youtube facebook Español

Ipas President and CEO Elizabeth Maguire speaks at the 2008 International AIDS Conference.

photo courtesy of Maria de Bruyn

More than 30 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS statistics. Women currently account for one-half of all HIV infections; and in many countries, the rate of infections among women and girls is increasing. These data put reproductive health — which Ipas believes should include safe abortion care — squarely on the agenda at the 2008 International AIDS Conference last week in Mexico City.

According to Ipas Senior Policy Associate Maria de Bruyn, in at least one session on linking HIV/AIDS and reproductive health, abortion was seen a problem to overcome, not as a necessary health service for HIV-positive women dealing with unwanted pregnancies. Presenters who talked about integrating family planning into HIV programs didn’t discuss what should be done in cases of failed contraception, and one panelist noted that conservatives in the United States have recently equated contraception with abortion, forming a new obstacle to the integration of comprehensive reproductive health care into HIV services.

However, during a panel organized by the International AIDS Society’s Women’s Caucus, Ipas President and CEO Elizabeth Maguire emphasized the critical importance of comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion, for all women.

"We should not be afraid to say the 'A' word — abortion,” Maguire said. “Even now, in much reproductive rights discourse, this issue is often hidden or implied rather than explicit, seemingly in deference to those who still refuse to accept it as a vital part of reproductive health care."

Maguire continued: "Advocates should offer a broad vision of comprehensive reproductive health care that includes not only the continuum of contraception, emergency contraception, postabortion care, and abortion care, but also assisted conception for HIV-discordant couples and help with adoption." 

Maguire also participated in a session co-sponsored by Ipas and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), noting areas of research needs, including the special clinical and counselling needs of HIV-positive women seeking abortions and the need for clinical research on comparative outcomes of different abortion methods for HIV-positive women on antiretrovirals (ARVs), women with compromised immune systems and asymptomatic women.

Ipas and the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) also presented three posters on a joint project in Africa that examines gender, HIV and reproductive rights; Marie Khudzani Banda of ICW Malawi presented on that project during a satellite panel. Marion Stevens of the Health Systems Trust (South Africa) co-facilitated a workshop with de Bruyn titled “Linking HIV and reproductive choice, Reflecting on strategies for advocacy.”

---

For more information, contact media@ipas.org