A bold new effort to coordinate and catalyze the safe abortion movement across Francophone Africa is under way.
In Nigeria, where abortion is highly restricted and access to services is limited, more and more people are self-managing their abortions after going to patent medicine vendors (PMVs) for abortion information and pills.
Representatives of seven youth groups from across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are joining forces to advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, including safe abortion care in accordance with the Maputo Protocol.
“The current election in the U.S. is one of the most critical elections for the future of women’s rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and the right to safe and legal abortion,” says Dr. Jean-Claude Mulunda, Director of Ipas Democratic Republic of Congo. “The toughening of laws that began with the Dobbs decision set a detrimental direction; and this election will decide the fate of women in the U.S. and worldwide.”
Anu Kumar, President and CEO of Ipas, released the following statement in response to the U.S. House of Representatives’ State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee Appropriations Bill’s historic exclusion of the Helms Amendment and critical advances for reproductive justice globally:
As a brutal civil war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia continues, Ipas Ethiopia is taking action to ensure that sexual and reproductive health care services are a priority at more than 125 health facilities across the region—a move prompted by widespread reports that rape and sexual violence are being used against women and girls as a weapon of war.
Legal access to abortion and contraception in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was officially expanded in 2018, when the Maputo Protocol effectively became the law of the land. But much work remains to make accessible abortion care a reality.
