Global: Our Bodies, Our Future! The Sepember t28 Manifesto

By Dilip -
Our bodies, our future! Governments must provide the right to safe and legal abortion. This right must be recognised now AND enshrined within the new development agenda!
On September 28 Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion sexual and reproductive rights activists call on the governments around the world to put an end to discrimination of women and girls and demand  access to safe and legal abortion services and information as their human right.
While recognising the substantial progress made over the last 20 years of implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, including recognition of sexual and reproductive rights as human rights; their inclusion as part of many national, regional and international policy frameworks and the development of public policies allowing better access to sexual and reproductive health in the world, such progress has not been universal and many countries are still failing to meet targets set out in the original ICPD Programme of Action(PoA).
We continue to see a high correlation between poverty, child and maternal mortality and countries that have failed to fully implement the PoA. There is a lack of real commitment to ensure the right of women and girls to decide upon all aspects of their reproductive health, including the right to choose whether to continue or end a pregnancy. All efforts to curb the high rates of maternal mortality (MDG 5) will remain fruitless without addressing unsafe abortion. 
Unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality.  An estimated 47,000 women die each year due to unsafe abortion, which accounts for an estimated 13% of maternal deaths worldwide. Five million women are hospitalised each year for treatment of abortion-related complications, such as haemorrhage and sepsis. Almost all abortion-related deaths occur in developing countries, with the highest number in Africa followed by Asia and Latin America. Within HIV endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we need to ensure that HIV treatment programmes for example, Preventing Mother-to-Child transmission deliver on focal point two. This point includes the prevention of unintended pregnancies. Women should not be forced into programmes to deliver HIV negative babies, if they do not want to continue with their pregnancies.
Access to safe and legal abortion is a HUMAN RIGHT. When governments deny this basic woman’s right they endorse and tolerate institutional violence against women...  see full text: http://www.september28.org/manifesto/

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