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March 21, 2008
Nepalese women thumbnail
Although abortion was decriminalized in Nepal in 2002, many women are unaware that safe and legal services are now available.
Photo courtesy Piers Benatar, Panos Pictures

Ipas Nepal and other members of the the Safe Motherhood Network (SMNF) held a rally in Kathmandu last week to raise awareness about Nepalese women's right to safe abortion services. As part of the Support to Safe Motherhood Program/Department for International Development (the United Kingdom foreign aid agency), this rally was held to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8. More than 1,500 women took to the streets wearing t-shirts imprinted with a “safe abortion” logo and message. On the same day, the chief of Kathmandu’s Maternity Hospital distributed clothes to newborn babies at the hospital; food and beverages were provided to the abortion clients.

A second rally was held in a district where the Technical Committee for the Implementation of Comprehensive Abortion Care (TCIC) has been working. The TCIC and the SMNF have been working together to raise awareness and advocate for safe abortion since 2004. At this rally, women gathered and disseminated information on safe abortion services to the public.

Nepal's legal ban on abortion was lifted in 2002, and in the years since, the maternal mortality rate has fallen dramatically. But reducing women’s risk of death and injury from unsafe abortion remains an important priority: many women are unaware that abortion services are now legal and are reluctant to seek care. Additionally, health-care coverage is hindered by a lack of physicians and other health-care personnel to serve women living in rural and remote areas. In 2004, government statistics estimated only one doctor was available per 19,695 Nepalese. While pregnancy-related deaths are rare events in the developed world, in Nepal one woman perishes from such causes every four hours.

As a key member of Nepal’s safe abortion program, Ipas raises public awareness of the availability of safe abortion care, and trains and educates current and future abortion providers to make services available throughout the country.

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