A platform for Global South advocates, activists, academics and services providers committed towards realising safe abortion as a human right.
Launched in 2018, the SAIGE network currently comprises 300+ members committed to realising the right to safe abortion for all women through strategic interventions that recognise abortion as a health and rights issue. SAIGE has grown organically through linking and learning across the Global South and being present in regional and global advocacy spaces and feminist convenings promoting access to safe and legal abortion.
SAIGE aims to be a platform to mobilise support for members in times of need while also providing a network where members can share knowledge and expertise toward advancing access to safe abortion by using successes from others and tailoring it for their own contexts.
Unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality. Worldwide, an estimated 68,000 women die of unsafe abortion each year. Despite advances in medical sciences, technology and evidence women continue to suffer and die due to lack of access to safe abortion services.
Unsafe abortion incidences are highest in developing regions. Around 25 million unsafe abortions were estimated to have taken worldwide each year, almost all in developing countries.
The unwillingness of governments to approach abortion holistically through an integrated health and rights approach leave women around the world vulnerable to unsafe abortions.
The path toward safer abortion is clear – expand access to safe abortion so women and girls won’t have to risk their health by resorting to unsafe methods.
Unfortunately, well-organised and resourced opposition groups and conservative political factions within governments who equate abortion with immorality and/or as “western ideology” very often drown the clarity of this message.
In order to effectively challenge persistent stigma within the complex cultural and religious context this issue sits within, advocates in the region need solidarity with other Global South voices who are trying to push through similar barriers for greater access to safe abortion in their respective countries.
