International safe abortion day 2026

This International Safe Abortion Day calls for "Solidarity in Action". Much of that solidarity is rightly centred around access, choice and rights – the foundations of reproductive autonomy. But there is another place it is needed that rarely makes the abortion agenda: research and development.

Abortion is a common part of women’s reproductive lives regardless of the legal context in which they live. Around 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide each year – three in every ten pregnancies. When properly administered, it is one of the safest medical procedures available, but nearly half of all abortions are still unsafe. Interestingly, despite its prevalence, abortion R&D remains disproportionately under-funded and under-researched. Making abortion safe, affordable, timely and respectful to all, depends on the products and technologies behind it, and those depend on R&D.

Current options for safe abortion – medical, via misoprostol and/or mifepristone, or surgical via MVA and others - are highly effective, safe and straightforward. But there are still gaps for R&D to fill. Additional and improved drug regimens, very early abortion (menstrual regulation) products and higher sensitivity early pregnancy tests could contribute to improving accessibility of safe abortion and reduce the global burden of unsafe procedures.

• Testing for quality-assured, stable misoprostol. Misoprostol can degrade when exposed to heat and humidity, making it less effective. This can often happen due to permeable packaging, poor manufacturing controls and low-quality products. Laboratory testing of samples from LMICs have found close to 40% of samples below specification. Developing a point-of-care device that can test the quality of misoprostol and flag sub-standard products, without the need for laboratory testing, is a gap the WHO is calling to be filled.
• Simpler regimens. Taking both misoprostol and mifepristone drugs at once rather than the current regimen of 24 to 48 hours apart would reduce visits and complexity, but the evidence is conflicting. Some trials show equal effectiveness and others markedly lower success.
• Earlier regimens. After unprotected sex, women have only five days for emergency contraception to be effective. After this window has passed, women must currently wait until their missed period and confirm pregnancy with a test to access abortion services, if those are even available. Trials looking at administering levonorgestrel (progesterone) followed by mifepristone (anti-progesterone) to induce menstruation are underway.
• An alternative to mifepristone. Where mifepristone is unavailable, people often rely on misoprostol alone, which is less effective. Trials adding letrozole to misoprostol show promising results, but most are small and further exploration into the dosing regimen is required for a consensus to be reached.

Impact Global Health has tracked abortion R&D funding since 2023. Despite almost three years’ worth of data – there is little to report.

• Funding rose from $1.1m in 2023 to $1.8m in 2024 and preliminary data for 2025 points to a 75% fall to under $500k.
• Across 2023 and 2024 combined, abortion R&D received $2.9m – just over 2% of the $126m invested in contraception R&D in 2024 alone.
• This funding primarily comes from one source: Grand Challenges Canada funded 95% of abortion R&D across 2023 and 2024, with industry providing the rest.
• Funding is solely focused on drugs, with further details of the grants being kept confidential.

Access and choice rightly dominate the abortion conversation. But abortion R&D rarely gets the attention its scale demands and often remains an afterthought in the women’s health funding landscape. The funding envelope is shrinking and rests in limited funders, despite gaps and opportunities for R&D innovation.

Solidarity is needed on many fronts for abortion to be accessible to all – R&D must be one of them.