COVID-19 Resources

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world have attempted to block or limit access to reproductive health care. The Center for Reproductive Rights and its partners have developed several initiatives, fact sheets, newsletters, and other resources addressing the unprecedented challenges to accessing abortion care and other reproductive health services during COVID-19. (The Center also filed numerous lawsuits challenging state orders to limit abortion access during COVID-19.)

Below are the Center’s COVID-19 Resources for regions throughout the world.

The COVID-19 crisis raises complex legal questions for civil society organizations (CSOs) and health professionals working in Europe regarding the impact of the pandemic on the provision of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services that may require legal counsel. In response, the Center for Reproductive Rights created the Pro Bono Clearinghouse to support CSOs and health professionals grappling with legal questions or concerns, by connecting them with a law firm that will provide pro bono (free) legal assistance. Learn more.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda, a publication by the Center, the African Population and Health Research Center, and partners, reveals that women and girls from low-income backgrounds in five African countries faced multiple barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sustaining Positive Measures to Ensure Access to SRH Services During the COVID Pandemic and Beyond, a fact sheet by the Center showcasing some of the positive measures States have implemented during the pandemic. The measures are grounded in States’ human rights obligations and demonstrate that sustaining many of them post-pandemic is both a human rights and public health imperative.

Reproductive Rights in the Time of COVID-19, an article published in the American Bar Association’s Health e-Source, January 2021. Written by the Center’s Autumn Katz, Managing Senior Counsel for U.S. Litigation, and Nimra Chowdhry, Senior Legislative Counsel for U.S. Policy and Advocacy.

Abortion is Essential Healthcare, a publication by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, explains why abortion access is imperative during the COVID-19 pandemic.

How State COVID-19 Orders Can Impact Abortion Access, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, discusses how some state government officials are working to ensure continued, timely access to all essential healthcare, while others are exploiting this crisis to advance a decades-old coordinated campaign to ban abortion care.

COVID-19 Underscores the Nonessential Nature of Abortion Restrictions, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, examines how unnecessary restrictions on abortion care exacerbate the already difficult circumstances facing both health care providers and pregnant people.

Expanding Telemedicine Can Ensure Abortion Access During COVID-19 Pandemic, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, explains why offering an essential service safely and effectively through telemedicine to minimize patient contact is a public health priority. This fact sheet was developed by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health.

Safeguarding Maternal Health and Rights in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a fact sheet developed by the Center for Reproductive Rights and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, discusses how childbirth is the leading reason for hospitalization in the United States, and as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, so will pregnancies and the need for pregnancy-related health care.

Access to Comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health Care is a Human Rights Imperative During the COVID-19 Pandemic, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, discusses how human rights experts call on governments to ensure the provision of the full range of sexual and reproductive health services.

Youth Reproductive Rights & the COVID-19 Response, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights in partnership with Advocates for Youth, URGE, SEICUS, and If/When/How, discusses how access to comprehensive reproductive health care is critical for young people, especially during a public health emergency.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights During COVID-19 Response and Beyond: Standards from the United Nations, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, discusses the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of women and girls.

Access to Justice during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a fact sheet produced by the Center for Reproductive Rights, grounds access to justice in both international human rights law and international humanitarian law to outline the judiciary’s legal obligations to monitor derogations and protect existing rights during the pandemic.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Access to Justice, and COVID-19, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, use international and regional human rights law to demonstrate that sexual and reproductive health services are essential health services that governments must continue to provide during the pandemic.

The COVID-19 Pandemic is Exacerbating a Human Rights Crisis in Maternal Health, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic affects human rights crisis in maternal health.

Pregnant Immigrants and Asylum Seekers During COVID-19: U.S. Government Abuses at the Border and Beyond, a fact sheet by the Center for Reproductive Rights, outlines evidence of the mistreatment of pregnant immigrants and people seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border and at the U.S. immigration detention and discusses how existing policies have created the conditions for escalating human rights abuses during COVID-19.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sexual and Reproductive Health Services in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda reveals how women and girls from low-income backgrounds in five African countries faced multiple barriers in accessing sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, by Center, the African Population and Health Research Center, and partners, also outlines recommendations for governments to improve access to SRHR services.

COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, Q2 2021, a brief overview of the current landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights resources in Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam as reported over the period from April to June 2021.

COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, Q1 2021, a brief overview of the current landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights resources in Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam as reported over the period from January to March 2021.

COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, Q4 2020, a brief overview of the current landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights resources in Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam as reported over the period from October to December 2020

COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, Q3 2020, a brief overview of the current landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights resources in Cambodia, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam as reported over the period from July to September 2020.

Impact of COVID-19 on Reproductive Health and Rights in Sindh, a fact-finding report showing that with the onset of the pandemic, the availability of reproductive health services, including contraception, safe abortion services and obstetric services in Sindh declined.

PAPAC Statement – COVID-19 and Postabortion Care, a statement endorsed by the Center and released by the Pakistan Alliance on Post-Abortion Care (PAPAC) calling on the government and service providers to ensure the availability of safe abortion services during the pandemic.

Asia Reproductive Health Rights Working Group COVID-19 Statement, a joint statement, in Nepali language, of the Reproductive Health Rights Working Group (RHRWG) to ensure Sexual and Reproductive Health Services and Rights and its continuity during the pandemic of the Novel Corona Virus (COVID-19) for protecting women and girls’ lives and health in Nepal.

SARJAI Statement on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) during COVID-19, a joint statement with the Center’s Asia team and the SARJAI network on SRHR during COVID-19, issued on May 5, 2020. The Asia team spearheaded the joint statement, and received collaboration and feedback from the network members. The statement has been endorsed by 20 SARJAI partner organizations and 3 individual members of SARJAI network.

April COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gendered Issues in Asia, a newsletter of the April 2020 updates regarding COVID-19’s effects on SRH services and gender issues throughout the Asia-Pacific region, more specifically: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, and the Philippines. The Nepal RHRWG, PAPAC, and CRR-SARJAI network statements are linked in this document as well. 

May COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, a newsletter of the May 2020 updates regarding COVID-19’s effect on SRH services and gender issues throughout the Asia-Pacific region, more specifically:  India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

June COVID-19 Landscape: SRHR and Gender Issues in Asia, a newsletter of the June updates regarding COVID-19’s effects on SRH services and gender issues throughout the Asia-Pacific region, more specifically: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Cambodia, and the Philippines.

La Salud Reproductiva es Vital (Reproductive Health is Essential) is a research and monitoring initiative to expose the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the region. This initiative tracks SRHR during the pandemic in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Uruguay. This instrument has served as a valuable advocacy tool for civil society organizations to understand states’ obligations to protect SRHR during the pandemic and to examine how rights are being protected in practice.

Technical Guidance on SRHR and COVID-19. In December, the Center led a coalition of 14 civil society organizations across eight Latin American countries in the creation and publication of a comprehensive technical guidance document and website. This document elaborates on the five essential conditions that States must ensure to guarantee women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health during COVID-19: (i) access to abortion; (ii) maternal health care; (iii) family planning and contraception; (iv) information on SRHR; and (v) the obligation to ensure equality and non-discrimination. This document, which is based on the international standards already in place on SRHR and human rights bodies’ recent recommendations in the context of the pandemic, provides tools for advocates and civil society organizations in the region to demand continuity and access to reproductive health services, free from discrimination, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

#NiñasNoMadres  (#GirlsNotMothers), a joint statement with Planned Parenthood Global and more than 160 organizations in LAC calling States in the region to guarantee girls’ protection and access to essential health services, such as emergency contraception and legal termination of pregnancy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spanish language document.

Joint statement with Agrupación Ciudadana por la Despenalización del Aborto, la Colectiva Feminista para el Desarrollo Local, Women’s Equality Center (WEC) y el Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL), alongside our partners in El Salvador, the Center demanded better conditions for unfairly imprisoned women because of obstetric emergencies. The women live in inhuman conditions and due to the pandemic are not permitted to receive donations like personal care products. 

Letter to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights demanding policies and measures to release prison population to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic, together with Equality Now, the Center has been leading a communication signed by over 60 organizations for sexual and reproductive health and rights in Latin America. We are seeking guarantees for victims of gender-based violence and the realization of human rights for women unfairly deprived of liberty due to obstetric emergencies. 

• News in Brief on COVID-19 and SRHR in Europe: 10 April – 3 May

• News in Brief on COVID-19 and SRHR in Europe: 20 March – 9 April