This thematic meeting on Contraception and Abortion was the first of 4 thematic meetings to be organised by Share-Net in 2015. Share-Net members Women on Waves, AIGHD, ICCO Alliance, KIT, PSI-Europe, Simavi, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs co-organised the meeting. SRHR professionals from abroad and from the Netherlands and an audience of individual experts, people from Dutch non-profit organizations, universities, research institutes and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gathered in the IDA zaal in The Hague. About 50 people were present.

Dr. Caron Kim, Medical Officer, WHO, (Department of Reproductive Health and Research) and Marge Berer, founding editor of Reproductive Health Matters and Coordinator of the International Campaign for Women’s Rights to Safe abortion, provided an update on developments in contraceptives and abortion: methods, perceptions, acceptability and use. After listening to their presentations, participants explored their personal norms, values and perspectives on contraception and abortion. Then, Women on Web, Ipas and Simavi shared experiences and promising strategies on how to increase access to contraception and safe abortion services at community level by showing 3 cases from the field. The thematic meeting ended with two interactive sessions during which participants identified implications for policy, programmes and research based on what had been discussed in the meeting.