At CSW 70, Global Reproductive Rights Face Progress and Pushback

Seventy years ago, in the nascent years of the United Nations, a pivotal pledge was made to women and girls worldwide: the establishment of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Today, CSW stands as the preeminent international body dedicated to advancing women’s rights and empowerment. Each March, it convenes global leaders to assess progress, confront persistent challenges, and reaffirm their commitments to achieving gender equality. The 70th session, CSW70, held from March 9-19, 2026, placed a critical focus on the imperative of ensuring and strengthening women and girls’ access to justice. This focus aligns directly with the core mission of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a leading legal advocacy organization. Throughout the negotiation process, the Center provided crucial advisory support to Member States. Concurrently, the organization hosted and actively participated in numerous events designed to explore innovative strategies for legal reform and to expand access to justice, particularly within the intricate landscape of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The Center’s dedication to this global forum was underscored by the presence of its colleagues, who traveled from various corners of the globe to spearhead these critical efforts. Among them were Elsy Sainna, Associate Director for Advocacy and External Relations for Africa; Maria Cecilia Ibanez Garcia, Senior Advocacy Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Kiefer Kofman, Global Advocacy Advisor. Their collective expertise and regional insights were instrumental in navigating the complexities of the CSW deliberations.

In candid reflections following CSW70, Elsy, Maria Cecilia, and Kiefer shared their perspectives on the profound significance of the Commission in the ongoing struggle for reproductive rights, the formidable challenges that lie ahead, and their vision for the path forward.

The Enduring Significance of CSW in Advancing Reproductive Rights

The Commission on the Status of Women plays an indispensable role in the global pursuit of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Its annual sessions offer a unique and vital platform for a comprehensive range of activities crucial to the advancement of these rights.

Elsy Sainna highlighted the Commission’s function as a global stage for surfacing and critically examining emerging threats to SRHR. "CSW provides a global platform to surface and interrogate emerging SRHR threats, and to contribute to legal and policy discourse intended to hold the line and push back against regression," she stated. This involves identifying nascent challenges, analyzing their potential impact, and developing robust counter-strategies through informed discourse and policy recommendations.

Maria Cecilia Ibanez Garcia emphasized CSW’s role in shaping global norms and advancing new standards. "It’s a key space to shape global norms on gender issues, including SRHR," she explained. "At a time of growing backlash, it allows us not only to defend existing commitments, but to push forward new standards—creating new entry points to advance rights across contexts." This capacity to both defend established gains and forge new pathways for progress is particularly critical in an era marked by increasing opposition to reproductive rights.

Kiefer Kofman pointed to CSW’s mandate for monitoring progress and identifying gaps in the implementation of foundational international agreements. "It also monitors progress and gaps in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BDPfA), a roadmap for advancing women’s rights which all countries have committed to," he noted. The BDPfA, adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, remains a landmark document outlining a comprehensive agenda for gender equality. "The adopted outcome at the end of annual CSW sessions represents a renewed agreement from every country to accelerate the implementation of the BDPfA and advance the human rights of all women and girls, including SRHR." This renewal of commitment serves as a crucial mechanism for ensuring accountability and sustained action.

The Multifaceted Threats Undermining Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

The gains made in SRHR are currently facing significant and multifaceted threats globally, manifesting in both overt rollbacks and more insidious attempts to erode established norms.

Maria Cecilia Ibanez Garcia detailed the tangible ways SRHR are being undermined. "SRHR is being undermined through very tangible rollbacks, such as the criminalization of abortion, the prosecution of women and girls for obstetric emergencies, and increasing restrictions that make services harder to access in practice," she observed. The re-criminalization of abortion in several jurisdictions and the persecution of individuals for seeking or providing reproductive healthcare represent direct assaults on bodily autonomy and health. Furthermore, she noted, "We are also seeing attempts to reinterpret and weaken established standards in international human rights law. At the same time, anti-rights actors are actively working to influence laws, policies, and public discourse at the national level to roll back protections and limit autonomy." This indicates a coordinated effort by conservative and anti-rights groups to undermine decades of progress through legal and political maneuvering.

Elsy Sainna characterized these developments as deliberate attacks. "These are intentional attacks on constitutional and legal guarantees and safeguards, fueled by misinformation and disinformation attributed to conservative and religious ideologies," she stated. The strategic dissemination of false or misleading information is a key tactic employed to sow doubt and create public opposition to SRHR.

Kiefer Kofman elaborated on the coordinated efforts by conservative states and anti-rights groups within the international arena. "Conservative states, with the support of anti-rights groups, are also attempting to undermine long-standing international commitments on gender equality and SRHR and to challenge long-accepted terminology and concepts," he explained. He provided a stark example from earlier in the year: "At the UN earlier this year, we saw attempts to entirely remove the phrase ‘sexual and reproductive health’ from a resolution on children’s rights—a bid to erase a fundamental aspect of health and well-being to fit an extremist agenda." This attempt to sanitize language reflects a broader strategy to gradually erase SRHR from policy discussions and legal frameworks. Kofman also pointed to specific actions taken during CSW70 itself: "At CSW, the United States introduced unprecedented amendments and a last-minute resolution that would have weakened commitments on gender equality and human rights." This maneuver, aimed at diluting established international consensus, underscores the ongoing struggle within multilateral spaces.

Charting a Course Forward: Strategies for Advancing SRHR

In the face of these formidable challenges, the path forward requires a multifaceted and relentless approach, combining legal advocacy, diplomatic engagement, and grassroots empowerment.

Kiefer Kofman emphasized the Center’s unwavering commitment to advancing SRHR within the UN system, drawing on lessons learned from CSW70. "The Center has shown time and again that even in challenging environments, progress is possible—including at the UN," he asserted. He detailed the Center’s active role during the session: "During this past CSW, as part of the Women’s Rights Caucus, we worked to ensure that Member States prioritized SRHR in the outcome document and to keep them from accepting the U.S.’s regressive amendments and resolution." The outcome of these negotiations, particularly the isolation of the United States as the sole Member State to vote against the adoption of the CSW outcome document, sent a powerful message. "The isolation of the U.S. … sent a strong signal that human rights and the multilateral system must prevail over extremism," Kofman stated. He reaffirmed the Center’s ongoing mission: "We will continue to be relentless in ensuring SRHR are recognized as fundamental human rights across the UN system and that Member States at the UN respect, protect and fulfill them for all in line with their obligations under international human rights law." This dedication to upholding international legal obligations is paramount.

Elsy Sainna stressed the importance of constructive dialogue and reminding states of their existing obligations. "Through constructive engagements and dialogue, we intend to remind states of their obligations to protect, promote and fulfill the SRHR standards contained in international and regional human rights norms & standards to which the majority of states are party," she explained. She highlighted the significance of regional instruments, such as "regional treaties like the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol)." The Maputo Protocol, a legally binding instrument, is a testament to the commitment of many African nations to advancing women’s rights, including SRHR.

Maria Cecilia Ibanez Garcia outlined a comprehensive strategy that integrates accountability, legal advancement, and local empowerment. "We move forward by combining strategies: holding states accountable to existing commitments, continuing our work to advance stronger legal standards through litigation and advocacy, and supporting local actors to use these tools in practice," she stated. This approach recognizes that sustainable progress requires both top-down legal and policy reform and bottom-up empowerment of communities and individuals. She concluded with a powerful reminder of the movement’s resilience: "Ultimately, it’s about remembering everything that the movement has achieved so far—gains that endure despite rollback attempts—and continuing to connect global norms with real change on the ground." This forward-looking perspective acknowledges past victories as fuel for continued action.

Looking Ahead: The Unfolding Narrative of Reproductive Rights

Despite the persistent and often aggressive pushback against sexual and reproductive health and rights, CSW70 served as a crucial affirmation that a significant portion of the global community remains deeply committed to these fundamental rights and is willing to actively defend them. This commitment is further substantiated by a series of recent legal and policy victories that demonstrate tangible progress, even amidst challenging global circumstances.

Notable among these triumphs is the landmark Celia Ramos v. Peru decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which recognized reproductive violence as a form of gender-based discrimination. This ruling sets a significant precedent for accountability and justice for violations of reproductive rights within the Inter-American human rights system. Equally impactful was the recent freeing of Violet Zulu, a single mother who had been unjustly jailed for obtaining an abortion in Zambia. This case highlights the critical need for legal reform to decriminalize abortion and ensure access to safe reproductive healthcare services. These developments, alongside numerous other advocacy successes, underscore that progress in reproductive rights is not merely a theoretical possibility but an ongoing reality.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, alongside its allies and partners, remains steadfast in its commitment to advancing SRHR globally. The lessons learned and the alliances forged at CSW70 will undoubtedly inform future advocacy efforts. As the international community prepares for CSW71, the ongoing dialogue and concerted action at forums like the Commission on the Status of Women will be vital in securing and expanding the reproductive rights of women and girls worldwide. In the interim, continued engagement with reports on global wins for reproductive rights provides further inspiration and strategic insights for the sustained fight for bodily autonomy and health equity.