Pro-choice and anti-abortion both demonstrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court hears arguments over a challenge to a Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Across the globe, from the United States, Poland to El Salvador, women have long been prohibited from terminating their pregnancies - even in cases of rape or incest.
Reproductive rights campaigners say legislation that bans or severely restricts abortion does not stop women getting terminations, instead forcing some to get backstreet abortions that can be unsafe and sometimes deadly.
In a debate marked by deep ideological and religious divides, some US economists are now urging policymakers to consider the financial cost of curbing women's abortion rights.