KATHMANDU, MARCH 9
Women's rights activists have underlined the need to decriminalise abortion.
Addressing an interaction organised by Forum for Women, Law and Development for mediapersons here today, Executive Director of FWLD Sabin Shrestha said there was a tendency in the media to depict abortion as a bad thing that adversely affects women's right to reproductive health.
Shrestha said media professionals needed to choose words and headlines in a manner that does not stigmatise abortion.
He said the society should understand that women's life and health were more important than the rights of the foetus.
Chief of Family Welfare Division, Department of Health Services Bibek Kumar Lal said the Ministry of Health and Population was working to amend laws related to reproductive health in order to make those laws adapt to international standards and remove discrepancies from the related laws.
Public Health Officer of Department of Health Services Nisha Joshi said decriminalisation of abortion was necessary to fully ensure women's reproductive health rights.
Stating that unsafe abortion was one of the main causes of maternal mortality, Joshi said women's access to safe abortion and reproductive health services should be increased.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 10, 2022, of The Himalayan Times
