On September 28—International Safe Abortion Day, the unstoppable abortion rights movement unites in unwavering solidarity to reclaim the narrative and champion this year’s theme: “Safe Abortion is Life-saving Healthcare!”
Lack of access to safe, legal, timely, affordable, and stigma-free abortion care is a public health crisis and a human rights violation of all persons who can get pregnant. Every day, women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals are forced to resort to unsafe procedures—a preventable cause of maternal death and morbidity.
Access to safe and comprehensive abortion care is a cornerstone of reproductive healthcare and a fundamental human right. Yet right-wing, nationalist, religious fundamentalist, and authoritarian forces are leading well-funded campaigns to restrict access, spread disinformation, and roll back decades of progress made by the abortion rights movement.
These attacks on abortion rights take many forms, but they all share one purpose: to deny people access to essential, life-saving healthcare. Restrictive laws and criminalization prevent women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals from seeking safe abortion services, forcing many into unsafe and dangerous situations.
Control over reproductive rights has long been a tool of political dominance. Today, authoritarian governments and anti-rights actors instrumentalise women’s bodies to consolidate power—often cloaked in rhetoric about “family values,” “traditional culture,” or “cultural preservation.” In truth, these discriminatory policies entrench patriarchal agendas that strip people of their dignity and bodily autonomy. The attacks extend online as well: digital spaces are weaponised to spread disinformation, deepen abortion stigma, and launch smear campaigns against human rights defenders. Misogynistic communities like the “manosphere” promote regressive gender roles and frame feminism as a threat, fueling a broader backlash against reproductive rights.
But these attacks are not only ideological—they are systemic. Governments divert massive public funds into militarization, surveillance, and wars instead of investing in healthcare. This deliberate underfunding makes safe abortion and other essential services even more inaccessible, particularly for people living in poverty and in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas. At the same time, women’s rights groups, grassroots organizations, and broader social justice movements face mounting repression: funding cuts that cripple essential services, censorship of independent media, harassment of advocates, and the silencing of protests through intimidation, arrests, and even the branding of activists as “terrorists.” These are not isolated acts, but part of a broader effort to silence dissent and undermine democracy.
This oppressive agenda knows no borders—it is a global reality confronting feminist, LGBTQ+, and broader social justice movements. Its weight falls disproportionately on those most marginalized, who already endure intersecting and multiple burdens: women, young people, people living in poverty, sex workers, migrant workers, people with disabilities, and communities in conflict or humanitarian crises.
These attacks do not stop at abortion rights, they weaken entire healthcare systems. When reproductive health clinics close, overstretched public facilities cannot meet the rising demand for care. Moreover, defunding healthcare goes beyond restricting abortion—it dismantles essential services like contraception, Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, maternal care, and cancer screenings. The result is a public health crisis that falls heaviest on low-income communities, young people, and those in rural areas, who depend on these clinics as lifelines.
However, despite these uncertain times, our collective strength continues to drive breakthroughs. We see it in Britain’s historic vote to decriminalize abortion, Nigeria’s legal victory for survivors of rape and incest, Armenia’s adoption of a gender strategy rooted in SRHR, and Chile’s progress toward decriminalisation up to 14 weeks. These gains remind us of the power of solidarity. Together, as an unstoppable abortion rights movement, we will keep advancing—because abortion is life-saving healthcare, and our rights must be respected, protected, and fulfilled.
We call on our allies across movements for justice and equality to join us in advancing the right to safe, legal, timely, affordable, and stigma-free abortion care. Only through solidarity can we achieve reproductive justice, protect bodily autonomy, and guarantee reproductive freedom for all.
We call on our government to:
- Respect human rights by establishing a supportive legal and policy framework that decriminalizes abortion, repeals punitive laws, and removes all barriers that delay, obstruct, or deny access to safe care, including mandatory waiting periods, biased counselling, and third-party authorisation.
- Expand access to safe abortion by ensuring inclusive policies and programs that broaden legal grounds, extend upper time limits, and guarantee that qualified providers and facilities can deliver services without unnecessary barriers.
- Protect and uphold the rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals seeking abortion care, along with the healthcare providers and human rights defenders to ensure access to these essential services.
- Fulfil obligations under international human rights law and treaties by aligning national policies with global standards on reproductive rights and justice.
- Invest in healthcare services and programs and guarantee a supportive, universally accessible, affordable, and well-functioning health system that provides safe abortion and comprehensive reproductive health care without stigma or discrimination.
- Implement comprehensive sexuality education and ensure the availability and accessibility of accurate, evidence-based information so individuals can make informed decisions about their bodies and lives.
- Stop the surveillance, harassment, and criminalization of feminist, LGBTQ+, and SRHR advocates who provide life-saving care and support.
- Protect the rights of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals in conflict and crisis situations by ensuring access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including emergency contraception, safe abortion, and counselling.
- Uphold the rights of people with disabilities by eliminating barriers to SRHR services, ensuring accessibility, and dismantling stigma and discrimination.
We call on global institutions and funding bodies to:
- Prioritize SRHR, including safe abortion, in global health and development agendas as essential to gender equality, justice, and sustainable development.
- Fund safe abortion services and advocacy efforts, ensuring equitable and sustainable financing for grassroots and feminist organizations, especially those led by women, youth, LGBTQ+, and key populations.
- Condemn and resist global anti-rights movements that weaponize “family values” and “traditional culture” to undermine gender equality and human rights.
- Support digital rights and feminist digital activism to counter disinformation, online misogyny, and the rise of extremist “manosphere” ideologies.
- Strengthen international solidarity by protecting transnational networks of feminist and LGBTQ+ movements from cross-border repression and restrictive donor conditionalities.
- Hold governments accountable to their international human rights obligations—including the right to life, health, privacy, and freedom from torture and discrimination.
- Integrate sexual and reproductive healthcare as part of humanitarian response in conflict and crisis settings, ensuring safe abortion care is available even in emergencies.
Lastly, we call on all those committed to universal health care, reproductive justice, social justice, and human rights to stand in solidarity with the unstoppable abortion rights movement. Together, let us reclaim and affirm the truth: abortion is life-saving healthcare, and our rights must be respected, protected, and fulfilled. We urge you to organize events and activities, amplify information from your countries and regions, and mobilize with us this 28 September.
Ready to make an impact this September 28? Share your plans with us, and let’s collaborate to turn your ideas into reality. Don’t miss the chance to partner with the September 28 Working Group and Campaign Partners. Email us now and be part of the change!
