Strategies to Advance Abortion Rights and Access in Restrictive Settings: A Cross-Country Analysis

This technical brief explores strategies adopted to advance abortion access and rights in countries with differing levels of legal and social abortion restrictiveness.

Globally, myriad organizations recognize the importance of understanding how best to advance abortion access as an essential element of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Where that right is violated, women’s health and security suffers. Despite this truth, legal restrictions, stigma, and lack of enforcement to uphold abortion rights have ensured that access to safe abortion remains varied, worldwide. As such, advocates and implementers who support women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights must identify strategies to navigate the varied legal and social contexts in which women live. In 2015, Pathfinder undertook a cross-country stakeholder analysis to identify key characteristics of strategies adopted to advance abortion rights and access, focusing on four countries—Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Democratic Republic of the Congo—in which we and our partners have collaborated toward this end. This technical brief explores key themes from these four countries, each representing differing profiles of legal and social abortion restrictiveness. Findings from this analysis intend to offer lessons for advocates and implementers working in similar contexts to advance abortion rights and access.