Ipas | Ipas helps youth in Mexico champion their own sexual and reproductive rights

Donate to Ipas Ipas helps youth in Mexico champion their own sexual and reproductive rights

October 21, 2004

Teens need accurate information about sexual and reproductive health so that they can make healthy lifestyle choices.

Photo courtesy of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Young people are the experts on their own sexual- and reproductive-health needs and should participate actively in developing educational programs and health-care services that specifically and effectively address those needs. That is the principle behind the innovative approach taken by Ipas Mexico, one of the only civil-society organizations in Mexico working directly with youth on the issue of abortion.

“By collaborating closely with young people to increase their knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights, including unwanted pregnancy and abortion, we are contributing to the development of informed activists who can voice their concerns and demands in ways that will lead to real change,” said Nadine Gasman, Country Director of Ipas Mexico.

Ipas Mexico’s commitment to ensuring that young people are aware of and act on their rights has been evident in a series of interlinked projects and activities. One important strategy over the years has been to work in close collaboration with other organizations and institutions throughout the country so as to reach a broad base of youth.

In 2003, the organization collaborated with Balance, a youth-based nongovernmental organization (NGO), to carry out a six-month training course for youth activists on the issue of abortion. One outcome of that training was the creation of Decidir, a coalition of youth dedicated to raising awareness about abortion among young people in Mexico. In October 2004, Decidir, Balance, and Ipas Mexico initiated the second annual training course and are compiling an activism training manual so the course can be replicated in other parts of the world. A similar course is also being held in the Mexican state of Morelos, organized by the NGO CIDHAL, with the technical and financial support of Ipas Mexico.

Decidir members are also preparing activities and factsheets on abortion for the third annual sexual and reproductive health fair to be held at the end of October at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) which, in previous years, has been attended by over 50,000 young people from high schools and universities.

Reflecting on the impact of Decidir in Mexico, member Laura Villa Torres notes, “Decidir has emerged as a new and important space among youth who want to incorporate the topic of abortion into our work on sexual and reproductive rights. Abortion forms a core of our work and we approach it from a youth perspective. It’s a space we use to grow, to reflect on our questions and doubts and to strengthen our arguments in favor of the right to decide.”

Ipas has worked to improve youth sexual and reproductive health in Mexico since 2000, with three main objectives:

To better understand young people's needs, experiences and demands regarding sexual- and reproductive-health care, especially in relation to abortion and postabortion care;
To identify ways to ensure that health-care services are accessible to and appropriate for youth, to help them prevent unwanted pregnancy and increase their access to emergency contraception and abortion care;
To collaborate with government health institutions and other civil-society organizations to strengthen sexual- and reproductive-health services for youth within a rights-based framework.

Another key strategy in achieving these objectives has been to partner with the National Center for Infant and Adolescent Health (Centro Nacional para la Salud de la Infancia y Adolescencia, or CENSIA), which is part of the national Ministry of Health. Using the Ipas curriculum, Gender or Sex: Who Cares?, Ipas Mexico has contributed to the design of the adolescent program, Strengthening of Social and Community Participation in Adolescent Care, of CENSIA’s five-year National Health Plan. From 2002 to-date, the workshop, Gender or Sex, has been offered to youth, health-care providers, and directors of adolescent programs in 12 states, replicated by CENSIA for an additional 900 participants across eight states, and highlighted by Mexico’s National Population Council as one of the Ministry of Health’s most successful national programs for youth.

Other recent efforts by Ipas Mexico have included:

In partnership with Mujeres en Frecuencia, MEXFAM and the Population Council, designing a call-in radio program for youth on Radio Educacion called InterSEXiones. The program is broadcast live and is available through the Internet to listeners across the country. Ipas youth project team members have appeared as guests on the radio program to talk about a range of topics including sexuality, contraception, abortion and violence against women;
Reaching out to university students by planning and presenting workshops at conferences and university health fairs;
Planning a national forum to encourage dialogue between youth from across Mexico and representatives from the health sector about youth needs and experiences related to sexual- and reproductive-health services. This will be held in Mexico City at the end of November 2004 and will be accompanied by the publication of a book of essays by youth participants; and
Publishing and disseminating a report for health-care providers that clarifies the legal and normative framework for providing contraceptive services for youth.

In addition, Ipas was one of only six NGOs recently invited to take part in the first national meeting between government and civil-society groups in Mexico on youth sexual and reproductive health and rights. The objectives of the meeting, which was organized by the MacArthur Foundation and the National Center for Gender Equality and Reproductive Health (Ministry of Health), were to examine the strengths and weaknesses of existing youth programs in Mexico as well as to explore the potential for closer collaboration between government health institutions and NGOs that work with youth.

“We all work in an environment that is increasingly hostile toward sexual and reproductive rights, and indeed toward human rights in general,” said Gasman. “The increasing prevalence of conservative, abstinence-only sex education programs is one example of how young people are affected. In such a climate, strong connections between institutions and organizations working to improve youth sexual and reproductive health in Mexico within a framework of promoting human rights are essential.”

Gasman also represented Ipas in the youth working group during the recent Countdown 2015 global roundtable on progress made since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). At the roundtable, the global NGO community called for more resources to be devoted to sexual and reproductive health and declared the critical importance of making safe, legal abortion accessible to women of all ages throughout the world.

For more information, contact media@ipas.org