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

Rape survivors blocked from treatment as aid cuts make Africa’s unsafe abortion crisis worse, researchers warn

Funding cuts are set to block more women and girls from getting lifesaving healthcare and post-rape support, researcher Dr Jonna Both tells The Independent

Rachel Schraer, Global Health Correspondent
Wednesday 05 November 2025

A landmark study has found survivors of rape and incest in five African countries are being blocked from access to safe abortion, despite being entitled to it by law.

Published one year to the day since Donald Trump’s election, the first-of-its kind study has mapped out how unsafe abortion is risking women’s lives in the countries, as US aid cuts worsen the crisis.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/abortion-africa-aid-cuts-trump-b2858193.html

05.11.2025

DRC – Crisis and care: Navigating reproductive health in DRC’s conflict zones

September 2, 2025
Habygaelle Muzie, Communications Advisor, Ipas DRC

Since February 2025, the cities of Goma in North Kivu and Bukavu in South Kivu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have been under the control of the M23 Movement, a rebel paramilitary group.

This has led to a complete reshuffling of local authorities and widespread security instability. Between February and August 2025, over 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence were reported in North and South Kivu provinces, according to UNICEF. Ipas DRC has also received reports of mass rapes, sexual mutilation, and assaults committed in conflict zones or during forced displacement. Access to sexual and reproductive health care has become extremely limited, if not absent, in some areas. Women and girls who survive rape are left without medical care, psychological support, or access to essential services such as emergency contraception or sexually transmitted infections.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/reproductive-health-in-drc-conflict-zones/

02.09.2025

Commentary

Dr. Justin Mumbere

Dr. Moise Musa Byamungu

Habygaelle Muzie

Ipas DRC

M23 Movement

National Program for Reproductive Health

sexual and reproductive health care

sexual violence

Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo

Health

Human Rights

Unsafe Abortion

Brazil/USA – Why We Must Keep Talking About Abortion Pills

As part of a delegation to Brazil, I saw how our countries’ respective struggles to maintain and expand reproductive justice are really part of the same fight.

Regina Mahone
June 16, 2025

Brasília, Brazil—We packed ourselves into a meeting room at the back of the Socialism and Freedom Party (known as PSOL) office in the National Congress building in Brasília on May 14. The bird-shaped capital of Brazil was developed in the 1950s as a modern, futuristic city, but inside the legislative building are standard government meeting spaces, with cubicle walls and drab, windowless halls.

We took our seats at the big conference table or on one of the folding chairs located along the sides. Lunch was served—an assortment of breads, including the staple pão de queijo; salads; fresh juice; and Brazilian carrot cake, which was fluffy (nothing like the traditional US version) and delicious.

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/medication-abortion-misoprostol-brazil/

India – Hospitals to not insist on ID proof of rape survivors seeking abortion, says Delhi HC

Delhi HC added that medical protocols must align not only with statutory obligations, but also with compassion, practicality, and understanding.

Jun 02, 2025

The Delhi High Court has asked hospitals in the national capital to refrain from demanding ID proofs of rape survivors seeking termination of their pregnancy on orders of courts.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma also underlined the pressing need for "clear, practical and sensitive" medical protocols for such survivors, particularly minors.

Continued: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/hospitals-shouldn-t-insist-on-id-proof-of-rape-survivors-seeking-abortion-delhi-hc-101748870645674.html

03.06.2025

Peru’s gender-based violence crisis requires structural solutions

Ben Radford, Cali
March 22, 2025

Women in Peru face one of the highest levels of gender-based violence in Latin America, along with structural barriers to accessing vital healthcare such as abortion and contraception.

The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations (MIMP) recorded 71,717 cases of psychological violence, 63,692 cases of physical violence and 12,524 cases of sexual assault against women last year — but the actual number is much higher due to underreporting.

Continued: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/perus-gender-based-violence-crisis-requires-structural-solutions

22.03.2025

Commentary

Ben Radford

femicide

gender-based violence

Latin American Network of Women Defenders of Social and Environmental Rights

Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations

Betrayed by the System in Brazil

Friday 28 February 2025
by L.M. Bonato

While various human rights reports show that annually between one and four million Brazilian women have abortions, the right to women’s bodily autonomy remains a major battle. Currently the law allows abortion only in the case of rape or to save the woman’s life. This means millons of women are forced to seek underground abortions.

Given the rise of conservative parties following Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, far-right politicians are seeking to roll back legal abortion even in the case of rape. Congressman Sóstenes Cavalcante has introduced Bill PL 190424, which would criminalize abortion under all circumstances after 22 weeks of pregnancy.

Continued: https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article8874

28.02.2025

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/

Guatemala: Failed Response to Sexual Violence Against Girls

Inadequate Health Care, Education, Social Security, Justice for Young Survivors

Human Rights Watch
February 18, 2025

(Guatemala City) – Successive governments in Guatemala have failed to meet their obligations toward girls facing early and forced pregnancies due to sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The authorities need to provide sexual violence survivors with comprehensive health care, education, and social security, as well as necessary legal protections, justice and reparations.

The 85-page report, “‘Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams’: Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala,” documents the numerous barriers that girls who are survivors of sexual violence face accessing essential health care, education, social security, and justice. Guatemalan law classifies any sexual activity involving a child under 14 as sexual violence. Guatemala’s National Registry of Persons (RENAP) reported that between 2018 and 2024, 14,696 girls under 14 gave birth and became mothers, in many cases against their will.

Continued: https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/02/18/guatemala-failed-response-sexual-violence-against-girls

18.02.2025

Commentary

Cristina Quijano Carrasco

forced pregnancies

Forced to Give Up on Their Dreams’: Sexual Violence against Girls in Guatemala

Human Rights Watch

sexual violence

sexual violence survivors

UN ruling on pregnant girls offers hope for abortion care

Enid Muthoni, Lori Adelman
Jan 29, 2025
Center for Reproductive Rights

Nicaraguan Susana was 13-years-old when she became pregnant by her grandfather, who had repeatedly raped her. When she found out, Susana said she did not want to continue with the pregnancy, and, with the help of her grandmother, pled five times for the complaint against her aggressor to be accepted. In a country like Nicaragua, which totally bans abortion and has normalized human rights violations, voices like Susana's are not heard. She was forced into motherhood, while her aggressor was never prosecuted. However, this month Susana finally got justice on Jan. 20.

On the same day Donald Trump returned to the White House, the United Nations Human Rights Committee delivered three groundbreaking rulings, holding Ecuador and Nicaragua responsible for grave human rights violations against Susana and two other young survivors of rape who were forced into motherhood. The Committee is clear: everyone, and with greater emphasis on girls, has the right to be free from sexual violence and free to make their own choices. Although the decisions are about the cases of Norma from Ecuador and Lucía and Susana from Nicaragua, they set a new international standard for more than 170 signatory countries of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the United States.

Continued: https://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/opinion/un-ruling-on-pregnant-girls-offers-hope-for-abortion-care

29.01.2025