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: Expert links unsafe abortion to rising maternal mortality

The organisation also estimates that 1.8 million abortions occur annually in Nigeria, with nearly 60 per cent classified as unsafe because they are performed by unskilled providers, in unhygienic conditions, or using harmful methods.

by Zainab Adewale
December 5, 2025

Reproductive health experts have warned that unsafe abortions continue to drive Nigeria’s high maternal mortality burden due to restrictive laws, stigma, poor access to safe services, and persistent misinformation.

The experts made this known during a three-day media training on women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights, held in Keffi, Nasarawa State between 2-4 December.

Continued; https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/841062-expert-links-unsafe-abortion-to-rising-maternal-mortality.html

05.12.2025

News

Emannuella Azu

Ipas Nigeria Health Foundation

maternal mortality

maternal mortality ratio

Soteria-Afrique Rural Healthcare Initiative

Talemoh Dah

Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act

World Health Organisation

World Abortion Day: Nigerian women’s health rights in focus

2nd October 2025
Ene Oshaba

Every year on September 28, the world commemorates International Safe Abortion Day, a day rooted in the struggle for women’s rights to health and dignity. Originally launched in 1990 by the Campaña 28 de Septiembre in Latin America and the Caribbean, the day has grown into a global movement, observed in over 60 countries. It is a reminder that the right to safe abortion is not only a matter of personal choice but also a critical issue of public health, human rights, and social justice.

For millions of women and girls, particularly in Nigeria, abortion remains a life-or-death issue. It is estimated that 45 per cent of all abortions worldwide are unsafe, with the vast majority occurring in developing countries where restrictive laws and stigma block access to safe services. According to the World Health Organisation, unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of preventable maternal deaths globally. In Nigeria, where maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the world, unsafe abortion remains a silent epidemic.

Continued: https://punchng.com/world-abortion-day-nigerian-womens-health-rights-in-focus/

Nigeria – ‘No Woman Should Die From Unsafe Abortion’: Inside Ohotu Diamond Women’s Life-Saving Walk

Appolonia Adeyemi
September 19, 2025

On a bright Thursday morning in Agege, Lagos, the familiar roar of buses, traders, and hawkers gave way to a different kinds of movement. The Under Bridge area, often choked with traffic and noise, became a sea of women marching with purpose.

Their placards carried bold, urgent messages: “My Body, My Right, My Choice”, “Sexual and Reproductive Health are a Human Right”, “No Woman Should Die from Unsafe Abortion.” The marchers were members and supporters of the Ohotu Diamond Women Initiative (ODWI); a sex worker–led organisation that has spent the past 15 years amplifying the voices of one of society’s most marginalised groups: female commercial sex workers. But this was not a protest over their trade. It was a rally for life, dignity, and choice.

Contiuned: https://newtelegraphng.com/no-woman-should-die-from-unsafe-abortion-inside-ohotu-diamond-womens-life-saving-walk/

Nigeria: Unsafe abortion: Groups urge Lagos to reinstate STOP guideline

By Chioma Obinna
August 28, 2025

Safe abortion campaigners have called on the Lagos State Government to reinstate the Guidelines on Safe Termination of Pregnancy for Legal Indications (STOP), insisting that the policy is a life-saving tool to reduce preventable maternal deaths.

Nigeria records one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 512 deaths per 100,000 live births according to the World Health Organisation (WHO, 2019). Unsafe abortion accounts for 30–40 percent of these deaths, with Lagos alone recording about 13 percent, according to the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, SOGON.

The STOP guideline, first released by the Federal Ministry of Health before 2022 and adopted by the Lagos State Government in June 2022, was later withdrawn after public backlash. Advocates say reinstating it is critical to safeguarding women’s health.

Continued: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/08/unsafe-abortion-groups-urge-lagos-to-reinstate-stop-guideline/

Closing Nigeria’s maternal mortality gap

by New National Star
June 23, 2025

The target looks good. By 2030, the Nigerian government hopes to reduce maternal mortality rate, MMR, to 196 per 100,000 live births, in line with the United Nations, UN, goal of 70 deaths per 100,000.

Five years to the date, however, available facts have shown that the country’s MMR is a worrisome development.

Continued: https://newnationalstar.com/closing-nigerias-maternal-mortality-gap/#google_vignette

23.06.2025

News

maternal mortality

reducing MMR

World Health Organisation

TikTok removes videos promoting birth control misinformation after The Independent investigation

Exclusive: Myths suggesting that birth control is more dangerous than beneficial were spreading to millions, an investigation by Hebe Campbell reveals

Friday 18 April 2025

TikTok has removed videos promoting birth control misinformation after The Independent found that some influencers were spreading unproven claims to millions of users.

An investigation by The Independent and tech company Alethea revealed misleading videos claimed the risks of birth control, such as cancer or psychological side effects, outweigh its benefits.

Continued; https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tiktok-birth-control-misinformation-influencers-investigation-b2729567.html

18.04.2025

Alethea

birth control misinformation

birth control side effects

Dr Viki Male

Fides Network

misinformation on contraception

Queen Anne’s Lace

TikTok and contraception

World Health Organisation

Russian authorities crack down on abortion access amid demographic crisis

22nd November 2023
By Vitaly Shevchenko

Russian authorities are limiting access to abortions in an attempt to confront the country's longstanding demographic crisis.

Measures include making it an offence trying to persuade a woman to have an abortion and pressuring private clinics to stop carrying out the procedure.

Feminist groups say the campaign is putting the lives of women at risk. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Kremlin, is playing a key role in the anti-abortion campaign.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67495969

Malta – We aid and abet abortion

People call the free Abortion Doula Service because they know they will receive abortion advice according to best practice

Christopher Barbara, Natalie Psaila and Isabel Stabile
Nov 20, 2023

We refer to ‘Inciting murder of the unborn” (October 6) in which senior colleagues call for the police to investigate us for providing information and support to those persons in Malta who seek an abortion. This is preposterous.

We have absolutely no qualms letting people know exactly how to order pills online, how to take them and what complications are possible as well as the precautions they need to take to avoid them. We do this because we are medical professionals and are obliged to provide every support possible to any person that needs our help.

Continued: https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/we-aid-abet-abortion.1067760

Council of Europe warns on backlash to abortion access

Council of Europe warns on backlash to abortion access

By Caterina Tani
BRUSSELS, Dec 6, 2017

A backlash against access to abortion in some EU member states in the past few years is "deeply troubling", the Council of Europe warned on Tuesday (5 December).

In the majority of EU countries abortions are legal, but in some states a wave of "retrogressive restrictions" are threatening women's health and well-being, the European human rights organisation's report said.

Continued at source: https://euobserver.com/health/140158