President, 

We make this statement on behalf of xx organisations and xx individuals. 

In the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, States recognised that women’s rights are human rights and that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. The right to development is not just economic; it encompasses civil, social, cultural, and political dimensions and includes reproductive health rights to ensure reproductive justice for all.  Reproductive justice was coined by black feminist organisations to address human rights violations with an intersectional approach focusing on underlying socioeconomic factors that affect people’s rights, decisions and lives.

Reproductive justice, including the right to access safe and legal abortion, is crucial for realising the right to health, without which the right to development cannot be realised. 

For decades, corporate capitalism has driven development, equating growth with progress. This model profits from war, illness, and over-consumption, favouring private wealth over public good. Governments support this system by cutting public spending, privatising services, and deregulating industries, which is often demanded by international financial institutions and the Northern states that dominate them. This shifts wealth from the poor to the rich, exacerbating climate crises, food insecurity, lack of affordable housing, displacement, and economic inequalities that hit women and marginalised communities in the Global South the hardest. What’s more, this economic war is conducted in the name of development. 

Economic and political systems significantly influence abortion access. Limited healthcare funding, restrictive laws, restricted funding and neoliberal policies undermine public healthcare and exacerbate inequalities. This creates a situation in which the privileged few are able to navigate such restrictions, while marginalised women, trans, and non-binary individuals are left at the mercy of non-functioning or discriminatory service providers, or rely on NGOs to fill the gaps of public systems, which further deepens social and economic disparities. Such stratification also has the effect of fragmenting national and local movements for reproductive rights and justice. 

We need a new sustainable development model that prioritises equal and equitable access to all resources for all, and which values people over profits. On the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day, we call for an intersectional feminist model to development that centres the voices of women, girls and gender-diverse persons in determining indicators to measure global development. Centering reproductive justice and bodily autonomy for all is essential to such a development model; the ability of marginalised people to exercise control over their reproductive lives enables them to fully participate in social, cultural, and political life. Universal access to safe and legal abortion is fundamental for this.

We must implement laws and policies that ensure equitable access to abortion, fostering an inclusive, just, and developed society where all people can thrive.

Thank you