News | Human Rights Watch

June 16, 2026 Dispatches

US Agriculture Bill Cuts Vital Nutrition Aid

Reduced Access Disproportionately Harms Pregnant Women, Children, and Infants

A woman and her daughter in Revere, Massachusetts, US, December 11, 2020.

May 5, 2026 Dispatches

US: Courts Consider Access to Mifepristone via Telehealth

Abortion Access at Risk Nationwide

Mifepristone at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Ames, lowa, US, July 18, 2024.

April 30, 2026 Dispatches

EU: Parliament Confirms That ‘Only Yes Means Yes’

Consent Requirement to Be the Standard for Rape Legislation

A demonstration with the slogan "Without consent, it's rape" takes place in Rome, Italy, on February 28, 2026.

April 8, 2026 Dispatches

Trump Administration Wields New Threat to Reproductive Rights

Denied and Delayed Abortion Care Puts Health and Lives in US at Risk

A supporter of Planned Parenthood holds a placard at a rally

March 6, 2026 Commentary

Immigrant Women in ICE Detention Deserve Protection

People participate in an anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rally outside of the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center on September 2, 2025, in New York City, US.

March 6, 2026 Commentary

As Women’s Rights Are Dismantled, So is Democracy

Protesters hold placards at a demonstration calling for women's rights in Afghanistan

March 6, 2026 Dispatches

US Abortion Restrictions Causing Preventable Deaths

State Restrictions Worsening Inequality

Abortion rights protestors demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court as oral arguments are delivered in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic in Washington D.C., April 2. 2025.

February 28, 2026 Dispatches

Landmark Win on Abortion in the EU

More Funds for Women Seeking Safe Abortions in Europe

Activists and representatives of the European Citizens’ Initiative "My Voice, My Choice" hold a press conference at Press Club Brussels Europe, presenting their campaign for safe and accessible abortion across the EU, after meeting with the European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, October, 1, 2025.

February 20, 2026 Dispatches

Mercury Latest Trump Rollback of Environmental Protections

Notorious Neurotoxin Especially Harmful to Maternal and Child Health

A coal-fired plant in the town of Poca near the Kanawha River, in West Virginia, US, August 28, 2018.

February 12, 2026 Dispatches

US Greenhouse Gas Deregulation Hurts Reproductive Rights

Climate Injustices Endanger Pregnancy, Newborn Health

Midwife Celena Brown of Commonsense Childbirth in Florida, examines a patient during a pregnancy checkup in Winter Garden, Florida, US, June 25, 2024.

February 2, 2026 Commentary

Gambia's Supreme Court to Decide on FGM Ban

Reinstating the Practice Poses Risks to All Girls and Women

A razorblade used in an undisclosed country for female genital mutilation.

November 2, 2025 News Release

Obstetric Violence Deadly for Sierra Leone Women, Newborns

Reform Systems that Undermine Women’s Rights

Pregnant women sit in the waiting area at the pre-natal clinic of the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital

October 15, 2025 Statement

Conscientious Objection

International Human Rights Standards in Reproductive Health Care

April 7, 2025 Witness

Interview with a Midwife: In Romania, Abortion Care Access is Slipping Away

“Anytime a woman comes for health services there are huge barriers.”

Women take part in a rally dubbed "Our Uterus is not your profit" to raise awareness on the difficulties of getting an abortion in a state hospital, during International Women's Day outside the government headquarters in Bucharest, Romania, March 8, 2023.