Women on Web End-Of-Year Newsletter
As the year draws to a close, we find ourselves reflecting on the past 12 months that have been marked by resilience, progress, and collective power of our community. This year has been a journey of shared leadership, advocacy, and community-building, and we're thrilled to share the strides we've made together. From breaking down barriers to abortion access online and offline to holding space for critical conversations, our team's commitment has been the driving force behind our shared achievements. In this end-of-year newsletter, we reflect on the inspiring milestones and partnerships that fuel our determination for the year ahead. Thank you for being part of our community and standing with us in the pursuit of reproductive freedom.
2023 Impact in numbers
Women on Web works at the forefront of supporting women and pregnant people in almost 200 countries to access safe abortion with pills. Our dedicated 24/7 helpdesk has responded to 82,000 emails this year – that’s an average of 228 daily emails in 19 different languages!
This year, we experienced a 14% increase in abortion care requests, totalling 38,000. Request for abortion pills for future use also grew by 36% from 2022, demonstrating the benefits of having abortion pills in advance and the growing need for such service.
Request abortion pills for future use here
The growing global visibility with more than 320,000 individuals interacting with our content underscores the impact and reach of our work. We are deeply thankful to local groups and communities for their trust and for being our loyal referral partner at the grassroot level. Much love to every one of you!
Thank you for running such an organisation that allows people the freedom of choice over their own lives (Qatar)
Once again, thank you very much for your attention, your constant accompaniment, and your affection. Thank you for your support and for being there, you don't know how important it is (Chile)
The package was received in the mail today, it was fast, I was able to track it as well. Thank you very much for the service and help you provide to women. It’s worth more than you think (Malaysia)
-Messages from our care seekers
Major highlights of 2023
This year, we achieved major milestones with the successful launch of the Abortion Framing Toolkit and the Find Your Abortion Project (FYAP). The Abortion Framing Toolkit offers step-by-step guidance to amplify a positive narrative for the abortion movement. The toolkit is packed with visuals and examples for inspiration from all around the world, and is available in English, French, Spanish, and Thai. Download for free from our website.
Bidding farewell to Global Care
2023 also saw the conclusion of the Global Consortium for Abortion and Reproductive Self-care (Global Care). We are proud of the impact created through this Consortium where we exchanged knowledge and experiences on telemedicine, self-management of abortion, hotlines, and positive narratives with 11 IPPF Member Associations spanning across 4 continents for over 2 years.
Knowledge generation, exchange and transfer
In a year dedicated to expanding and sharing knowledge, we coordinated and contributed to five ground-breaking research in Germany, Malta, the Netherlands, and Turkey along with one extensive worldwide research! The research covered a wide range of topics, including reasons for choosing telemedicine abortion, user perspectives on pre-abortion ultrasound, impact of Covid-19 on abortion access and characteristics of individuals accessing abortion in highly restrictive legal settings.
Our team attended and presented in over 10 international and regional conferences and gatherings. We are immensely thankful for the time spent with inspiring individuals we met at events like Women Deliver in Rwanda, RightsCon in Costa Rica, International Symposium on the Role of Nurses in Abortion Provision in Colombia and CLALAI VII in Panama. A special shout-out to our friends at Women First Digital for their hospitality and for hosting us at their table during Women Deliver.
Another 10 workshops, trainings and webinars were held both online and in-person. These events reached over 1,000 attendees globally on topics around abortion self-care, human rights, policy and politics of gendered discourse, telemedicine, and the role of technology in increasing access to sexual and reproductive health.
Global movement and community building
In 2023, our global outreach efforts were more vibrant than ever.
We launched 3 campaigns: fundraiser for Martynka Helpline, Abortion Actually to document self-managed abortion stories and finally a campaign with MeToo Movement Iran. These 3 campaigns together reached a whopping 129,165 people!
We raised over $2000 for Martynka, a 24/7 support line created to support Ukrainian refugees in Poland to access abortion care, emergency contraceptives and safe accommodation. Our fundraiser is still open until the end of December. You can donate here.
We stood in solidarity with local communities and networks in South Korea and Italy. This is a testament to our commitment to grassroot change.
For World Safe Abortion Day, our team marched in Madrid with Comisión por el derecho al Aborto de Madrid to demand the Spanish government to execute the Supreme Court’s decision to unblock Women on Web’s website.
Digital rights advocacy
Throughout this year Women on Web continued to spearhead the fight against the digital suppression of online abortion information.
Despite the Supreme Court ruling in our favor, our website remains blocked in Spain. South Korea and Turkey have also blocked access to womenonweb.org and in both countries Women on Web is pursuing legal action against the censorship. In South Korea, following a court ruling to keep our website blocked, we are now appealing and preparing a constitutional challenge to restore access to our site.
Our posts, ads, and entire accounts are constantly taken down by Instagram and Facebook and Google's unpredictable updates to search ranking algorithms have at times resulted in loosing more than 40% of our abortion pill requests - all the while they allow fake clinics to rank high in their search results.
This year, our team facilitated a popular workshop at RightsCon, alongside Amnesty International, Reproaction, Center for Intimacy Justice, and PLAN C. We were also panelists at Netroots Nation and co-hosted “Fighting Digital Suppression: The New Frontier for Abortion Rights in the Americas and Beyond" during the United Nations General Assembly.
Stay updated on our digital rights advocacy and email us at repro.uncensored@gmail.com
Wondering what we have in store for 2024?
We are thrilled to announce that Women on Web is going to the 2024 Abortion and Reproductive Justice Conference (ARJC) in Bangkok. Three of our abstracts on Positive Narrative on Abortion, Abortion Decriminalization in South Korea and Prescription-based Telemedical Service in South Africa got accepted.
This coming year, we are also excited to be launching our new responsive, inclusive and secure website, which will provide an improved user experience to abortion seekers around the world.
Women on Web is also proud to be driving 'Repro Uncensored', a coalition of SRHR and internet freedom organizations calling for Big Tech transparency and accountability. In collaboration with Amnesty International, Reproaction, Women First Digital, and PLAN C, we are excited to launch this project at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York next year, supported by the UN Foundation. We will also be co-hosting a panel at the South by Southwest with members of the coalition and Fos Feminista.
And that's just a sneak peek into what we can reveal for now!
Spreading our messages far and ahead
Our evergreen stickers truly went to places this year, reaching communities in Germany, Japan, Poland, and Spain. Get your stickers here and be part of our global outreach!
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