Safe abortion in health systems: Regional challenges, progress and accelerators

The WHO Safe abortion, technical and policy guidance for health systems defines the international standards for the provision of safe abortion services globally. This panel will present regional progress around the achievements towards these standards. This panel will focus on why it is critical to make safe abortion universally accessible if we want to achieve zero preventable maternal deaths. Panellists will argue that motherhood must be voluntary, which means safe abortion should be treated as a legitimate form of healthcare, available on request from public health services, in line with WHO best practice guidelines. The panel will review the evidence on unintended and unwanted pregnancy globally. We will show that 25 years on, it is clear that increases in the use of contraception and provision of post-abortion care alone, without make abortions safe and legal, have not and will not prevent unwanted pregnancies or complications and deaths from unsafe abortion. The session will focus on how countries must fulfil ICPD's commitments on women's health and rights through universal access to safe abortion. The panel is convened by the International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion, with Global Doctors for Choice, Young Activist Network for Abortion Advocacy, Asian-Pacific Resources and Research Centre for Women, Consorcio Latinoamericano contra el Aborto Inseguro (CLACAI), Ipas Africa Alliance, Groupe Tawhida Ben Cheikh Tunisia, and La Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres Colombia.