Ipas calls for further investigation of U.S. government censorship of abortion information

Winter 2008 issue of A magazine

A federally funded Johns Hopkins University project, Popline, made a recent decision to remove an Ipas publication on abortion and human rights from a vast database of publications maintained as an international web-based resource for health researchers and the general public. Administrators further decided to block searches on the term “abortion” for visitors to the website, a decision reversed on April 4th by the Dean of the Bloomberg School of Public Health when the issue reached the media. The Ipas publication, the Winter 2008 issue of A -The Abortion Magazine, was not re-instated.

Ipas regards the singling out of this publication for exclusion from more than 26,000 items on the Popline database that relate to abortion as another instance of excessive and politically motivated government interference in free speech and academic freedom.

“As Americans, we count on decisionmakers at every level in our government to hold the line in protecting basic principles. Countless government-funded programs and publications have been subject to the same intimidation and censorship by this Administration, which has even extended to intrusion in science-based work of the World Health Organization. Such interference must end,” says Ipas President Elizabeth Maguire.“We call on members of the press to continue to investigate these issues so that we can see both the causes and consequences of these government actions. 

“Each year, more than 19 million women around the world are so desperate to end an unwanted pregnancy that they risk unsafe abortions because they can’t access safe services; more than 66,000 die and millions more suffer needlessly,” she adds. “This tragic reality will not go away no matter how many more attempts are made to suppress information about the problem and the solutions.”

There is no basis for the actions in a careful reading of standard contract provisions and legislation governing funding by the agency involved, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Similarly, the Bush Administration executive order known as the Mexico City Policy or the Global Gag Rule has no bearing in this case, because it applies to foreign private organizations.

The Ipas publication affirms women’s access to safe abortion as a human right. It does not promote abortion, maintaining that a woman’s decision to have an abortion is hers to make in accordance with her right to life, health, bodily integrity, nondiscrimination, privacy, liberty, and religious freedom. The publication features, among other things, articles by lawyers on the application of human rights treaties to abortion; an interview with the lawyer who filed the court case leading to decriminalization of abortion in Colombia; an interview with a lawyer who documented the consequences of abortion restrictions in Argentina and Mexico; an article on the plight of poor women in Ireland denied access to abortion even in cases of severe health problems; and an article on teaching human rights in medical and nursing schools.

Ipas, an international non-profit organization based in North Carolina, receives no U.S. government funds.  The organization works globally to reduce maternal deaths and injuries due to unsafe abortion and to advance women’s sexual and reproductive rights.  Ipas programs in every region train health providers, distribute reproductive health technologies, undertake research, and advocate on behalf of women’s access to safe abortion, family planning, and related reproductive health care. Ipas’s President, Elizabeth Maguire, served as Director of the Office of Population at USAID from 1993-1999.

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Listen to an interview on National Public Radio with Ipas Executive Vice President Anu Kumar on this issue.
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UPDATE: On April 15, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, asked USAID and Johns Hopkins to provide written explanation of their actions to the committee by April 29. Read his letter to USAID or his letter to Johns Hopkins.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258