In an international keynote session at the Global Safe Abortion Conference, which took place in London during 23-24 October, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director of Reproductive Health and Research, Paul Van Look, urged governments and health providers to do more in countries where abortion is legal but where women remain underserved. It is vital, he said, that they step up efforts to ensure that women know their rights within existing laws and demand the services to which they are entitled. He called for support to scale-up reproductive health services for women; to continually improve quality standards and accessibility; and also to expand the choices available to women, such as medical abortion.
Delegates also heard from speakers from Colombia, Mexico and Nepal, where key victories have been secured in the battle to liberalise restrictive abortion laws, A unifying theme was the importance of multiple stakeholders joining together in partnership to effect real change. Only when key groups including professionals, politicians, policy makers, the media and the general public are engaged and mobilised, can sufficient momentum be generated to reform restrictive laws. Similarly, such multi-stakeholder advocacy approaches can be used to hold governments accountable for providing services to women once legal restrictions are lifted.
Conference delegates were reminded of the importance of humanising abortion issues by continuing to tell the stories of women and the devastating effects that restrictive abortion laws have on their lives. In Mexico City, where first trimester abortion was legalised on demand in April 2007, the groups pushing for legislative change found crucial support from the press who ran stories of women’s suffering.