Para el Español: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfTVgfGkOCB6wqFNdeFXt4K09XFOWJsZvuDcS-L7iSf9XK-rQ/viewform 

On this International Safe Abortion Day, we have come together to express our solidarity and support for the calls by women’s rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights organizations on to uphold the fundamental human rights of women and girls to safe and legal abortion. We call all men and boys to action on this important day and beyond, to work with and alongside women, girls and people with diverse gender identities to make autonomous decisions about their bodies and lives.


We believe that the choice of when and if to carry a pregnancy belongs with women and girls, solely. Due to lack of resources, appropriate social support and/or political restrictions, many women and girls are currently not able to access the safe and legal abortion and care they deserve. We are outraged that around the world women and girls continue to lack access to sexual and reproductive health services and are denied their sexual and reproductive rights:

• 47,000 women die from unsafe abortion each year
• 214 million women in developing countries have unmet needs for modern contraceptives  
• Every year 290,000 women die from unintended pregnancy related causes in developing countries
• 19 per cent of girls in developing countries become pregnant before they turn 18


Simultaneously, recent years have seen disconcerting global steps deliberately seeking to limit women’s and girls’ right to bodily autonomy, for example:

• The reinstatement and expansion of the Mexico City Policy/ Global Gag Rule cutting 9 billion USD in funding for institutions and clinics that provide education, referral and abortion services, with additional directives seeking to truncate policy advocacy efforts directed towards progressing abortion laws at the country level.
• Funding cuts to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
• New proposed legislations in a number of countries such as Poland and El Salvador, attempting to ban abortions
• An increasing number of governments permitting medical staff to invoke conscientious objection when it comes to abortion, so that health personnel cannot face legal challenges while women and girls are forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term – i.e., blurring the relationship between duty bearers and rights holders
• The criminalization of miscarriages
• Shrinking of civil society spaces and resources which empower CSOs and feminist groups to carry out their critical function of serving as watchdogs for State actions, as well as:
• An increased criminalization of dissent, with women’s human rights defenders , LGBTQIA activists , SRHR activists and their organizations being subjected to targeted attacks and having seen their access to direct funding decrease.


We, members of MenEngage Alliance and its partners and allies, recognize that abortion, as well as other sexual and reproductive health and rights issues, are often narrowly and mistakenly understood as a women’s issue, and we are concerned that women and girls bear the primary responsibility for solving them. We strongly believe that men and boys must work alongside women, girls and people of diverse gender identities to ensure access to safe and legal abortion challenging the laws and policies which sustain these violations of the human right of women and girls as well as to support the leadership of all women and girls advocating for safe and legal abortion.


Men’s and boys' roles within relationships also matter for girls' and women’s SRHR. Research highlight that across several countries large percentages of women and girls assert that they involved a male partner in a decision to abort. We know that gender norms often limit girls’ and women’s access to SRHR services, including safe abortion. Men’s and boys' lives are also affected by abortion, yet men and boys rarely speak up in large part due to gender norms around masculinities, tell their stories or voice their support for safe and legal abortion. We believe we must work to make sure that boys’ and men’s involvement in SRHR is always positive and centered on respecting girls’ and women’s full bodily autonomy.


Furthermore, we know that harmful social norms related to masculinities act as barriers to the realization of SRHR, and are key drivers of discrimination, stigma and violence towards women, girls and people of diverse gender identities. Increasingly, the critical roles of men and boys in achieving SRHR are being recognized. Research confirms that better outcomes for women and girls’ health are achieved when men and boys are engaged as accountable counterparts and allies. Many of the recent steps towards limiting women’s and girls' access to safe and legal abortion have been made by Heads of State and policy-makers most of whom are men. We therefore urge men and boys at all levels of society, to speak out and challenge other men and boys who seek to limit girls’ and women’s rights to bodily autonomy.


Hence, we call upon all boys and men - as allies, partners, and activists, as leaders of institutions, governments and faith-based organizations - to openly and actively support women’s right to bodily autonomy. Men and boys must stand up and speak out alongside and in favor for the rights of all women, girls and people with diverse identities to make the choices that are best for their bodies, their lives. We call upon boys and men across all levels of society to stand up for girls’ and women’s right to choose and contribute their voices, their advocacy and their action, including by:

• Champion laws that improve girls’ and women’s access to safe abortion services, and challenge attempts to restrict such access work alongside women and girls to ensure access to safe and legal abortion, and support women before, during and after an abortion;
• Compel men and boys to take more responsibility for contraceptive use, and to advocate for accessible education and services to enable them to do so;
• Promote a wider understanding and acceptance of sexual diversity & rights;
• Support approaches to mainstream comprehensive sexuality education;
• Call attention to appropriate SRH services for boys and men, in order to co-share SRHR responsibilities

Sincerely,