The Center to Co-Host Side Event to the UN Commission on Population and Development Session

On Tuesday, April 26, the Center for Reproductive Rights is organizing a virtual side event to the 55th Session of the UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD). The event, titled “The Cost of Criminalizing Essential Health Care: Barriers to Gender Equality in Sustained and Inclusive Economic Growth,” is free and open to the public.

>> View the invitation (in English and Spanish) and register here.

The side event–being co-hosted by the Governments of Canada and Mexico–will feature global health care and human rights experts from Nepal, Kenya, and El Salvador, who will examine the economic, social, human rights, and public health impacts resulting from the restriction and criminalization of abortion around the world. A representative from the WHO will also highlight the public health and human rights evidence for the recommendation to decriminalize abortion in the recently updated Abortion Care Guideline.

The Center’s President and CEO Nancy Northup will be a keynote speaker, and Enid Muthoni Ndiga, Chief Program Officer for the Center, will moderate the panel.

The panel will examine, through the lens of international human rights law, three cross-regional examples to explore the impact of criminalization of abortion services on the lives and health of people who need those services—particularly people in vulnerable situations—as well as on health care professionals who provide those services.

Speakers include:

• Keynote Speakers:
  • Nancy Northup, President and CEO, Center for Reproductive Rights
  • Peter MacDougall, Assistant Deputy Minister, Global Issues and Development Branch, Global Affairs Canada
• Moderator: Enid Muthoni Ndiga, Chief Program Officer, Center for Reproductive Rights
• Panelists:
  • Sabin Shrestha, Executive Director of FWLD, Nepal
  • Morena Herrera, Feminist and Human Rights Activist, El Salvador
  • Salim Mohammed, Reproductive Health Care Provider, Kenya
  • Lara Dimitrijevic, Founder and Director of Women’s Rights Foundation, Malta
  • Dr. Antonella Lavelanet, Medical Officer, World Health Organization
• Closing Remarks: Representative of the Government of Mexico

Criminalizing abortion in any capacity puts health and lives at risk, and states have an obligation to ensure the availability and accessibility of safe and high-quality abortion services. This event will clarify states’ obligations and commitments – made under the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and other regional and international platforms – and demonstrate the need to decriminalize abortion to meet those commitments.

Event details:

• Title: “The Cost of Criminalizing Essential Health Care: Barriers to Gender Equality in Sustained and Inclusive Economic Growth”
• Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2022
• Time: 8:00-9:30 a.m. EST
• Venue: Zoom webinar
• Register here.
• View the invitation in English and Spanish.

Translation will be provided in real-time in Spanish, French, and International Sign Language, with closed captions in English and Spanish.

Learn more:

UN Commission on Population and Development (CPD): The CPD is one of the 10 Functional Commissions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and advises the Council on population issues and trends. This year’s 55th Session of the CPD is centered around the theme of population and sustainable development, in particular sustained and inclusive economic growth.

UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals: The UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals, adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, designed to support the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Created to stimulate action in five critical areas of importance – People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership – the goals recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.