We are committed to supporting a woman’s right to have an abortion using pills—on her own, when and where she wants—and to pursuing new models of self-care that meet women’s wants and needs.
Abortion self-care is an abortion with pills without a prescription, with or without the involvement of a health provider. Abortion self-care is on the rise globally due to the increasing availability of simple, safe, highly effective medications, and because people’s need for safe abortion, on their own terms, is not being met.
Ipas’s approach to abortion self-care is simple: Abortion self-care is health care. Research and evidence show that women can safely and effectively self-manage an abortion with pills when they have accurate information about the dosing regimen and when to seek treatment for complications.
We work to generate new evidence, share knowledge and explore clinical and regulatory questions within this rapidly evolving area so that, ultimately, women have the resources, support and care they need to manage their reproductive lives. We work in communities to train clinical and non-clinical providers who are already supporting women in abortion self-care to use the safest methods. And we tackle legal barriers to abortion self-care, including laws that criminalize it.
Abortion pills without doctor visits temporarily legal in U.S
A federal court ruled that U.S. doctors can dispense the abortion drug mifepristone remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, so that people needing early abortion care don’t have to risk exposure to COVID-19 by fulfilling the requirement to visit a doctor in person to pick up the pills and sign a form. The American Civil Liberties Union, which led a coalition of medical experts and reproductive rights advocates who brought the case, said: “We look forward to a day when … this medically baseless requirement is lifted once and for all.”
Ipas videos on abortion with pills attract almost a million views
Ipas Central America and Mexico (Ipas CAM) created two informational videos in Spanish on how women can safely self-manage an abortion using pills. The unexpected popularity of the videos shows just how badly this information is needed.
We need ‘a clearer view’ of the impact of the world’s abortion laws
The number of people who live in humanitarian settings and need abortion care is growing, as is the number of people managing their abortions outside the formal health system. This calls for a more rigorous study of the true impact of abortion laws.
Many women are choosing to self-manage their own abortion with pills. We need to ensure that they have the information and support they need.
– Vinoj Manning, Executive Director, Ipas Development Foundation, India
Self-managing abortions safely
Vinoj Manning, Executive Director of Ipas Development Foundation in India, writes about Indian women’s use of abortion with pills and how to break down the barriers they face.