Statements

Last week, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. addressed the United Nations General Assembly during the High-Level General Debate. Glaringly absent, however, is the purview on gender. He commits to upholding justice, respecting human rights, and maintaining international peace and security, but these are nothing but empty promises if women and girls continue to unjustly face barriers to achieving their human rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) particularly the inability to access safe abortion.

The Philippines has one of the most restrictive laws against abortion in the world, without clear exceptions on any grounds. Despite legal restrictions, however, abortions have happened, and no severity of the law can stop them from happening. A thousand die each year attributed to clandestine abortions; this translates to three lives lost every day. Deaths from unsafe abortion complications are one of the leading factors to the country’s high mortality rate. For as long as the proper legal and policy guarantees are not institutionalized, more people will be put to danger.

The Woman’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights joins civil society organisations in pressing for the immediate release of Reina Mae Nasino, a woman human rights defender illegally arrested in November 2019. The decision of the 12th Division of the Philippine Court of Appeals dated August 31 junks the warrants of arrests served on Nasino as […]

The Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights stands in solidarity with women and reproductive justice activists in Turkmenistan that are fighting against regressive abortion laws that impose a virtual ban on nearly all abortions. May 2022 – overnight, with no notice nor public consultation, the Turkmenistan government covertly passed a ruling that virtually bans all […]

On May 28, the International Day of Action for Women’s Health, activists around the world will take action, mobilize, and highlight demands towards the fulfillment of women’s right to health. This year, we call on everyone to once again assert that #WomensHealthMatters and #SRHRisEssential amid crises and global uncertainty.

Within the context of the post-pandemic recovery, we continue to hold governments accountable to the gendered impacts of the pandemic that remain unaddressed to date. Some of these impacts include loss of livelihood, increased unpaid care burdens on women and girls, heightened risks to gender-based violence, and barriers to accessing essential sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion and post-abortion care.

We also escalate the need for accountability at the global level as we recognize that the multiple crises we face – economic, political, humanitarian, climate, disinformation crises – require no less than concerted global effort to be adequately addressed.

Join us. Make a stand. Take action.

This statement was presented by WGNRR’s SRHR Advocacy Officer, Shiphrah Gold Belonguel on April 27, 2022. A recording of the statement delivery is available here with Shiphrah’s participation at 01:19:52.

The impacts of climate change are felt by all but it does not affect all equally. The climate crisis we are experiencing results from deliberate political and economic decisions of a few powerful countries and large corporations and women and girls feel its consequences the most. Women and girls are more likely to die in disasters and suffer from shortages of food and other resources. Rendered more vulnerable to
the negative impacts of disasters are those who have been systematically disadvantaged due to poverty, race, ethnicity, capabilities, and sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, among others.

Last September 1, 2021, the US Supreme Court upheld the “Texas Heartbeat Act” which limits the availability of abortion services to those experiencing medical emergencies and only up to the point of the first detectable cardiac activity, erroneously defined by conservatives as the first “heartbeat”. This makes abortion impossible for many, including persons who become […]

Civil society organizations from across the region have come together to voice our collective disappointment with the lack of representation and accessibility of the recent Generation Equality Forum (GEF), and to demand transparent and inclusive accountability processes for the Generation Equality commitments.