W) initiative is continuing its work to expand access to high-quality Family Planning (FP) and Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) for women and girls through stronger collaboration between midwives and obstetrician-gynaecologists (OB/GYNs).

In this second phase, which is continuing throughout 2026, ICM is collaborating with the World Health Organization’s Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP/WHO) and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) to provide technical assistance through ICM’s national member associations in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/building-on-c4w-family-planning-and-abortion-care/

15.09.2026

Commentary

C4W initiative

Collaborate for women: Abortion and Contraception Care Together

International Confederation of Midwives

International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

midwifery and abortion

midwives and abortion

World Health Organization

Investing in Midwives is Essential to Improve Sexual and Reproductive Health

The International Day of the Midwife (May 5) reminds us that safe birth is not a stand-alone event, but part of the broader continuum of sexual and reproductive health and rights

05/05/2026
Teguest Guerma, Health Policy Watch

Most maternal deaths occur during labour, birth, or shortly after birth. Nearly 290,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2020, with 95% of these deaths occurring in low- and lower-middle-income countries.

The major causes included severe bleeding, hypertensive disorders, infections, complications from unsafe abortion, and obstructed labour. Yet these events are largely preventable or treatable when skilled care, referral, medicines, blood, and emergency obstetric services are available.

Continued: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/investing-in-midwives-is-essential-to-improve-sexual-and-reproductive-health/

05.05.2026

Commentary

maternal deaths

midwives and abortion

FIGO/ICM Statement on Comprehensive Abortion Care

FIGO, ICM
7 April 2026

The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) and the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) affirm that Comprehensive Abortion Care (CAC) is an essential health service and a core element of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Building on previous commitments from both organisations, this joint statement unites the guiding principles, strategic aims, policy requirements, professional standards and service actions required to ensure quality, equitable and rights-based CAC. This joint statement supports midwives and obstetrician-gynaecologists (OBGYNs) to practise within competency-based scopes, strengthens interprofessional collaboration, and protects women and girls’ autonomy and dignity.

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/resources/statement-on-comprehensive-abortion-care/

07.04.2026

Commentary

Comprehensive Abortion Care

FIGO

International Confederation of Midwives

International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics

midwives and abortion

WHO Abortion Care Guideline

I want everyone to be free’: A midwife’s fight for women’s bodily autonomy in Chad

Martine Ngaina was arrested for helping a woman access contraception without a husband’s approval—and she kept fighting

March 17, 2026
Ipas

Martine Naigna has spent the last 15 years working as a midwife in Chad’s toughest humanitarian settings—alongside refugee and nomadic communities, including in remote desert areas—to help meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls who are often the most marginalized and least served by the health system in times of crises.

Now a health systems advisor with Ipas in Chad, she has built her career in a landscape where abortion is legally restricted and where patriarchal norms and systemic barriers have historically cost women their lives. Her advocacy was born of a singular, mounting frustration: witnessing preventable and needless maternal and child deaths because women lacked the autonomy to make decisions about their own bodies.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/midwife-fight-bodily-autonomy-chad/

What Happens When Midwives Lead Abortion Care: Lessons from Sweden

International Confederation of Midwives
9 February 2026

In Sweden, abortion is widely understood as essential healthcare. What is less well known is that this sits on decades of research and early innovation in abortion care, and how more recent changes have enabled midwives to become central to making care timely, safe, and accessible.

We talked to Professor Kristina Gemzell Danielsson, Head of the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at Karolinska Institutet, and Obstetrics and senior consultant in gynaecology at Karolinska University Hospital. She is one of the main investigators behind the research that has driven Sweden’s shift towards task sharing in abortion care. She walked us through what abortion care looks like in Sweden today, how midwives are now leading the way, and why this model matters far beyond Sweden.

Continued:https://internationalmidwives.org/what-happens-when-midwives-lead-abortion-care-lessons-from-sweden/

09.02.2026

Commentary

Kristina Gemzell Danielsson

midwives and abortion

Why Can’t All Pregnancy Care Be Like Abortion Care?

To most of the medical system, we’re secondary to the fetuses we carry.

By Irin Carmon, a features writer at New York Magazine
Oct 23, 2025

Four days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I arrived hot and resentful to a Manhattan hospital for a 32-week ultrasound accompanied by my husband. There was no particular reason for the scan, no diagnosed concern, just an impersonal risk calculation based on the fact that I was, at 38, of “advanced maternal age.”

This would be my second child, and admittedly some jadedness had set in. As a reporter, I’d also been more than a little distracted; I’d been covering the high court’s decision in Dobbs, which had almost instantly banned abortion in 13 states.

Continued: https://www.thecut.com/article/make-pregnancy-care-like-abortion-care.html

New Zealand – Expanded Practice, Expanded Horizons: A Rural Midwife’s Journey into Abortion Care

10 September 2025
By Shelley Tweedie, Midwife Manager, Kaitaia Hospital (Auckland, New Zealand)
International Confederation of Midwives

In 2020, New Zealand reformed its abortion laws, removing abortion from the Crimes Act and reframing it as a health issue. This landmark change opened the door for a broader range of healthcare professionals—including midwives—to provide early medical abortion (EMA) care. Our profession is embedded in values of partnership, autonomy, and holistic support so this legal shift marked a profound opportunity to deepen our commitment to women and reproductive autonomy.

Midwives are uniquely positioned to provide abortion care, especially in underserved areas. Our accessibility, trustworthiness, and holistic approach make us ideal providers of EMA services. As a rural midwife, I’ve embraced this change and expanded my scope of practice to include EMA care. This article shares my journey and the impact this has had on my community.

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/expanded-practice-expanded-horizons-a-rural-midwifes-journey-into-abortion-care/

10.09.2025

News

early medical abortion

International Confederation of Midwives

midwives and abortion

Strengthening Midwifery and Sexual & Reproductive Health in Sierra Leone

10 September 2025
International Confederation of Midwives

Midwife advisors from the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) recently travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone, to work alongside the Sierra Leone Midwifery Association (SLMA) as part of the Collaborate for Women (C4W) Abortion and Contraception care Together (ACCT) initiative. Their visit marked the beginning of a series of capacity-building workshops designed to promote the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls, in line with Competency 2 of the Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice.

Over three days, 31 participants, including midwifery educators and clinical midwives, gathered to strengthen their clinical skills and understanding of rights-based care. Many had travelled long distances from remote rural provinces, where they are often the only skilled providers available. While already experienced in delivering essential services, they were eager to strengthen their capacity to provide family planning (FP) and Post-abortion Care (PAC) services and protect women’s autonomy, privacy, and confidentiality, and to ensure that care is always based on free and informed consent.

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/strengthening-midwifery-and-sexual-reproductive-health-in-sierra-leone/

10.09.2025

Commentary

Collaborate for women: Abortion and Contraception Care Together

Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice

International Confederation of Midwives

midwives and abortion

Offences Against the Person Act of 1861

post-abortion care

Sierra Leone Midwifery Association

ICM and FIGO Collaborating for Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health Services

International Confederation of Midwives
6 September 2025

From 02-04 September 2025, midwives, obstetrician-gynaecologists and civil society representing global organisations as well as professional organisations from Nepal, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sierra Leone, and Mozambique and Kenya gathered in Nairobi for the first high-level meeting of the Collaborate for Women, Abortion and Contraception Care Project meeting. Over three days, participants reflected on achievements to date, confronted challenges in collaboration, and worked collectively to shape the future of the initiative. What emerged was a strong sense of shared purpose: midwives, doctors, and women’s advocates aligning around a joint vision for advancing FP and CAC services, guided by equality, accountability, and respect.

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/icm-and-figo-collaborating-for-access-to-sexual-and-reproductive-health-services/

06.09.2025

News

C4W ACCT

Collaborate for women: Abortion and Contraception Care Together

FIGO

International Confederation of Midwives

International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

midwives and abortion

WHO Special Programme in Human Reproduction

World Health Organization

“We’re Creating Miscarriages With Medicine”: Abortion Lessons From Sweden

In Sweden, abortion pills are used to terminate pregnancies through 22 weeks gestation, compared to just 10 weeks in the United States.

Cecilia Nowell
July 16, 2025

Leaning across the midwife’s desk, Lena (not her real name) explains that she isn’t sure whether she wants to continue her pregnancy. At 36, she feels this is the moment when she must decide if she’d like her 5-year-old son to have any siblings. Her husband is desperate for more children, and everyone in her hometown, the Arctic village of Kiruna, Sweden, expects mothers to have multiple children.

“You can’t say you’d be happy with one in Kiruna,” she says. Everyone’s always asking, “When are you going to have siblings?”

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/medication-abortion-sweden/