Optio - Choice, Freedom, Justice

Optio partners with grassroots organizations in Central America to advance the reproductive rights of women and adolescent girls. We envision reproductive choice, freedom, and justice for all women and girls. Optio works in Central America, a region where abortion is illegal for almost every indication. To ensure that women have access to abortion and other essential reproductive services in this restrictive setting, Optio is using several complementary strategies: Changing the abortion law through litigation, and in the meantime, ensuring that women have access to essential reproductive health medicines and the information necessary to safely prevent or terminate a pregnancy. We intentionally partner with local organizations to amplify and expand their reach. This approach ensures that local activists, doctors and lawyers in Central America have greater access to technology, funding and legal support to better serve their communities. Optio began as a program within the OASIS Initiative in 2010. During this time, our work primarily focused on preventing maternal mortality and morbidity by expanding access to misoprostol in Asia, Latin America, East, and South Africa. We also worked closely with grassroots organizations in these countries to spread information about how to use misoprostol correctly for safe abortion. In 2020, Optio became its own organization, focusing exclusively on Central America and broadening the scope of our sexual and reproductive rights work to include both women and girls.