http://www.ipas.org Ipas works globally to increase women's ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights and to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries. We seek to expand the availability, quality and sustainability of abortion and related reproductive-health services, as well as to improve the enabling environment. Ipas believes that no woman should have to risk her life or health because she lacks safe reproductive-health choices. en-us 120 TUE, 09 FEB 2010 24:06:57 EST http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Ipas_mourns_death_of_abortion-access_pioneer_Susan_Hill.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Ipas_mourns_death_of_abortion-access_pioneer_Susan_Hill.aspx Ipas was saddened to learn this week about the death of our neighbor, friend and colleague, Susan Hill. A native of Durham, N.C., Hill helped to open the first legal abortion clinic in Orlando, Florida in 1973, and two years later founded the National Women’s Health Organization in Raleigh, N.C. For more than 35 years she worked tirelessly to increase women’s access to safe abortion care in the United States. FRI, 05 FEB 2010 EST http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Reproductive_Health_in_the_News_February_4_2010.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Reproductive_Health_in_the_News_February_4_2010.aspx This week, we've been following stories regarding maternal mortality in the news. THU, 04 FEB 2010 EST 54 76 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Reproductive_Health_in_the_News_February_4_2010.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file380_4815.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Ipas_in_North_Carolina_Improving_immigrants_access_to_reproductive_health_care.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Ipas_in_North_Carolina_Improving_immigrants_access_to_reproductive_health_care.aspx Headquartered in North Carolina, Ipas is using its international reproductive health expertise to improve the quality of sexual and reproductive health for Latino/a immigrants living in the state. A recent study by the Guttmacher Institute indicates that Latinas have the highest rate of teen pregnancies in the state, yet these teens may not have access to the same sexual and reproductive health care and information as their non-Latino/a counterparts. North Carolina’s Latino/a immigrants face a number of unique challenges in the area of sexual and reproductive health, including language barriers, lack of knowledge about available services, and ingrained community attitudes regarding reproductive health care. In addition, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health points out that many Latinas are low-income and are less likely to have private insurance, and therefore are less likely to access a full range of sexual and reproductive health-care options. MON, 01 FEB 2010 EST 77 51 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Ipas_in_North_Carolina_Improving_immigrants_access_to_reproductive_health_care.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file892_4798.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Anti-abortion_activist_found_guilty_of_first_degree_murder.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Anti-abortion_activist_found_guilty_of_first_degree_murder.aspx Several news outlets are announcing today that Scott Roeder, convicted of killing abortion provider Dr. Tiller last May, has been found guilty of first-degree murder. FRI, 29 JAN 2010 EST http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Engaging_communities_on_sexual_reproductive_health_issues.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Engaging_communities_on_sexual_reproductive_health_issues.aspx The Community Engagement and Mobilization (CEM) unit of Ipas, while new, has already initiated significant work around the world to increase women’s access to reproductive health care and to advance their reproductive and sexual rights. Formed in 2007 to guide the steadily expanding work at the community level in Ipas program countries, CEM’s work deliberately shifts focus from women as recipients of services towards the recognition of their voices, leadership and experience as essential to the creation of and demand for quality, affordable, women-centered care. MON, 25 JAN 2010 EST 77 51 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Engaging_communities_on_sexual_reproductive_health_issues.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file575_4784.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Celebrating_Roe_v._Wade_remembering_Dr._Tiller.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Celebrating_Roe_v._Wade_remembering_Dr._Tiller.aspx This week, we are following the murder trial of Scott Roeder, charged with first-degree murder for the killing of abortion-provider Dr. George Tiller last May. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health has released two new videos of Dr. Tiller in commemoration of the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, also occurring this week. THU, 21 JAN 2010 EST 37 52 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Celebrating_Roe_v._Wade_remembering_Dr._Tiller.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file958_4783.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Training_abortion_providers_in_Ghana.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Training_abortion_providers_in_Ghana.aspx In May, Shirley Owino, manager of Ipas’s Africa regional program, and Eleanor Howe, an associate in Ipas’s development unit, traveled to Ghana to work with the Ipas Ghana staff on plans to expand access to comprehensive abortion care in the country. While there, they visited a local health center to observe Ipas training efforts in practice; this is Eleanor’s report. TUE, 19 JAN 2010 EST http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Help_women_in_Haiti.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Help_women_in_Haiti.aspx Ipas is deeply saddened by the tragic aftermath of the recent earthquake in Haiti. There are a number of excellent organizations providing disaster relief. You can also support PROFAMIL, the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) affiliate that has been providing sexual and reproductive health care in Haiti since 1984. FRI, 15 JAN 2010 EST 35 52 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Help_women_in_Haiti.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file575_4773.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Secretary_Clinton_calls_for_renewed_commitment_to_global_reproductive_rights.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Secretary_Clinton_calls_for_renewed_commitment_to_global_reproductive_rights.aspx U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a high-profile speech at the State Department to mark the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development and a major agreement on global reproductive health and rights. FRI, 08 JAN 2010 EST 40 52 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/Secretary_Clinton_calls_for_renewed_commitment_to_global_reproductive_rights.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file134_4748.jpg http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/U.S._policies_on_abortion_funding_still_harmful_to_women_overseas.aspx?ref=rss http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/U.S._policies_on_abortion_funding_still_harmful_to_women_overseas.aspx January marks the one-year anniversary of action by President Obama to end the Bush Administration’s Global Gag Rule. Although reversal of the Gag Rule was a positive departure from previous policy, the U.S. government remains an outlier among other developed countries in its abortion funding policies both domestically and internationally. Current consideration of stringent amendments against abortion as part of the health-care reform effort in the United States, combined with existing abortion restrictions on U.S. foreign aid, have negative consequences beyond U.S. borders — discouraging needed reforms in other countries and threatening the health of millions of women around the world. MON, 04 JAN 2010 EST 36 52 http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/U.S._policies_on_abortion_funding_still_harmful_to_women_overseas.aspx?ref=rss /Library/News/News_Items/asset_upload_file138_4715.jpg