; Whereas General Comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was adopted by the Human Rights Committee on October 30, 2018, asserts that states’ parties— (1) should ensure access for all persons to quality and evidence-based information and education about sexual and reproductive health and to a wide range of affordable contraceptive methods ; (2) must provide safe, legal, and effective access to abortion where the life and health of the pregnant woman or girl is at risk, or where carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the pregnant woman or girl substantial pain or suffering, most notably where pregnancy is the result of rape or incest or is not viable ; (3) ensure the availability of, and effective access to, quality prenatal and post-abortion health care for women and girls ; and (4) must not impose restrictions on the ability of women or girls to seek abortion in a manner that jeopardizes their lives, subjects them to physical or mental pain or suffering, discriminates against them, arbitrarily interferes with their privacy, or places them at risk of undertaking unsafe abortions; Whereas United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies established that abortion restrictions violate human rights, including the rights to life, health, and privacy, and the right to equality and nondiscrimination or freedom from torture and ill-treatment, among others; Whereas United Nations treaty-monitoring bodies have repeatedly recognized the connection between restrictive laws on abortion and maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion; Whereas access to the full range of sexual, gender-affirming, and reproductive health care, including abortion, is essential to the health and well-being of all people; Whereas reproductive and sexual health care providers administer high-quality, essential health care, and play a critical role in ensuring people are able to make decisions about their bodies and lives with dignity, empathy, compassion, and respect