A growing body of research indicates a strong, deliberate connection between the restriction of reproductive rights and the rise of authoritarian governance. Around the world, from Eastern Europe to Latin America, leaders consolidating power are increasingly turning to the control of women’s bodies as a tool for social and political ends. This pattern is now recognized by many researchers not as a series of isolated political events, but as a key feature of the modern authoritarian playbook.
The tactic of leveraging reproductive rights to achieve state objectives is a recurring theme in the history of autocratic rule. In the 20th century, several authoritarian regimes implemented strict controls over abortion and contraception to advance their ideological and demographic goals. Leaders in Italy and Spain, for instance, sought the approval of powerful religious institutions by making their anti-abortion stances law. In other cases, the motivation was explicitly pronatalist. Following the immense population losses of two world wars, regimes in the Soviet Union and Romania viewed procreation as a national duty, severely limiting access to reproductive health services to boost birth rates and fuel national rebuilding efforts. This historical context reveals that the control of family planning has long been a method for authoritarian states to engineer society from its most basic unit, ensuring the population aligns with the government’s strategic interests.
The Modern Authoritarian Strategy
Contemporary leaders with authoritarian ambitions have revived and reshaped these older strategies for the 21st century. In countries like Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, and Nicaragua, governments have systematically clamped down on abortion access as part of a broader nationalist agenda. This new wave of reproductive control is often framed through a specific style of political rhetoric that stokes societal division and helps leaders consolidate their power. These leaders frequently invoke the specter of a nation in peril, threatened by moral decay and demographic decline. They construct a narrative where national survival depends on a return to traditional values, portraying child-free women, immigrants, and queer people as dangers to the state’s future. By defining who belongs and who poses a threat, these regimes use reproductive policy as a powerful vehicle for enforcing a homogenous, state-sanctioned identity. Restricting abortion becomes a symbolic and practical means of asserting control, turning private medical decisions into matters of national security and ideological purity.
Beyond an Individual Right
Focusing on abortion as a purely individual right can obscure the profound societal consequences of its restriction. Research from around the globe demonstrates that banning abortion does not reduce the number of procedures performed; it merely makes them more dangerous. When legal avenues are closed, people turn to unregulated and often unsafe methods, leading to a demonstrable increase in maternal and infant mortality rates. These negative health outcomes disproportionately affect women in marginalized and impoverished communities, deepening existing inequalities. The economic impacts are also severe. When women cannot control the timing and number of their children, they and their families are more likely to experience poverty. Therefore, access to safe and legal abortion and contraception is not only a matter of individual liberty but also a critical component of public health, economic stability, and social equity. The data shows that societies that subjugate women are far more likely to be unstable and less prosperous.
A Barometer of Democratic Health
Many political scientists and human rights advocates now view the status of reproductive rights as a critical barometer for the overall health of a democracy. A government’s move to restrict abortion access rarely occurs in a vacuum. Instead, it is often one of the first steps in a broader campaign to dismantle democratic norms and institutions. These anti-abortion measures are frequently accompanied by other human rights violations and crackdowns on fundamental freedoms. For example, legislative battles to curtail abortion access in some U.S. states have included efforts that simultaneously infringe upon voting rights and First Amendment freedoms of speech. Feminist activists in Latin America have documented how restricting abortion access directly intensifies authoritarianism by eroding both individual and collective rights. This connection is so reliable that the erosion of reproductive freedom can serve as an early warning signal of democratic decline, indicating a government’s willingness to intrude into the private lives of its citizens and legislate based on ideology rather than individual liberty and public welfare.
Global Trends and Local Impacts
The alignment on anti-abortion policy between authoritarian states and some democratic regions has become increasingly stark. In parts of the United States, new state-level laws have created an environment where citizens have fewer reproductive rights than people living under governments widely recognized as authoritarian. For instance, the complete ban on abortion in some states, except to save the life of the mother, is more restrictive than the policies in countries like Iran, which permits abortion in cases of fetal impairment. This trend highlights an internationally aligned movement to roll back reproductive rights, with groups in the U.S. funding anti-abortion campaigns in other countries. Recognizing the link between abortion restrictions and authoritarianism is particularly galvanizing in regions that have recent memories of life under military dictatorships, where the fight for reproductive freedom is inseparable from the broader struggle to protect democracy itself.