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Today, the Congress of Aguascalientes, a state in Mexico, has taken a serious step backward for sexual and reproductive rights by reducing the legal limit for abortion from 12 to 6 weeks of gestation. This decision directly violates the rights of women and people who seek abortions and contradicts the ruling of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice, which mandates the repeal of laws criminalizing voluntary abortion in the State Penal Codes. We reaffirm IPPF ACRO's commitment to the sexual and reproductive rights of all people and will continue to advocate for the freedom to choose an abortion without time restrictions. With deep solidarity, we embrace the local organizations, collectives, and activists who have fought to guarantee access to safe abortion in Aguascalientes and across the country. We join their efforts: we will not allow a regression in rights that have already been recognized, and we will move forward together to ensure that cis women, trans men, non-binary people, and other dissidents are included in abortion legislation. Together, we will continue to build networks of rights, care, and resistance!    

At a time of profound and multiple crises, it is worrying that the focus of any government's action is to go back on already consolidated international commitments, particularly those which recognize, based on evidence, that Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are fundamental human rights, central to eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development across its social, economic, and environmental dimensions. SRHR – which encompasses a range of issues, including universal access to SRH services and supplies, comprehensive sexuality education, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices such as early, child and forced marriage – are fundamental to the ability of all people, especially women, adolescent girls and young people, to lead full, satisfying, healthy and productive lives. SRH services are a critical aspect of SRHR, but a complete understanding of sexual and reproductive health and rights goes far beyond on access to health facilities and services to include an array of social, legal, institutional, and financial arrangements that enable individuals to exercise their rights in general and addresses the underlying social determinants. In this regard, our Latin American community urges the government of Zambia to review its position and, on the contrary, to improve and expand the SRHR services, including increasing funding in this sector, for example by investing in fulfilling the human rights of women and girls, in all their diversity, as gender discrimination is one of the leading determinants of poor health and unwanted SRHR outcomes. It is also key to addressing inequities in access due to poverty and multiple forms of discrimination, stigma and social and economic exclusion affecting various population groups. We conclude by highlighting the importance of evidence-based policies and, in 2023, the data indicates that effective policies are not those based on stigma and discrimination or elimination of rights. On the contrary, effective policies are those that include, care for, and treat all people as subjects of rights, capable of making decisions about their health and reproductive life, with the support of a State committed to promoting citizenship and the human dignity of their people. Here, at IPPF ACRO, we will remain attentive and always willing to contribute so that rights do not go backwards and no one is left behind.   In solidarity, Eugenia Lopez Uribe Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean

The Fifth Meeting of the Forum of Latin American and Caribbean countries on Sustainable Development 2022 was held in Costa Rica - San José from March 7 to 9, in its face-to-face/virtual form due to COVID-19.   This event brought together 1,200 people, including government delegates and representatives of international organizations, the United Nations, the private sector, academia and civil society to discuss the progress and challenges of implementing the 2030 Agenda in the region and how the region has been the most impacted by COVID-19 in terms of development from the health, economic and social point of view.  Pamela Martín García, IPPF ACRO's Advocacy and Communications Manager, participated in this indispensable space for regional integration and cooperation. First at the Civil Society meeting and then at the Forum, as well as the March 8th rally in Costa Rica                           During the event for International Women's Day, civil society representatives expressed their concern about the advance of authoritarian proposals in various governments of the region with public policies that generate setbacks in terms of human rights, sexual and reproductive rights. They also denounced the extreme vulnerability of women environmental defenders in different countries. They called on governments to take affirmative action to address the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women in the region.  One important statistic shared during the event was that 68% of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals continue on an insufficient trend towards 2030 and that only one third of the 111 targets evaluated are on an adequate pace and trajectory. This urges us to continue working to meet them. The greatest challenge today is to eradicate poverty in all its forms and is an indispensable requirement for sustainable development in the region.   During the closing ceremony, delegates from the countries, United Nations agencies, representatives of civil society and other participants paid tribute to Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, who bids farewell to this position with full honors and after a formidable performance, always promoting and defending the human rights of all people. It was she, with her lucidity and eloquence, who for more than 20 years incorporated the feminist perspective in ECLAC and its actions. We join in the heartfelt recognition of a leader who knew how to build in the adversity of inequalities a light of hope throughout the region.