The 8^th Asia Pacific Conference on Reproductive & Sexual Health & Rights (APCRSHR) was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from 23^rd to 26^th February 2016, which is a biennial gathering of civil society, young people, academia, government, media, private sector, and development partners from the region concerned about sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). http://www.mm8apcrshr.org/

To my utter dismay and surprise this year, this important regional forum international arena was bereft of meaningful discussion on safe abortion and its relevance to Asia. To my own knowledge, there had been many articles and abstracts submitted on the issue of safe abortion but none got selected for presentation while there was a looming ‘hush shush’ over the topic. Though there was a youth marketplace discussion on ‘teen pregnancy and abortion’, the mainstay of moderation remained towards prevention through contraception and sex education. Access to safe and legal abortion as a right hardly featured in any session. The conference declaration couldn’t have ‘safe abortion’ explicitly worded in it since the proposition met with resistance.

All these weren’t mere coincidences but a reflection of the persistent neglect and apathy towards these crucial women’s right and SRHR issue at large, which strongly challenges the notions of patriarchy.

Amidst such a scenario, we, a few Youth Champions of the Asia Safe Abortion Partnership (ASAP) who had been selected as Youth Scholars for the conference, planned to hold a film screening on abortion ! The short film, ‘The Drop’ was scripted, directed and produced by one amongst us, Anika Binte Habib from Bangladesh. We checked with the organizers for the availability of the film room and found a free slot on 25^th February in the afternoon. Small handouts were printed which mentioned the details of the film screening. We distributed them during the lunchtime of 25^th February mainly to young people and requested their little time for the same. We were prompt in mobilizing people at the scheduled time from all corners of the large convention centre and even accompanied them to the film room.

There was a gathering of over fifty young people from countries all over Asia, from Bangladesh to Papua New Guniea! And they all watched the movie intently. The film showcased the experience of a woman who was forced to seek an unsafe abortion despite menstrual regulation being legal in Bangladesh. The film highlights the strong societal stigma shrouding the issue as well as the barriers at the level of providers and services. Post-screening, there was quite an engaging discussion with the audience, which instilled the importance of having and fulfilling the right of all women to safe and legal abortion. The reactions of the audience evinced the sensitizing impact of the film.

Our ASAP coordinator, Dr. Suchitra Dalvie gave a brief introduction about the ASAP network and we also shared our individual experiences as Youth Champions of ASAP. This invoked further interest among the audience to know more about our work and safe abortion advocacy campaign at large. Most shared their e-mail ids to remain connected and updated on this agenda.

The APCRSHR is a rich platform for reaching out to people owing to the confluence of proactive people in the field of SRHR across the whole Asia Pacific region. Since, ‘abortion’ was being swept under the carpet, it was a challenging yet apt stage for us, pro-choice safe abortion advocates, to bring forth advocacy in action. We created the advocacy space with alacrity and utilized it to keep the issue of safe abortion afloat in the realm of SRHR.

We hope that future conferences will ensure that the issue of safe abortion receives an official and legitimate space in the formal forums such as keynote addresses, plenaries and panels. In the meanwhile we will keep working to create our own spaces to ensure that there is no more silence around this critical issue!