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Abortion

We champion policies that protect and fulfill a woman’s right to make decisions about her body, health and future, including the right to safe, legal abortion care.

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Tens of thousands of women and girls die every year from unsafe abortions, and millions more suffer serious injuries and morbidities. In places where abortion is illegal or severely restricted, the lack of safe services, spaces and accurate information, as well as the fear of stigmatization, force many women to seek out unregulated care, which increases the risk of complications. Women and providers are unlikely to record or report illegal abortions in places where the procedure is restricted or banned, making the full scale of the problem unknown.

Deaths or injuries from unsafe abortions can be easily prevented by lifting legal restrictions and decriminalizing abortion care. Increasing access to safe abortion services, provided with confidentiality and care, will save countless lives and give women and girls more control of their sexual and reproductive health and, ultimately, the course of their lives.

PAI supports our partners as they advocate for policies that protect the right to safe, legal abortion care in their countries. We also work with U.S. policymakers to end harmful policies that impose barriers to abortion care.

PAI supports advocates working to ensure safe abortion is legalized, decriminalized and liberalized.

Sexual and reproductive health and bodily autonomy are basic human rights that all governments have a duty to respect, protect and fulfill. Policies that restrict lifesaving health care, such as abortion, institutionalize discrimination and violence against women, girls and other marginalized populations.

Supportive policies are crucial to ensuring access to safe, legal abortion care.

PAI supports our partners who are working to liberalize restrictive abortion laws in their countries so that women and girls can access safe abortion services. We also advocate for U.S. global investment and policy that advance comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care and rights, including the right to abortion, such as the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (Global HER) Act and the Abortion is Health Care Everywhere Act.