asia rising to demand an end to abortion stigma

If you’d like to endorse the statement, please contact WGNRR’s Asia Programme Officer Marevic Parcon marevic@wgnrr.org

Every year over 28 million women and girls in Asia have unwanted pregnancies and 10.8 million of them seek abortions. However, due to abortion stigma and lack of access to safe abortion information and services, thousands of them seek help from untrained abortion providers and have unsafe abortions that often result in life-long disabilities or even death. In Asia unsafe abortions account for up to 12 percent of maternal and pregnancy related deaths.

Safe abortion services continue to remain an unmet need in Asia. Restrictive laws, stigmatization of abortion and limited availability of comprehensive health care facilities increase the likelihood of women seeking unsafe abortion services.

On the occasion of September 28 Global Day of Action for Safe and Legal Abortion, women’s organizations and networks in Asia demand to end the stigmatisation of abortion.

Although the legal status of abortion varies across the region, abortion is legally permitted in some countries to save a women’s life. Whether legal or illegal abortion is usually stigmatized. Legal restrictions further perpetuates abortion stigma that in many cases is exacerbated by religious fundamentalisms, politicians and gender inequalities.

Abortion stigma is complex, multi layered and affects both women and the providers. It is a negative attribute ascribed to women who seek to terminate a pregnancy and marks them, internally or externally, as inferior to ideals of womanhood. At the legal and policy level it plays an important role in justifying restrictive abortion laws.

Working to promote access to safe abortion is therefore critical, and access has to be ensured by tackling legal and social barriers simultaneously. Abortion stigma and myths about abortion have worked against the welfare of women and girls, by preventing them from accessing available safe abortion services, and in many places justifying restrictive laws that seek to control women’s bodies and fertility. These patriarchal laws and norms have to be rejected, and along with them gender stereotypes that prevent women from gaining power in society and making informed choices about their bodies.

Across Asia, networks, civil society organizations, feminists and advocates work to promote safe abortion as a human right. Unfortunately, these people are often targets of harassment both by fundamentalist groups and by the state. It is time to end such aggression and harassment and to create a peaceful environment that will foster conversations on sexual and reproductive rights.

Our Demands:

Repeal all laws criminalising, penalising and/or restricting women and adolescents’ access to abortion services. Specifically repeal laws requiring parental or spousal consent for adolescents and young women’s access to safe abortion services.

Work towards removing socio-cultural barriers that reinforce gender stereotypes about motherhood and stigmatise girls, adolescents and women, preventing them from making free and informed decisions about their sexuality and their own bodies, and empower women to act as agents of change by ensuring comprehensive sexuality education to all girls and women.

End the harassment, criminalisation and aggression aimed at networks, civil society organisations, feminists and advocates of sexual and reproductive rights. Ensure security and integrity for the women’s rights defenders threatened by repressive mechanisms of the state or by civil groups which carry hatred and fundamentalism.

Ensure access to contraception, including emergency contraception, of high quality and variety, user friendly and appropriate to the needs of girls, adolescents and women, while ensuring their confidentiality.

End Abortion Stigma Now!

Statement endorsed by:

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP), regional

Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), regional

Center for Reproductive Rights, global

Human Rights Law Network, India

Samsara, Indonesia

TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues), India

Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), global

Striving to enable women to be equal citizens in all aspects of their life by ensuring their sexual and reproductive health and rights are achieved.
© 2022 all rights reserved. The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW)

Vietnam

  • Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP)

Indonesia

  • Aliansi Satu Visi (ASV);
  • CEDAW Working Group;
  • Hollaback! Jakarta;
  • Institut Kapal Perempuan;
  • Kalyanamitra;
  • Komnas Perempuan;
  • Remaja Independen Papua/Independent Youth
    Forum Papua (FRIP/IYFP);
  • Perkumpulan Keluarga Berencana Indonesia (PKBI);
  • Perkumpulan Lintas Feminis Jakarta;
  • Perkumpulan Pamflet Generasi;
  • RUTGERS Indonesia;
  • Sanggar SWARA;
  • Women on Web;
  • Yayasan Kesehatan Perempuan (YKP); 
  • YIFOS Indonesia

Maldives

  • Hope for Women
  • Society for Health Education (SHE)

Bangladesh

asia rising to demand an end to abortion stigma

If you’d like to endorse the statement, please contact WGNRR’s Asia Programme Officer Marevic Parcon marevic@wgnrr.org

Every year over 28 million women and girls in Asia have unwanted pregnancies and 10.8 million of them seek abortions. However, due to abortion stigma and lack of access to safe abortion information and services, thousands of them seek help from untrained abortion providers and have unsafe abortions that often result in life-long disabilities or even death. In Asia unsafe abortions account for up to 12 percent of maternal and pregnancy related deaths.

Safe abortion services continue to remain an unmet need in Asia. Restrictive laws, stigmatization of abortion and limited availability of comprehensive health care facilities increase the likelihood of women seeking unsafe abortion services.

On the occasion of September 28 Global Day of Action for Safe and Legal Abortion, women’s organizations and networks in Asia demand to end the stigmatisation of abortion.

Although the legal status of abortion varies across the region, abortion is legally permitted in some countries to save a women’s life. Whether legal or illegal abortion is usually stigmatized. Legal restrictions further perpetuates abortion stigma that in many cases is exacerbated by religious fundamentalisms, politicians and gender inequalities.

Abortion stigma is complex, multi layered and affects both women and the providers. It is a negative attribute ascribed to women who seek to terminate a pregnancy and marks them, internally or externally, as inferior to ideals of womanhood. At the legal and policy level it plays an important role in justifying restrictive abortion laws.

Working to promote access to safe abortion is therefore critical, and access has to be ensured by tackling legal and social barriers simultaneously. Abortion stigma and myths about abortion have worked against the welfare of women and girls, by preventing them from accessing available safe abortion services, and in many places justifying restrictive laws that seek to control women’s bodies and fertility. These patriarchal laws and norms have to be rejected, and along with them gender stereotypes that prevent women from gaining power in society and making informed choices about their bodies.

Across Asia, networks, civil society organizations, feminists and advocates work to promote safe abortion as a human right. Unfortunately, these people are often targets of harassment both by fundamentalist groups and by the state. It is time to end such aggression and harassment and to create a peaceful environment that will foster conversations on sexual and reproductive rights.

Our Demands:

Repeal all laws criminalising, penalising and/or restricting women and adolescents’ access to abortion services. Specifically repeal laws requiring parental or spousal consent for adolescents and young women’s access to safe abortion services.

Work towards removing socio-cultural barriers that reinforce gender stereotypes about motherhood and stigmatise girls, adolescents and women, preventing them from making free and informed decisions about their sexuality and their own bodies, and empower women to act as agents of change by ensuring comprehensive sexuality education to all girls and women.

End the harassment, criminalisation and aggression aimed at networks, civil society organisations, feminists and advocates of sexual and reproductive rights. Ensure security and integrity for the women’s rights defenders threatened by repressive mechanisms of the state or by civil groups which carry hatred and fundamentalism.

Ensure access to contraception, including emergency contraception, of high quality and variety, user friendly and appropriate to the needs of girls, adolescents and women, while ensuring their confidentiality.

End Abortion Stigma Now!

Statement endorsed by:

Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP), regional

Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), regional

Center for Reproductive Rights, global

Human Rights Law Network, India

Samsara, Indonesia

TARSHI (Talking About Reproductive and Sexual Health Issues), India

Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR), global

Morocco

  • Association Marocaine de Planification Familiale (AMPF),
  • Morocco Family Planning Association

Cambodia

Fiji

India

  • CommonHealth;
  • Love Matters India;
  • Pravah;
  • Rural Women’s Social Education Centre (RUWSEC);
  • SAHAYOG;
  • Sahaj;
  • Sahiyo;
  • SAMA – Resource Group for Women and Health;
  • WeSpeakOut;
  • The YP Foundation (TYPF)

Lao PDR

  • Lao Women’s Union;
  • The Faculty of Postgraduate Studies at the University of Health
    Sciences (UHS)

Sri Lanka

  • Bakamoono;
  • Women and Media Collective (WMC),
  • Youth Advocacy Network – Sri Lanka (YANSL)

Malaysia

  • Federation of Reproductive Health Associations of Malaysia (FRHAM);
  • Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG);
  • Justice for Sisters (JFS);
  • Reproductive Health Association of
    Kelantan (ReHAK);
  • Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM);
  • Sisters in Islam (SIS)

Maldives

  • Hope for Women;
  • Society for Health Education (SHE)

Myanmar

  • Colourful Girls Organization;
  • Green Lotus Myanmar

Nepal

  • Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC);
  • Blind Youth Association of Nepal;
  • Blue Diamond Society (BDS);
  • Nepalese Youth for Climate Action (NYCA);
  • Visible Impact;
  • Women’s Rehabilitation Centre (WOREC);
  • YPEER Nepal;
  • YUWA

Pakistan

  • Aahung, Centre for Social Policy Development (CSPD);
  • Forum for Dignity Initiative (FDI);
  • Gravity Development Organization; Green Circle Organization;
  • Indus Resources Center (IRC);
  • Idara-e-Taleem-O-Aaghai (ITA);
  • Rehnuma – Family Planning Association Pakistan;
  • Shelter
    Participatory Organisation;
  • Shirkat Gah;
  • The Enlight Lab

Philippines

  • Democratic Socalist Women of the Philippines (DSWP);
  • Galang;
  • Healthcare Without Harm;
  • Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities;
  • Likhaan Centre for Women’s Health;
  • Nisa UI Haqq Fi Bangsamoro;
  • PATH Foundation Inc. (PFPI);
  • Women’s Global Network for
    Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)

Singapore

  • End Female Genital Cutting Singapore
  • Reproductive Rights (WGNRR)

Mongolia

  • MONFEMNET National Network