In Asia, the Center worked for over two decades to improve the sexual and reproductive rights and lives of over 1.6 billion individuals, particularly those most vulnerable, including women and girls, adolescents, and disaster affected populations. The regional program built and strengthened partnerships, networks, and alliances and collaborated with diverse stakeholders to advance SRHR and gender equality in the region.
Asia faces significant challenges in sexual and reproductive health access, with high rates of unintended pregnancies and maternal mortality.
17%
Of girls are married before the age of 15 in South Asia, which has the highest rate of child marriage in the world.
41%
Contraception prevalence rate of married adolescents.
53.8 M
Unintended pregnancies occur each year in Asia, with 65% ending in abortion.
Advancing reproductive rights in Asia through legal and policy change
The Center focused on legal action, research, training, and advocacy at the national, regional, and global levels to protect reproductive rights in Asia. These efforts helped change laws and policies, hold governments accountable, and expose reproductive rights violations. Our work led to major victories that continue to support the right to make decisions about reproductive health and justice.
The case proved that strategic litigation can be a powerful tool for exerting pressure on the government.
Prabina Bajracharya
The Asia program worked alongside partners to expand access to safe abortion, contraception (including emergency contraception), post-abortion care, adolescents’ access to SRHR, and SRHR in disaster settings. Through collaborations with health groups, legal experts, judges, and human rights bodies, as well as partnerships with national human rights institutions (NHRIs) and judicial bodies
The Center’s legacy in Asia
The Center made critical progress toward advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of adolescents—including challenging and mitigating the harmful impact of laws that criminalize consensual age-mate sexual activity, abortion, access to contraceptives and advancing legal approaches that center adolescent’s agency and bodily autonomy.
The Center has consistently worked towards strengthening human rights accountability for SRHR by advocating through UN mechanisms (Stakeholder Reports, UPR submissions and written inputs) to promote national legal and policy reform in line with international human rights standards.
Lakshmi v. Nepal: In 2009, the Supreme Court concluded that the government must guarantee access to safe and affordable abortion services. The Court ordered Nepal to adopt a comprehensive abortion law that establishes a national fund for abortion procedure costs, ensures stronger safeguards for women’s privacy, promotes access to safe services for all women, and widely disseminates information about safe abortion services to health service providers and the public.
Manju v. Government of Nepal: In 2017, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a verdict ordering the government to make necessary legal and policy framework to ensure access of all women including the marginalized and impoverished women to all kinds of contraceptives as well as ensure their effective implementation.
Syed v Sindh: In 2019, the first decision from a High Court in Pakistan was issued recognizing the duty of the government to prevent and treat obstetric fistula, which affects hundreds of women in Pakistan every year.
In 2012, the Center launched the South Asia Reproductive Justice and Accountability Initiative (SARJAI)–a network of organizations, independent lawyers and legal experts from the region working to advance access to safe reproductive healthcare and secure legal recognition of women and girls’ reproductive rights. Through SARJAI the Center also developed landmark litigation in the region.
Learn more about the Center’s work advancing reproductive rights in Asia.
