Women's bodies being turned into 'battlegrounds': UN

Women's bodies have become political "battlegrounds", putting at risk 30 years of progress on sexual and reproductive health for women and girls, the U.N. warned Wednesday.

Though maternal mortality rates and unwanted pregnancy rates have been steadily falling, progress is now slowing or even flatlining on key measures, said the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the U.N.'s sexual and reproductive health agency.

Thirty years ago, at a conference in Cairo, 179 countries agreed to put reproductive health at the heart of sustainable development, which "paved the way for decades of progress", said UNFPA chief Natalia Kanem — who herself attended the conference.

Since then, the rate of unintended pregnancies has fallen by almost 20 percent worldwide and the number of maternal deaths decreased by 34 percent between 2000 and 2020, UNFPA said in its flagship annual State of World Population report, which has been published yearly since 1978.

The number of women using contraceptives has doubled, and at least 162 countries have passed laws against domestic violence.

However, "the rights of women, girls and gender-diverse people are the subject of increasing pushback", Kanem told a press conference.

"Annual reductions in maternal deaths have flatlined. Since 2016 the world made zero progress in saving women from preventable deaths in pregnancy and childbirth," she stressed.

 Reproduction 'politicised' 

UNFPA said racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination were also blocking broad gains in sexual and reproductive health for women and girls.

"The data are damning. Women and girls who are poor, belong to ethnic, racial and indigenous minority groups, or are trapped in conflict settings,...