Ipas offers information on medical abortion to women in Latin America

In recognition of September 28 as the Day of Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean, Ipas has contributed an article on medical abortion to Mujer saludhable, an electronic bulletin distributed by the Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network (LACWHN). LACWHN is a regional coordinating network that unites organizations active in the women's health movement throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.Despite severe restrictions on abortion in many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, thousands of women risk their lives to terminate unwanted pregnancies every year. At least 6,000 Latin American and Caribbean women die as a result of an unsafe abortion each year, and approximately 800,000 women seek treatment at health-care facilities for complications related to abortion. Factors leading to these unacceptably high numbers of deaths and injuries of women from unsafe abortion include an unmet need for contraception, poverty and legal restrictions on abortion. In addition, although almost every country permits abortion for some indications, safe abortion services are rarely accessible to the full extent permitted by law. The advent of medical or pharmaceutical abortion creates important new opportunities to expand women's access to this critical component of reproductive health care. Ipas's article in Mujer saludhable offers information on what medical abortion is and how it works, answers some commonly asked questions about pharmaceutical methods of abortion, and offers insight into their future availability. Ipas is committed to improving the reproductive and sexual health of women worldwide and endorses the efforts of Latin American groups to fulfill every woman's right to obtain safe, legal abortion services.

September 28 has been recognized as the Day of Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1990. On this day women's health advocates work to highlight the toll of unsafe abortion on the region's women, families and communities and to call for liberalization of laws that endanger women's health and lives. Since its inception, the September 28 campaign has been coordinated by a number of leading women's groups in the region, including Catholics for Free Choice, El Grupo de Información en Reproducción Elegida (GIRE), el Centro Interdisciplinario de Documentación y Estudios para la Mujer (CIDEM) and the Latin American and the Caribbean Women's Health Network. The date is significant because it coincides with the day slavery was abolished in Brazil. Claiming this date as the Day of Decriminalization of Abortion is a reminder that women in many parts of the Latin America and the Caribbean are still fighting for the freedom to control their sexual and reproductive lives. Ipas is an international nongovernmental organization that has worked for nearly three decades to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries and to increase women's ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights. Ipas's global and country programs include training, research, advocacy, distribution of reproductive health technologies, and information dissemination.

For information on the Day of Decriminalization of Abortion:
Latin American and Caribbean Women's Health Network

For information on medical abortion:
Population Council

Sources: Alan Guttmacher Institute

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