Reproductive care empowers people with knowledge and freedom.

Contraception is any medication, device, or procedure that allows people to choose if and when they have children. The impact of contraception is profound—nearly half of women worldwide use contraception, preventing over 300 million unintended pregnancies each year. Yet about 78 million women in lower- and middle-income countries lack the contraception they want; men and boys account for less than a quarter of users; and stigma, limited information, and cost limit its use.

Comprehensive sexual education equips young people with the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions, and it’s one of the strongest preventive investments we have. It has been proven to help young people delay sexual activity and adopt safe behaviors, like consistent contraceptive use. More than four in five countries include it in their national curricula, but delivery is often inconsistent or outdated—leaving millions of young people without guidance on issues like consent, relationships, and contraception.

Abortion is common everywhere. What differs is safety, and safety depends entirely on access. Increased access to legal services—including medication abortion—has greatly improved safety in many countries, particularly across the Global South. And though abortion is a common, safe, and effective procedure, millions of women still lack this care. Evidence consistently shows that abortion rates do not decline under restrictive laws—only safety does. In legal settings, nearly 90% of abortions are safe, compared with just 25% where access is highly restricted.

Reproductive health isn’t only about preventing pregnancy, it’s also about supporting people who want children but cannot conceive. The inability to conceive affects about 180 million couples worldwide, yet it remains one of the most underfunded areas of reproductive health. In societies where a woman’s social position is highly dependent on having children, infertility can lead to serious consequences, like psychological harm, intimate partner violence, or young women rejecting contraception in order to prove their fertility. While many women in high-income countries use fertility services, even basic care—such as counselling and fertility examinations—is virtually nonexistent in lower-income settings.