Alba Lucía Reyes: Defending Dignity and Bodily Autonomy

We are honored to welcome Alba Lucía Reyes to the Family Planning News Network.

As a fierce advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), Alba Lucía Reyes leads the Fundación Sergio Urrego, working to ensure that every young person has the freedom to express their identity and live without discrimination or fear. When Alba Lucía Reyes lost her son, Sergio, at just 16, she refused to let his story become another quiet statistic. Sergio faced relentless bullying and discrimination because of his sexual orientation, ultimately pushing him to take his own life. 

In response, Alba founded the Fundación Sergio Urrego to confront the systemic failures that silence young people’s rights to express their identities and sexuality freely. 

At its core, the Foundation embodies a critical SRHR principle: the right to live with dignity, autonomy, and safety, regardless of who you are or who you love.

As a participant in the first-ever FPNN Community Reporting Training in Bogotá, Alba joined a network of storytellers using solutions journalism to transform how SRHR issues are reported and understood. 

Alba’s story underscores that SRHR is about more than services; it’s about agency, autonomy and justice. It’s about ensuring that young people, especially those most marginalized, can make informed decisions about their bodies and identities without shame or violence. Sergio’s story sparked a movement that continues to shape policy and save lives. Through Alba’s work and she is transforming personal loss into collective progress, showing what’s possible when advocacy meets action. 

We celebrate Alba and the progress she is making for young people in Colombia and around the world. 

We invite you to support the SERGIO URREGO FOUNDATION to help continue this incredible and powerful work. Visit the Foundation’s Youtube for more info.