The importance of openly discussing abortion for the protection and promotion of women's health.

As many articles in Supplement issue highlight, the topic of “abortion” is extremely controversial and causes reactions rooted in religious, moral, philosophical, legal, health and human rights perspectives. The word abortion carries a heavy stigma that leads people to seek to avoid being connected with it. This essential issue of stigma is presented in many of the articles included in this Supplement. Part of the articles presented in this Thematic Section refer to the situation in some countries in the region, especially Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Colombia, as examples of countries in which there is greater or lesser progress in access to safe abortion, but also El Salvador, as an extreme example of restriction and intolerance toward abortion. The articles further describe the cases of European countries that recently changed their legislation, such as Portugal and Ireland.