Ipas works for a world where sexual and reproductive rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. Reproductive rights, including abortion rights, are human rights. Everyone has the right to make informed decisions about their body and health—and to determine whether or when to bear children.
The right to an abortion is not a standalone right. It depends upon people also having other human rights: to health, to equality, to privacy and to live free from violence and discrimination. That’s why Ipas works with diverse partners toward a world where all human rights—including sexual and reproductive rights—are respected, protected and fulfilled.
Restrictive abortion laws violate women’s rights, including the right to life, to health, to equality, to privacy, and to live free from discrimination. We advocate within the United Nations’ human rights bodies and other systems—at the global, regional and national levels—to advance abortion rights in international agreements, programs of action, and human rights jurisprudence. Our experts around the world are uniquely positioned to bring evidence and firsthand experience to present at international discussions about human rights and abortion.
At the national level in countries around the world, we work within partnerships and coalitions to hold governments accountable to their human rights obligations. For example, in Nicaragua, where abortion is banned entirely, we advocate with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to recommend that the government repeal the ban and uphold its citizens’ rights.
White supremacy in global health
“In the global health and human rights community, where I sit professionally, there’s been a lot of discussion in the last few years about decolonizing global health,” writes Ipas President and CEO Anu Kumar in a piece published by Think Global Health. “What we don’t talk about explicitly enough, however, is how white supremacy operates in this sector… The linkages between colonialism and patriarchy, between racial justice and gender justice are undeniable. They have—and still do—oppress Black and brown women.” Read her piece
More on decolonizing health care
America must stop using international aid to export anti-abortion ideology by Ipas’s Anu Kumar and Patty Skuster in The New Humanitarian
Decolonizing health care: A Facebook Live conversation with Ipas’s Anu Kumar and SisterSong’s Monica Simpson.
Geneva Consensus Declaration denies human rights
Trump’s ongoing attempts to erase people’s rights
The Trump administration’s attempt to roll back reproductive rights and deny essential health care—detailed in a May 18 letter from USAID to the United Nations—is yet one more despicable action in a frightening trend. Ipas President and CEO Anu Kumar explains how this is just the latest instance of the Trump administration acting like an ideological bully.
Time to put abortion top of the SRHR agenda
Ipas President and CEO Anu Kumar calls for a global abortion summit—and explains the five key recommendations put forth in the Global Abortion Declaration signed by more than 350 organizations.
“Our goal is always to ensure that sexual and reproductive rights—especially the right to safe, legal abortion—are included in the discussions and negotiations at the UN, including at the Commission on the Status of Women. Because so much stigma surrounds the topic of abortion, it easily gets brushed under the rug. Our job is to prevent that from happening.”
Cecilia Espinoza, Senior Advocacy Advisor
