Editorial, The Lancet
Volume 407, Issue 10538, P1483, April 18, 2026

Women's bodily autonomy and health, particularly with regard to abortion, are under attack. The politicisation of women's bodies and choices is part of a wider attempt to roll back human rights and freedoms of women and marginalised groups. Political parties with regressive ideologies, rising across the world, are finding common cause with anti-gender religious groups. Transnational anti-gender movements have become professionalised and influence national and international agendas. Overseas aid has become a bargaining chip for abortion and gender rights, with dire consequences to sexual and reproductive health. Access to reproductive health information is being restricted by tech corporations, while misinformation is left to proliferate. These trends might prompt despair, but they should not obfuscate the incredible longer-term gains in abortion rights and connected health improvements of the past 60 years, nor the possibility of further ensuring legal, free, and safe abortion for all.

Continued: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00753-1/fulltext