Joint Statement for the World Contraception Day and the International Safe Abortion Day
25 September 2026
GENEVA – States must urgently address growing attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights, including through renewed investment in health systems and protection of essential healthcare services, UN experts* said today.
Ahead of World Contraception Day on 26 September and International Safe Abortion Day on 28 September, the experts issued the following statement:
“This year, under the theme ‘Solidarity and Action: Reproductive Justice and Polarisation’, we reaffirm that sexual and reproductive health and rights are fundamental human rights and indispensable to the enjoyment of health, dignity, equality and non-discrimination.
Across many regions, sexual and reproductive health and rights are facing renewed attacks through restrictive laws and policies, disinformation, discrimination, stigma and deliberate efforts to reverse hard-won gains in gender equality, while maintaining an unacceptable status quo. Such measures have severe and disproportionate consequences for those already facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including adolescent girls, women living in poverty, Indigenous women, Black women, women from racial and ethnic minorities, women with disabilities, migrants, refugees, displaced women, lesbian, bisexual, and queer women, trans and gender-diverse persons, and persons with innate variations of sex characteristics.
These challenges are further compounded by reductions in funding for healthcare systems, community services and international assistance, including support for sexual and reproductive healthcare. States cannot meaningfully uphold human rights while simultaneously weakening the systems that make those rights a reality. Cuts to health services and international assistance are already undermining access to contraception, safe abortion care, maternal healthcare, comprehensive sexuality education and other essential services. Such measures disproportionately affect women and girls, increase their exposure to preventable harm, and risk reversing hard-won gains in health, gender equality and reproductive autonomy.
The erosion of healthcare systems, attacks on healthcare personnel and the politicisation of reproductive healthcare extend far beyond the disruption of services. They undermine dignity, equality and bodily autonomy, entrench existing inequalities, and weaken the ability of women and girls to exercise meaningful agency over their lives and futures.
In situations of conflict, humanitarian crisis and displacement, these impacts are often magnified. Sexual and reproductive health and rights are frequently among the first rights to be restricted and among the most difficult to restore. Attacks on healthcare facilities, personnel and infrastructure, disruptions to essential services, and increased exposure to sexual and gender-based violence place women and girls at heightened risk of harm. Access to contraception, maternal healthcare, comprehensive abortion care must be protected and prioritised at all times, including during emergencies and armed conflict.
We are equally concerned by threats, intimidation and attacks against healthcare workers, civil society actors and human rights defenders working to provide services, document violations and advance accountability. Their work is essential to protecting the rights, health and dignity of women and girls and must be respected, protected and supported.
Among the many manifestations of these attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights are continued attempts to restrict women’s and girls’ bodily autonomy and reproductive choices.
Women and girls must be able to make autonomous decisions concerning their own bodies and lives free from political interference, ideological agendas and efforts to roll back gender equality.
Access to contraception, comprehensive abortion care is critical to the realization of sexual and reproductive health and rights and closely linked to the rights to health, life, dignity and equality. By enabling women and girls to make informed decisions about their bodies and futures, pursue education, participate in public and political life, and achieve greater economic independence, these services support the realization of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Reproductive autonomy is therefore not only a health issue; it is a prerequisite for equality, empowerment and the full enjoyment of human rights.
The consequences are significant. Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity remain major human rights concerns, while millions of women and girls continue to experience barriers to access essential healthcare, including services aimed at preventing unwanted and adolescent pregnancies. For many women and girls, barriers to contraception and safe abortion care may compel them to carry forced or unwanted pregnancies, resulting in profound physical and mental suffering and undermining their dignity, autonomy and ability to determine the course of their own lives. Addressing these challenges requires not only evidence-based policies and quality healthcare services, but also the removal of the structural, legal and social barriers that prevent individuals from exercising control over their reproductive lives.
Reproductive justice demands more than the formal availability of services. It requires that all women and girls, in all their diversity, are able to enjoy accessible, acceptable and quality healthcare, obtain accurate information, make informed decisions free from coercion, violence and discrimination, and exercise bodily autonomy in conditions of dignity, equality and non-discrimination. It also requires States to create the social, economic and legal conditions necessary for women and girls to exercise those choices in practice.
Action is needed now more than ever. In the face of growing attacks on gender equality and reproductive autonomy, States, international organizations and other stakeholders must actively defend the rights of women and girls and safeguard the services on which they depend. This includes protecting healthcare and care workers providing essential services, supporting civil society organizations and human rights defenders, and ensuring that women and girls affected by conflict, crisis, displacement and poverty are not left behind. International cooperation remains essential to ensuring that sexual and reproductive health services are available, accessible, acceptable and of good quality for all.
We remind States of their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the sexual and reproductive health and rights of all women and girls. This includes ensuring access to modern contraceptive methods, emergency contraception, comprehensive abortion care; eliminating legal, policy and practical barriers; combating stigma and discrimination; and preventing retrogression in the enjoyment of these rights.
Protecting sexual and reproductive autonomy is fundamental to advancing health, equality, justice and sustainable development. We call on States to urgently deploy all possible efforts to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, reverse regressive measures, remove barriers to care, adequately fund sexual and reproductive health services, and ensure that every woman and girl can exercise her rights free from coercion, discrimination and violence.
While hard-won gains in sexual and reproductive health and rights must be protected, strengthened and never reversed it is indispensable to ensure that considerable progress is made as the historical attacks against those rights in many countries have led to sustained violations and a deplorable status quo.”
*The experts:
- Mariângela Batista Galvão Simão, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
- Claudia Flores (Chair), Ivana Krstić (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Haina Lu, and Laura Nyirinkindi, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls
- Graeme Reid, Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
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- Cecilia M Bailliet, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity
- Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education
- Andrea Bolaños Vargas, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders
Special Rapporteurs/Independent Experts/Working Groups are independent human rights experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. Together, these experts are referred to as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. While the UN Human Rights office acts as the secretariat for Special Procedures, the experts serve in their individual capacity and are independent from any government or organization, including OHCHR and the UN. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the UN or OHCHR.