Tomorrow, 26 September, marks World Contraception Day, a global observance dedicated to promoting access to sexual and reproductive health services, such as Italian “consultori” (family planning and counselling centres), as well as access to accurate information, so that everyone can make free and informed choices about their bodies and their future.
Two days later, on Monday 28 September, International Safe Abortion Day is observed, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of ensuring access to safe and legal abortion, as well as high-quality, free-of-charge abortion services.
These two days draw attention to the importance of protecting and advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which are recognized by the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda as essential to health, development, and empowerment.
According to the latest data from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), around 1 in 10 women worldwide are unable to decide whether or not to use a family planning method. An estimated 59 million women want to avoid pregnancy but are not currently using a safe and modern contraceptive method, resulting in about half of all pregnancies globally being unintended. At the same time, nearly 50% of all abortions take place under unsafe conditions, leading to preventable maternal deaths and serious health complications [1].
These figures demonstrate the need for greater investment in family planning, including efforts to strengthen and expand supply chains in order to ensure a reliable provision of services and commodities for everyone.
Ensuring access to contraception and abortion, however, is not enough. The exercise of reproductive agency requires transforming the structural conditions causing inequalities and limit access to information and services. Gender equality, economic security, trust in healthcare systems, and freedom from coercion, discrimination, and violence are all essential for enabling people to make free and informed decisions about whether, when, and how to have children, and to revise those decisions as their desires and circumstances evolve over time.
[1] UNFPA, Annual Report 2025 and UNFPA, State of World Population 2025