Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Millions of women lose contraceptives, abortions in Covid-19

Millions of women and girls globally have lost access to contraceptives and abortion services because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now the first widespread measure of the toll says India with its abrupt, months-long lockdown has been hit especially hard.

Several months into the pandemic, many women now have second-trimester pregnancies because they could not find care in time.


Across 37 countries, nearly 2 million fewer women received services between January and June than in the same period last year, Marie Stopes International says in a new report — 1.3 million in India alone. The organization expects 900,000 unintended pregnancies worldwide as a result, along with 1.5 million unsafe abortions and more than 3,000 maternal deaths.

Those numbers “will likely be greatly amplified” if services falter elsewhere in Latin America, Africa and Asia, Marie Stopes’ director of global evidence, Kathryn Church, has said.

The World Health Organization this month said two-thirds of 103 countries surveyed between mid-May and early July reported disruptions to family planning and contraception services. The UN Population Fund warns of up to 7 million unintended pregnancies worldwide.

Lockdowns, travel restrictions, supply chain disruptions, the massive shift of health resources to combat Covid-19 and fear of infection continue to prevent many women and girls from care.

A surge in teen pregnancies was reported in Kenya, while some young women in Nairobi's Kibera slum resorted to using broken glass, sticks and pens to try to abort pregnancies, said Diana Kihima with the Women Promotion Center. Two died of their injuries, while some can no longer conceive.

In parts of West Africa, the provision of some contraceptives fell by nearly 50 per cent compared to the same period last year, said the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

“I’ve never seen anything like this apart from countries in conflict,” said Diana Moreka, a coordinator of the MAMA Network that connects women and girls to care across 16 African countries. Calls have increased to their hotlines, including those launched since the pandemic began in Congo, Zambia and Cameroon. More than 20,000 women have called since January.

Like others, Moreka predicts a coming baby boom in some parts of the world. “The pandemic ... has taken us many years backwards" in family planning services, she said.

Some countries didn't deem sexual and reproductive health services as essential under lockdown, meaning women and girls were turned away. Even after NGOs in Romania pressured the government to declare the services essential, many hospitals still weren’t providing abortions, said Daniela Draghici, a member of the IPPF European network's executive committee.

“The impact in some cases is like what used to happen to young women during Communism, to get an abortion from somebody who claims to be a medical provider ... and pray,” she said.

In India’s megacity of Mumbai, one woman was unable to find a pregnancy testing kit after the lockdown started in March, and then couldn’t find transport to reach care in time, said Dr. Shewetangi Shinde, who attended to her in a public hospital. By then, medical abortion wasn’t an option since the pregnancy was too advanced.

India listed abortions as essential services under lockdown but many weren’t aware, said Shinde, who is part of the India Safe Abortion Youth Advocates organization.

The pandemic has highlighted how difficult it already was for many women to safely access abortion services, said Dr. Suchitra Dalvie, a gynecologist in Mumbai and coordinator of the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership.

“All these people ... the marginalized groups, the vast invisible majority. This is how life is,” she said.

In January, India began amending laws to allow certain women to obtain abortions up to 24 weeks instead of 20. But the pandemic interrupted it.

No one expected the lockdown to continue for months, Dalvie said. Now many women face second-trimester abortions, which are more expensive and complicated, especially “because everyone who is involved needs to wear PPE.”

Abortion access has improved in India, but the pandemic resulted in abortion pill shortages in several states surveyed by Foundation for Reproductive Health Services India. Only one per cent of pharmacies in northern states like Haryana and Punjab had them, 2 per cent in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and 6.5 per cent in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. In Delhi it was 34 per cent.

Some contraceptives are still delayed by supply chain disruptions, said Chris Purdy, CEO of the DKT International social marketing organization for family planning products. Production is back online, but shipping routes are crowded and ports clogged with back orders, he said.

Meanwhile, women’s health providers have scrambled to find solutions such as telemedicine, home deliveries of contraceptives and home-based medical abortions.

But even now, “we’re hearing everywhere that numbers are down” as public health facilities struggle because thousands of staffers have been infected with the virus, said Marion Stevens, director of the South Africa-based Sexual & Reproductive Justice Coalition. Her group and others wrote to the health minister about women turned away from care.

The real global measure of lockdowns' effects will come when health ministries report annual data, experts say. But it will be incomplete. In Haiti, the health ministry reported a 74 per cent drop in births at health facilities in May compared to the same period last year. Many women are delivering at home, but deaths there are not reported.

“Small examples can tell us a lot,” said Nondo Ejano, coordinator for the Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights Africa. In Tanzania, he said, a major maternity hospital in Dar es Salaam was converted into a COVID-19 response center. “You can ask yourself,” he said of women seeking care, “where would they go?”

At a school he visited last week in the town of Kigoma, five girls had become pregnant in the past few months. “One school. Five girls. Definitely the rate of pregnancy is up," he said.

“I feel like right now we just have a tip of the situation, and when lockdowns are lifted we will see things clearly,” said Phonsina Archane, a coordinator of the MAMA Network. “We should prepare ourselves for that time.”

More For You

chicken-pox-istock

The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

England to introduce free chickenpox vaccine for children from 2026

CHILDREN in England will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine for the first time from January 2026, the government has announced.

GP practices will give eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule. Around half a million children each year are expected to be protected.

Keep ReadingShow less
Naga Munchetty urges women to prioritise their health

Naga Munchetty

Naga Munchetty urges women to prioritise their health

WHEN broadcaster and journalist Naga Munchetty began speaking openly about her experiences with adenomyosis and debilitating menstrual pain, the response was overwhelming.

Emails and messages poured in from women who had endured years of dismissal, silence and shame when it came to their health. That outpouring became the driving force behind her new book, It’s Probably Nothing, which calls for women to be heard and to advocate for themselves in a medical system that has too often ignored them.

Keep ReadingShow less
London temple project for Shree Banke Bihari launched

London temple project for Shree Banke Bihari launched

Mahesh Liloriya

The Shree Kunj Bihari Vrindavan (UK) Temple has officially launched its project to establish a grand home for Shree Banke Bihari in London.

The inaugural event, held in Harrow from 4 pm, featured devotional chants, the Deep Pragtya ceremony, and a presentation outlining the temple’s vision. Speaking at the gathering, Shalini Bhargava described the planned temple as “a spiritual home promoting bhakti, unity and seva for generations to come.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Serena Williams

Williams explained that her weight challenges began after the birth of her first daughter

Getty Images

Serena Williams says GLP-1 made her feel light physically and mentally after 31lb loss

Highlights:

  • Serena Williams reveals she has lost more than 31lbs using a GLP-1 medication
  • The tennis legend says the treatment enhanced her existing healthy lifestyle
  • She stresses that weight loss should not change self-image or self-confidence

Serena Williams has revealed she has lost more than 31lbs after turning to a weight-loss medication, saying the treatment has transformed both her body and her mindset.

The 23-time Grand Slam champion, 43, told PEOPLE that using a GLP-1 medication — a type of injection that works by regulating appetite — has helped enhance the healthy lifestyle she already maintained through diet and exercise.

Keep ReadingShow less
Olivia Dunne

The 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model

Getty Images

Olivia Dunne shares behind-the-scenes reality of viral bathtub shoot

Highlights:

  • Olivia Dunne starred in a viral bubble bath shoot for a new Fanatics series.
  • The 2025 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover model revealed the not-so-glamorous side of filming.
  • Her TikTok showing behind-the-scenes chaos has gained over 700,000 views.
  • Fans and family flooded the comments with jokes and questions.

Fanatics partnership and viral moment

Retired gymnast and 2025 SI Swimsuit cover star Olivia Dunne has gone viral again, this time thanks to an unusual shoot for Fanatics.

The brand announced its new digital series, Explained by Livvy Dunne, where the influencer takes on complex topics in a playful style. The launch video showed Dunne in a bubble bath—similar in style to Margot Robbie’s cameo in The Big Short—but with a twist: the tub was set up in the middle of a football field.

Keep ReadingShow less