Category: Censorship

Spanish authorities blocked the website of Women on Web (WOW), a non-profit organisation sharing information on safe medical abortions. This coincides with an increase in barriers faced by women, girls and people who can get pregnant when accessing sexual and reproductive health services because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Women’s Link Worldwide supported WOW to take litigation in Spain to challenge the blocking of WOW’s website. Additionally, they asked the courts to recognise access to information on sexual and reproductive health services, especially during the pandemic, as a key part of the right to abortion and the right to information in Spain.

In January 2021, Women’s Link filed a lawsuit on behalf of WOW at the Spanish National Court.

On 3 October 2022, the Supreme Court of Spain ruled in favour of WOW and ordered the partial unblocking of their website. In its ruling, the court considers that the information, recommendations, and opinions on sexual health and reproductive rights that WOW provides on its website are protected by the right to information and freedom of expression. Therefore, according to the Spanish Constitution, its website cannot be blocked without judicial authorisation.

The decision creates an important judicial precedent in terms of the right to information and freedom of expression on the internet, since, for the first time, it establishes a need for judicial authorisation when blocking information published on the internet.

Unfortunately, in July 2023, the Spanish authorities informed the Supreme Court that they could not comply with the ruling because they weren’t able to technically unblock only part of the website and so the whole website remained blocked. WOW argue that if partial unblocking cannot be carried out as ordered by the court, the website should be restored in full. 

In July 2025, Women’s Link submitted a communication to the UN Human Rights Committee denouncing the ongoing censorship of WOW. The submissions also demand accountability and reparation for five years of rights violations that have harmed thousands of people in Spain seeking access to abortion care.

In 2024, launched the “Connecting Rights” website, microsite that focuses on the intersection of sexual and reproductive rights and digital rights. On the microsite are three toolkits, one for each region in which Women’s Link work: Europe, Latin America and East Africa. They include instruments and experiences aimed to generate exchanges between feminist and digital activism and expand the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights in this environment.