september 28: global action for accessible, safe, and legal abortion

Today, September 28, women all over the world are taking action to demand the right to accessible, safe, and legal abortion.

Women and our allies in more than 50 countries have formed a global mobilization that seeks to decriminalize abortion, provide access to safe and affordable abortion services, and end the stigma and discrimination against women who choose to have an abortion.

This campaign, which started more than 20 years ago in Latin America and the Caribbean, has become a global day of action, as we recognize that women are the world continue to be denied access to safe and legal abortion.

Unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality, accounting to 47,000 deaths every year, or 13% of maternal deaths worldwide.

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 - which must include safe abortion.

All efforts to curb the high rates of maternal mortality - the World Health Organization's MDG5 - will remain fruitless unless unsafe abortion is addressed.

Restrictive abortion laws will never stop abortion. Restrictive abortion laws only force women to seek unsafe underground practices, putting their health and their lives at risk.

One easy way to join this global campaign is to contribute to the virtual mural, organized by Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights. Finish the sentence, "Abortion should be safe and legal in my country because _______________", and see how women and men around the world have finished that same sentence.

The virtual mural is the perfect metaphor for this campaign and exactly what we must do every day: speak in one clear voice, each from our own culture and our own experiences, to demand reproductive justice for all.

WGNRR Virtual Mural

Twitter hashtags #sept28 and #safeabortion

To join the Tweetathon, DM/Tweet @WGNRR

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