AD1183: Zimbabweans support women’s autonomy in marital and reproduction choices, but hold mixed views on contraceptives and abortion

Majorities endorse sex education and allowing pregnant pupils to stay in school.

Simangele Moyo-Nyede
13 May 2026

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are an essential facet of public health, human rights, and sustainable development. For women, they entail physical, mental, and social well-being with autonomy in matters of sexuality and childbearing, including access to contraceptives (Starrs et al., 2018).

Zimbabwe has made great strides on SRHR in recent years, with legal and policy frameworks, anchored in the 2013 Constitution, that prioritise SRHR in the 2026-2030 National Health Strategy, increase funding for SRHR services, and prohibit child marriage through the Marriages Act (United Nations Population Fund, 2025, 2026; World Health Organization, 2020).

Continued: https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1183-zimbabweans-support-womens-autonomy-in-marital-and-reproduction-choices-but-hold-mixed-views-on-contraceptives-and-abortion/

13.05.2026

News

Medical Services Amendment Bill

National Health Strategy

public support for abortion

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Hungary’s New Government and SRHR Commitments

ASTRA Network Commentary
May 11, 2026

Hungary’s 2026 election marks a major political shift. The new government led by Péter Magyar has presented a program with several constructive commitments relevant to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), equality, institutional independence, and civil society space. These include pledges to restore key institutional safeguards, improve the operating environment for civil society, address menstrual poverty, and strengthen responses to violence against women.

At the same time, the program remains marked by strategic ambiguity and serious omissions. It does not amount to a coherent SRHR or human rights agenda. Core issues such as contraception, abortion-related barriers, comprehensive sexuality education, LGBTQ+ equality, Roma women’s health, and socio-economic barriers to reproductive autonomy are either absent or insufficiently addressed. ASTRA Network welcomes the positive openings in the program, but stresses that these must be translated into explicit guarantees, implementation mechanisms, and protections for those most exposed to discrimination and rights violations.

Continued: https://astra.org.pl/astra-network-commentary-hungarys-2026-elections-and-the-incoming-governments-commitments-on-srhr-and-human-rights/

11.05.2026

Commentary

ASTRA Network

Péter Magyar

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Just the Numbers: Australia’s Support for Global Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

New Evidence on Impacts of Investment in Family Planning, 2024

April 23, 2026
Meltem Odabaș, Chelsea Polis, Elizabeth A. Sully, Guttmacher Institute

Investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are among the most cost-effective development interventions available. Supporting SRHR improves health, prevents unintended pregnancies, reduces maternal and infant mortality, and expands educational and economic opportunities for women and girls. The evidence is clear: Funding for sexual and reproductive health is central to resilient health systems, human rights, gender equality and sustainable development.

In Asia and the Pacific,* the need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services remains substantial, driven by persistent gaps in health system capacity, geographic barriers to service delivery, and increasing vulnerability to humanitarian crises and climate-related disasters. These challenges contribute to significant gaps in access to essential services, including contraception, safe abortion care, and maternal and newborn health services.

Continued: https://www.guttmacher.org/2026/04/just-numbers-australia-global-srhr-investment-impact-2024

23.04.2026

sexual and reproductive health and rights

AD1162: Gambians support women’s autonomy on marriage but want restrictions on contraceptives and abortion

Citizens favour teaching sex education in school and allowing pregnant girls to continue their education.

Luqman Saka and Bill Clinton Alex
3 Apr 2026

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are fundamental aspects of public health and human rights, encompassing physical, mental, and social well-being related to sexuality and childbearing (Starr et al., 2018). At their foundation is the right of individuals to make informed, autonomous decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives, free from coercion, violence, and discrimination.

In The Gambia, public attitudes toward SRHR are evolving within a context of generally conservative dispositions on issues such as women’s agency and autonomy over their bodies, contraceptive use, and abortion (see Afrobarometer, 2024, 64-66).

Continued: https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1162-gambians-support-womens-autonomy-on-marriage-but-want-restrictions-on-contraceptives-and-abortion/

03.04.2026

public support for abortion

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Action Canada and Global Partners Unite to Advance Equitable Reproductive Health Amid Rising Global Rollbacks

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 30, 2026

Ottawa, ON — Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights alongside leading international partners are proud to announce the launch of the Strengthening Health Systems Integrated & Transformative SRHR (SHIFTS) project — a groundbreaking initiative designed to transform how sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are delivered in Benin, Mozambique, and Nigeria, through resilient, integrated health systems.

“This work has never been more urgent,” says Meghan Doherty, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Action Canada. “In a moment where the health and rights are rights of women girls and marginalized people are under threat around the world in, we are building coalitions that will hold the line and work for change.”

Continued: https://www.actioncanadashr.org/news/2026-03-30-action-canada-and-global-partners-unite-advance-equitable-reproductive-health-amid-rising-global

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/

Global Trends in Opposition to Women’s Reproductive Autonomy

10 September 2025
International Confederation of Midwives

Sexual and reproductive health and rights are increasingly under threat. The Trump Administration in the United States has restricted dialogue about and access to contraception and safe abortion causing a global ripple effect. A troubling trend is emerging: other governments and international organisations are following suit by limiting funding and avoiding the language of reproductive rights.

Defunding SRHR – Global Impact and Consequences
The Trump Administration has overseen the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), withdrawn 500 million USD in global health funding, and terminated all US contributions to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN agency for sexual and reproductive health. The result is the destabilisation of global sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) initiatives, undermining progress toward gender equality, jeopardising the 2030 Agenda for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Continued: https://internationalmidwives.org/global-trends-in-opposition-to-womens-reproductive-autonomy/

‘Reclaiming our bodies,’ a revolution towards sexual reproductive justice for Women in Africa

Some Women make decisions with fear while others live with stigma because the laws have stippled them their sexual reproductive health rights.

By ROSEMARY ONCHARI
April 22, 2025

KISII, Kenya – For decades ,Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) narratives of African women are narrowly told in a dehumanizing lens, reducing them into numbers and problems which can be solved without giving these women a right over their bodies ,choices and their future.

In the 21st century, women in Africa have no freedom as many access health care with shame, some make decisions with fear while others live with stigma because the laws have stippled them their sexual reproductive health rights.

Continued: https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2025/04/reclaiming-our-bodies-a-revolution-towards-sexual-reproductive-justice-for-women-in-africa/

22.04.2025

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Resist and Persist: How Ipas will meet the changing global health landscape

April 2025

For 52 years, Ipas has supported communities around the world to ensure access to abortion and contraception for all. We have a deep history and experience working on abortion in places in the world with very restrictive laws, and with health systems that face critical challenges. Ipas has survived extraordinary challenges in the past, and our mission, persistence, and expertise are more critical than ever in the current moment.

The United States’ drastic dismantling of its $79.5 billion foreign aid program has significantly impacted development and humanitarian sectors and created chaos around the globe. Health systems have been crippled, and countless lives and livelihoods have been disrupted. This is a moment of inflection in the global health and development community.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/our-work/resist-and-persist-how-ipas-will-meet-the-changing-global-health-landscape/

A tale of two conferences: women against women as ‘poison of patriarchy’ returns and abortion fight intensifies

Last week, anti-choice campaigners emboldened by current US politics met in New York at the same time as UN delegates gathered to address the widespread inequalities women face. The battle to protect rights has never felt more urgent

Isabel Choat in New York, The Guardian
Sat 22 Mar 2025

In a meeting room on the 27th floor of a swish Manhattan hotel, Denise Mountenay is telling the audience that the right to abortion is “Nazi thinking.” Mountenay regrets her own abortions, and says she has been called by God to spread the word that she and other women “were lied to, deceived, pressured into making the most horrible choice: to choose death instead of life”.

She goes on to list reasons why abortion is “not a safe procedure. [That’s what] they want woman to think – that is a lie.” Many of her claims, including that abortion leads to breast cancer, have been thoroughly disproved by scientific studies.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/mar/22/women-rights-un-anti-abortion-choice-poison-of-patriarchy-returns

22.03.2025