AD1087: Ghanaians support women’s autonomy but are divided on abortion and contraceptives

Most citizens back sex education and letting pregnant girls stay in school.

Maame Akua Amoah Twum
2 Dec 2025

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) remain a critical challenge in Ghana, particularly with regard to teenage pregnancy and access to contraception. Between 2016 and 2020, Ghana recorded 13,444 pregnancies among girls aged 10-14 and 542,131 pregnancies among adolescents aged 15-19 (UNFPA-Ghana, 2022). Teenage pregnancy rates are about twice as high in rural areas as in cities (Mohammed, 2023). Poverty, limited education, and stigma surrounding SRHR continue to restrict access to essential services (Amoadu et al., 2022).

One profound consequence of teenage pregnancy is educational disruption. A study in a suburb of Accra (Chorkor) showed that more than 80% of pregnant schoolgirls drop out permanently (Gyan, 2013), and participants in re-entry programmes often face stigma, a lack of support, and economic hardship.

Continued: https://www.afrobarometer.org/publication/ad1087-ghanaians-support-womens-autonomy-but-are-divided-on-abortion-and-contraceptives/

02.12.2025

Research

public support for abortion

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Malawi – Masamba calls for stronger national action on women’s health rights

Dec 01, 2025
Eric Chiputula

Parliamentary Committee on Health chairperson Anthony Masamba has called on Malawi to move beyond policy dialogue and implement concrete measures to advance women’s sexual and reproductive health rights.

Speaking during a day-long engagement on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and access to safe abortion services in Salima, the Mchinji North East legislator told policymakers, civil society leaders, and health experts that ongoing discussions are crucial to improving the lives of millions of women and girls.

Continued : https://malawi24.com/2025/12/01/masamba-calls-for-stronger-national-action-on-womens-health-rights/

01.12.2025

News

Anthony Masamba

Maputo Protocol

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Research series: navigating the politics of backlash to sexual and reproductive rights

ODI Global
Nov 24, 2025

Based on three case studies from across the African continent, this research explores the politics of anti-gender backlash against sexual and reproductive health and rights. By sharing insights from three country contexts: The Gambia, Kenya and Sierra Leone, these case studies offer a clear analysis of the salient economic, social, political and cultural factors that defined the legislative outcomes of rights-based initiatives in each nation.

Each paper sets out to understand the stakeholder motivations, political economy and foreign influences that shaped the debates over three legislative proposals relating to LGTBQI+ rights, access to safe abortion, and a ban on FGM. Within a context of intensifying backlash to women’s rights in a world defined by rollbacks to legal protections and slashed spending on ODA, this research aims to support international development actors seeking to better assess opportunities and obstacles to their initiatives on gender rights.

Continued: https://odi.org/en/about/our-work/gender-equality-and-social-inclusion/research-series-navigating-the-politics-of-backlash-to-sexual-and-reproductive-rights/

24.11.2025

Research

LGBTQI+ rights

sexual and reproductive health and rights

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

Climate resilience can’t be achieved without addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights, new study shows

Applying an intersectional climate justice lens to understand climate crisis impacts on sexual and reproductive health and rights and identify local solutions: Qualitative findings from Khulna, Bangladesh

Aug 4, 2025
Published in Sage Journals

A qualitative study by Ipas Bangladesh reveals how extreme weather events (EWEs) caused by climate change worsen sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) outcomes for women and girls in coastal Bangladesh. The study shows that people’s experiences during climate crises vary. Factors like gender, age, marital status, religion, income level, and social background shape them. The study found that effects such as increased gender-based violence, unintended pregnancies, challenges with menstrual health, and difficulties in accessing health services vary widely based on these intersectional factors.

Continued: https://www.ipas.org/news/climate-resilience-srhr-study/

04.08.2025

Research

climate change and reproductive justice

Dr. Sayed Rubayet

Ipas Bangladesh

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Nigeria – Experts seek legal backing for safe abortion, GBV response in Ogun

By : Azeez Olorunlomeru
8 Jul 2025

Experts from different divides have demanded increased awareness, legal backing, and improved access to reproductive health services, especially Safe Termination of Pregnancy (STOP), to tackle the alarming rates of gender-based violence, unsafe abortion, and maternal mortality.

The call was made in Abeokuta yesterday during a high-level roundtable meeting with policymakers on the possible legal framework of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Ogun State.

Continued: https://guardian.ng/news/experts-seek-legal-backing-for-safe-abortion-gbv-response-in-ogun/#google_vignette

08.07.2025

maternal mortality rates

sexual and reproductive health and rights

‘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

Commentary

69th Commission on the Status of Women

anti-choice bullshit

anti-choice cruelty

anti-choice deception

Campaign Life Coalition

International Planned Parenthood Federation

MSI Reproductive Choices

Nelly Munyasia

Oxfam

Pan-African Conference on Family Values

Project 2025

Richard and Helen DeVos Centre for Life

sexual and reproductive health and rights

Sima Bahous

Southern Poverty Law Center

Tanzania – Abortion Day: Stakeholders call for collective voices for change

By Guardian Reporter , The Guardian
Sep 30 2024

AS the world marks International Safe Abortion Day on September28th, Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights Africa (WGNRR Africa) and its partners have called for collective voices for change so as the nation to get the accesses to rights on safe abortion for women and girls.

WGNRR Africa and its partners met in Dar es Salaam and discuss issues related to the promotion of safe, legal, and accessible abortion services and the advocacy for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and the day carries profound significance in the ongoing struggle for women's rights and the pursuit of gender equality.

Continued: https://www.ippmedia.com/the-guardian/features/read/abortion-day-stakeholders-call-for-collective-voices-for-change-2024-09-30-134705