For Liberian women and girls, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are not just a health issue, but a matter of fundamental autonomy. SRHR covers a range of protections, from family planning and maternity care to the eradication of sexual violence and harmful practices. Securing these rights is vital for ensuring every girl and woman has the agency to make informed choices regarding her reproductive future (Calimoutou, 2021).
Liberia has developed policies and partnerships to expand access to SRHR for women and adolescents. Working with United Nations agencies and civil society, the government has rolled out youth-friendly services to deliver SRHR information and care and has launched a five-year initiative targeting adolescent girls’ health and empowerment (UNFPA Liberia, 2024, 2025).
Despite this progress, many women who wish to avoid pregnancy are unable to use effective family planning because of limited access, entrenched gender and social norms, and legal barriers, including parental-consent requirements for adolescents seeking contraceptives (UNFPA Liberia, 2024; Peters, 2025).
Modern contraceptive use remains low, and unmet need for family planning is particularly high among adolescents and young women (Blumenthal, Voedisch, & Gemzell-Danielsson, 2011; Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services, Ministry of Health, & ICF, 2021).
Liberia has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, and many adolescent girls and women are exposed to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation, child marriage, and transactional sex, that constrain their reproductive autonomy (Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services, Ministry of Health, & ICF, 2021; UNFPA Liberia, 2024).
Abortion is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or “substantial risk” that the pregnancy would harm the woman’s health or result in a child with grave physical or mental disability (Liberia Legal Information Institute, 1976), pushing many women to seek unsafe alternatives. A nationally representative study estimated an abortion rate of 30.7 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, with more than one-third of pregnancies ending in abortion (Ushie et al., 2026).
A special question module in Afrobarometer’s Round 10 survey (2024) explores the opinions and experiences of Liberians related to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Findings show that a majority of Liberians support the autonomy of women in choices about marriage and reproduction. Most also endorse the teaching of sex education in schools and believe that schoolgirls who become pregnant should have the right to pursue their education. Majorities are open to making contraceptives available to anyone who is sexually active regardless of age or marital status, though substantial minorities disagree.
More than half of Liberians consider abortion justifiable if the mother’s life or health is at risk, in cases of rape or incest, if the woman is economically unable to care for a child, or if the pregnancy is unwanted “for any reason.”
