In October, the United States underwent its review with the UN Human Rights Committee to see if we are in line with our human rights obligations under a treaty we signed, called the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). 

The verdict? We’re not. 

A committee of human rights experts found that the United States is violating human rights by denying legal access to abortion—and should take immediate action to end the criminalization of abortion at the federal, state and local levels.

In at least 26 states—representing about half of the U.S. population—abortion is either banned completely, heavily restricted to the earliest days of pregnancy, or under legal threat. And 15 states have criminal penalties for patients and providers ranging from less than a year to potential life in prison.

Restricting access to abortion can endanger pregnant people’s health and lives by:   

• prolonging high-risk pregnancies (including, in some cases, forcing life-threatening births),   
• increasing risk of continued domestic violence and forced parenting with abusers and in some cases rapists,   
• driving some to resort to abortion with unsafe methods.  

The committee found the U.S. is violating a range of human rights under the ICCPR related to sexual and reproductive health (including abortion), racial and gender equity, sexual orientation and gender identity, gender-based violence, immigration, and more.  
 
The UN Human Rights Committee called on the U.S. government to bring its laws in line with the World Health Organization’s 2022 Abortion Care Guidelines, which call for the full decriminalization of abortion and recommend abortion care be made available upon request and without any restrictions.

The committee’s conclusions specifically call out several ways the U.S. is violating people’s rights to life, to privacy, to be free from discrimination and torture, and more:  

• the criminalization of abortion seekers, providers and those who help them  
• restrictions on inter-state travel to obtain abortions  
• bans on medication abortion  
• the digital surveillance of abortion seekers   

If you believe that President Biden must do more to protect abortion rights in the United States and stop the human rights violations the United Nations has called us out for, sign this petition.

We call on the Biden Administration to:  

1. Announce their support to fully decriminalize abortion.   
2. Exhaust all measures to strengthen privacy protections for patients and medical staff—including those under HIPAA—and ensure the federal criminal code cannot be used to prosecute people for self-managed abortion.  
3. Protect access to medication abortion by creating public education and outreach efforts to combat widespread misinformation. Education materials should include medically accurate information on how to have an abortion with pills, including how to self-manage an abortion, such as those included in the 2022 WHO Abortion Care Guidelines.  
4. Affirm U.S. commitment to sexual and reproductive health globally by working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, including abortion, around the world and ensuring all agencies that administer global health programs provide clear, ongoing, and proactive communication that reflects this support. The U.S. government should clarify what is permitted under current restrictions to ensure access to allowable abortion services, including in cases of rape, incest and life endangerment.  
5. USAID must also issue clear guidance that the Global Gag Rule is no longer in place  and that it is permissible to provide information and counseling on abortion—as well as to provide referrals for abortion care—in countries where abortion is legal, consistent with this guidance from HHS.  
6. Use the White House bully pulpit to emphasize the importance of access to abortion as a human right. For decades, international and regional human rights bodies have done this loudly and proudly. Will you confirm this, President Biden?