Meetup 28 

Barriers to Reproductive Health: what are the key ethical challenges, consequences, and solutions?

Women’s reproductive health (including access to contraception and termination of pregnancy) is increasingly threatened vis-a-vis legislative and judicial actions, misinformation campaigns, inadequate funding, and insurgent pronatalism often linked to fundamentalisms.

This panel begins with an overview of barriers to reproductive health faced by young people and marginalized communities in the Global South. Ethical challenges, harmful consequences, and rights-based solutions promoting equitable, informed, and respectful access to care will be discussed. This will be followed by presentations from North America (Canada and the United States) with particular attention to differences in access to birth control and abortion. For example, in Canada, limited access to free contraception contrasts markedly with universal free access to abortion. Meanwhile, in the United States restrictions on abortion access following the overturning of Roe v Wade are leading to more people seeking contraception (access to which can be limited as well). 

Restrictive measures target bodily autonomy, threaten infertility care, and contribute to higher rates of unplanned pregnancies, which in turn contribute to higher rates of maternal morbidity and mortality. As with all reproductive care, restrictions are inequitably distributed and experienced.

Thursday 22 January 2026, 3PM Geneva Time

• Chair: Sally Davies, writer and editor (daviesally@gmail.com)
• Françoise Baylis (francoise.baylis@dal.ca)

Françoise Baylis, C.M., O.N.S., PhD, FRSC, FISC

President Royal Society of Canada

Distinguished Research Professor, Emerita
Dalhousie University

• Monica Casper (mjcasper@seattleu.edu)

Monica J. Casper, Ph.D.

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Professor of Sociology

Seattle University

• Choolwe Jacobs (choolwe2003@yahoo.com)

Choolwe Nkwemu-Jacobs, PhD, MPH, BSc

Associate Professor – School of Public Health

University of Zambia

Co-Founder/Country Lead – Women in Global Health Zambia