WUNRN
SEPTEMBER 28 GLOBAL DAY OF
ACTION FOR ACCESS TO SAFE AND LEGAL ABORTION
Sexual
and reproductive health organisations and advocates in over 50 countries will
be mobilising on September 28 for the Global Day of Action for Access to Safe
and Legal Abortion- a global campaign that seeks to decriminalise abortion, provide
access to safe and affordable abortion services and end stigma and
discrimination towards women who choose to have an abortion.
Originally
a campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean for the past 20 years, September
28 became a global campaign starting in 2012 in recognition of the fact that
access to safe and legal abortion continues to be denied to women around the
world. Unsafe abortion is one of the
leading causes of maternal mortality, accounting to 47,000 deaths every year or
13% of maternal deaths worldwide. Five million women are hospitalised each
year for treatment of abortion-related complications. Nearly half of all
abortions worldwide are unsafe, 98% of which occur in developing countries
where poor women have the least resources and access to family planning,
including safe abortion. All efforts to
curb the high rates of maternal mortality (MDG5) will remain fruitless without
addressing unsafe abortion. Highly
restrictive abortion laws will not stop it, but will only force women to seek
unsafe underground practices, putting their health and their lives at risk.
The
theme for this year, as stated in the September
28 Manifesto Our Bodies, Our Future!, calls for an end to discrimination of women and girls, demands government to provide
the right to safe and legal abortion, and pushes for the recognition of
abortion rights within the post2015 development agenda. Signatures are
currently being gathered from organisations and individuals to support the
demands in the Manifesto.
WGNRR, one of the leading networks for the
campaign, also launched a “selfie” campaign that encouraged SRHR organisations
and advocates to submit their photos with the same message- why abortion should
be safe and legal in their country. This selfie campaign
culminated in a virtual mural that was launched today- a collage of photos and
messages from all over the world that expresses peoples’ thoughts and feelings
on abortion in a visual manner. The virtual mural and the gallery of photos are
up on the www.september28.org
website and will be used in the various mobilisations- from a flash mob in
Nepal to street demonstrations in Brazil.
There will also be a tweetathon using the hashtags #sept28
and #safeabortion.
Recognition
of September 28 as a global campaign is an important step in consolidation and
strengthening of the global movement for reproductive rights and justice. The
mobilisation of women and supporters from all over the world on September 28
sends a strong message to both governments and society, of the strength and
unity of a global movement that will stop at nothing to ensure that all women
in the world live in dignity and enjoy their reproductive freedom.
To view the Virtual Mural project, click here
To sign on to the Manifesto, click here
To join the tweetathon, DM/Tweet @WGNRR
The September 28 Global Day of Action is
coordinated by the International Campaign for
Women’s Right to Safe Abortion, WGNRR
and September 28 LAC Campaign
(Campana 28 de Septiembre) with its regional and global partners. For more
information, please get in touch with sept28global@wgnrr.org
and check out http://www.september28.org.