How Policy Reversals and Conservative Movements Are Rolling Back Decades of Progress in Reproductive Rights.
‘Reproductive rights are essential for women to enjoy their human rights. These rights are centred for women’s ability to make the best choices for their lives, including around the number of children they have, if any. Reproductive rights include prenatal services, safe childbirth, and access to contraception. While also including access to legal and safe abortions. Abortion bans violate the rights to be free from violence, to privacy, to family, and to health. Bans are very devastating to women from all backgrounds, they are definitely devastating for people of colour, young people and marginalised communities, who already have trouble accessing health care and other needed services. Over the last decades, women’s reproductive rights has been a central focus of human rights advocacy, with significant legal and policy advancements securing access to contraception, abortion, and maternal healthcare worldwide. However, recent years has seen troubling regression with governments and conservative movements actively rolling back these hard-won freedoms. This backlash is particularly evident in abortion bans, restrictions on contraception, and defunding reproductive health services. ‘With the overturn of ‘Roe v. Wade’ in the United States, it has sparked worldwide outrage amongst sexual and reproductive rights advocates and campaigners’.
This article explores the factors behind these policy reversals, their consequences, and the global resistance movements fighting to restore and protect reproductive freedom.
Historical Progression in Reproductive Rights:
The late 20th and early 21st centuries saw the landmark victories in reproductive rights. In the 1960s, the birth control pill was first introduced, this was so that women could impede pregnancy for the first time by their own choice. ‘However, several major religious institutions opposed contraceptives and many states banned the sale of artificial contraceptives, even to married couples. It took a Supreme Court’s decision to make the pill accessible to women (single and married). In 1973, the United States Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalised abortion, setting a precedent for other countries to expand access to safe and legal abortions. Similarly, nations such as Ireland in 2018, Argentina in 2020, and Colombia in 2022 decriminalised or eased abortion laws, signalling progress. Over the last century feminists and civil society activism has supported the changes when it comes to reproductive rights, framing reproductive rights as integral to gender equality, public health, and socio-economic development. ‘In 1847 the American Medical Association (AMA) was first formed. AMA members believed that they should have the power to decide when an abortion could be legally performed. The AMA members launched a full-fledged criminalisation campaign against abortions and female abortion providers. State legislatures moved to ban abortion; due to the backlash it kicked off a ‘century of criminalisation,’ which ended in 1973 due to Roe v. Wade being legalised, ‘which protected the right to abortion in all 50 states, within the United States making abortion services safer and more accessible throughout the country. ‘The decades since it was legalised the U.S has seen an increase in restrictions and limitations that make abortions more difficult to obtain. At the same time, access to birth control is not always readily accessible and many wish to defund organisations like Planned Parenthood, which strive to offer affordable reproductive services to women.’
Policy Reversals:
Despite decades of advancement, reproductive rights are now under threat. A wave of policy reversals, particularly across parts of the United States, Eastern Europe and some African and Latin countries, reflects a broader ideological shift rooted in religious conservatism, nationalism, and political populism.
In 2022 ‘the United States, Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation overturned Roe v. Wade, which resulted in removing constitutional protection for access to abortion. The decision was an egregious regression of women’s rights and made the U.S. one of the only four countries to withdraw legal grounds for abortion over the past 30 years’. The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade triggered a domino effect across several U.S. states, many which had ‘trigger laws’ put in place to immediately ban or severely restrict abortion once Roe V. Wade was overturned. Beside the U.S. other countries such as Poland has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe which was further tightened in 2021 when the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that abortions in cases of foetal abnormalities were unconditional. This decision effectively imposed a near-total ban, with only limited exceptions. Under the current law, healthcare providers in Poland can only provide abortions if a pregnant woman’s life or health is at risk or if the pregnancy results from a crime. However, providers often would refuse performing even lawful abortions due to the ‘chilling effect’ of the law.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, some countries have maintained colonial-era abortion restrictions, while others have actively resisted efforts to liberalise reproductive laws, often under the influence of religious institutions and international conservative organisations. While Sub-Saharan African countries having restrictions on abortions, ‘they also have the lowest demand for contraception globally with 49.7 percent which is far below the global average of 77.8 percent’.
Globally, these policy reversals are often accompanied by efforts to defund sexual and reproductive health services, impose waiting periods and mandatory counselling, restrict access to contraception, and stigmatise reproductive choices. The pattern is clear: reproductive rights are often the first to be targeted when political regimes become more authoritarian or nationalist. These reversals are frequently accompanied by a rollback of broader women’s rights, including cuts to gender equality programs, attacks on gender-based violence protections, and increased surveillance or criminalisation on those seeking reproductive healthcare. What is at stake is not just healthcare access, but women’s freedom, equality, and full participation in society, reproductive rights are foundational to broader human rights, and their erosion signals a regression that must be resisted globally.
Consequences of Reproductive Rights Rollbacks:
The consequences of restricting access to reproductive healthcare are very severe and dangerous. According to the Guttmacher Institute, countries with restrictive abortion laws tend to have higher rates of unsafe abortions and maternal morality. The restrictions on access to healthcare places women’s lives and health at risk, leading to increased maternal morality and morbidity, a climate of fear among healthcare, with providers, patients and third parties at risk of prosecution or civil suit due to their involvement in private healthcare decisions. Having reproductive rights rollbacks, puts women’s health at a higher risk; due to the overturn of Roe v. Wade, in the United States women and young girls are more likely forced or have no choice but to risk their lives going across state lines to receive abortion care in states where abortions are legal and are able to provide abortion care to women. Rollbacks on reproductive rights have detrimental consequences, this includes rates of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions, maternal morality, and the spread of transmitted infections. Additionally, rollbacks can limit access to other forms of reproductive healthcare, such as contraception, and lead to negative impacts on women’s mental and physical health, especially for those with intersecting identities like race, disability, or age. Women’s rights groups that have been interviewed describe the difficulties that women and young girls will face with the overturn of Roe, they stated that women might be denied care in cases of ectopic pregnancies, forced travel across state lines, hospitals delaying care until the woman’s health has deteriorated to a risk level (risk to life of the mother), and complications for adolescents forced to give birth. This is to name a few. Women’s lives are at risk.
Global Resistance Movements:
Despite the setbacks, the resistance to the rollback of reproductive rights has been swift, fierce, and inspiring. Activists, healthcare providers, legal experts, and grassroots organisations have mobilised globally to protect and restore access to reproductive healthcare. In the United States, movements such as #BansOffOurBodies and the Women’s March have drawn millions of people into the streets, demanding the reinstatement of Roe v. Wade. Legal advocacy groups, including the Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Unions (ACLU), have filed numerous lawsuits challenging state-level abortion bans. In Latin America, the ‘Green Wave’ feminist movement has made remarkable gains. The movement advocates for expanded access to abortion throughout Latin America. The movement has resulted in significant advancement for reproductive rights in Latin America including: The United Nations Human Rights Committee ruling in 2025 in the ‘They are Girls’, Not Mothers cases setting new human rights standards to ensure sexual abuse survivors have access to sexual education and safe abortion service. Also the Inter-American Court of Human Rights 2024 ruling that El Salvador violated the rights of woman by denying her abortion care for her high risk pregnancy. Due to movements like the #BanOffOurBodies, the Women’s March in the U.S and the Green Wave movement in Latin America and many more, are making sure that the concerns of the people are heard and not forgotten and are bringing awareness to women’s rights and reproductive rights and how important it is and why it should not be over looked and should be brought to the forefront.
Moving Forward: Reclaiming Reproductive Justice
The backlash against reproductive rights being under threat reveals not only the fragility of progress but also the need for vigilant and sustained activism. Moving forward, it is imperative to adopt a holistic and intersectional approach to reproductive justice. This involves addressing structural barriers such as poverty, racism, and gender inequality that compound the effects of legal restrictions. Governments must also be held accountable for their human rights obligations. International frameworks such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), provide legal foundation for challenging regressive policies and advocating for comprehensive healthcare. In addition, investing in education, public awareness campaigns, and youth engagement is very important. Empowering individuals with the knowledge about reproductive rights and healthcare options can counter misinformation and also reduce the stigma. Moreover, donor countries, and international agencies must prioritise funding for reproductive health services and support grassroots movements on the frontline of this struggle. During a time of regression, solidarity and collective action are powerful tools to resist and reverse these dangerous trends.
Reproductive freedom and rights is a cornerstone of gender equality and it is a fundamental right. The global backlash against women’s rights, particularly in the realm of reproductive healthcare, is a sobering reminder that progress is neither linear nor guaranteed. This erosion of rights is not merely symbolic it also represents a direct assault on the bodily autonomy, health, and socio-economic opportunities of millions of women and girls. Activists without Borders urges governments in the United States and other countries that have enacted abortion bans and imposed significant reproductive restrictions they must take urgent corrective action. They should: Repeal restrictive abortion laws and enshrine the right to reproductive healthcare in national constitutions or legal codes. Expand access to contraception, comprehensive sex education, and maternal healthcare services. Ensure protection for healthcare providers who offer abortion and reproductive services. In addition, engage with marginalised communities to create inclusive, culturally sensitive reproductive health policies. For the safety and wellbeing of women and girls across the world women’s rights and reproductive rights matter.
