This resource is intended to support advocates who are working to achieve universal access to comprehensive, person-centered abortion care and an enabling environment for people to exercise their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Ipas’s advocacy centers strategies for decriminalization of abortion, elimination of policy and health system barriers, reduction of abortion stigma, and expansion of abortion access for any person who needs it. Guiding our work is a holistic, systems-based approach that addresses the ecosystem around abortion decisions and is grounded in human rights standards.  

The 2022 WHO Abortion Care Guideline (“the guideline”) presents a historic opportunity to ground advocacy strategies even more firmly in global standards for public health and human rights. The guideline offer innovations across clinical, health systems, policy, and community aspects of abortion. 

This resource focuses on our top eight advocacy highlights from the guideline, as well as six key myth-busting messages that can help you counter opposition misinformation in your setting. 

We hope you will contribute your ideas and inputs to make this a more comprehensive and responsive tool for your advocacy work. We hope that the credibility and global authority of the World Health Organization, through these guidelines, opens new advocacy windows that expand abortion access and rights in your setting.