At a time when the World Health Organization (WHO) is urging an expansion of health worker roles in the provision of abortion care, a new study from Ipas finds that a program in Nepal to train auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) in medical abortion provision has proved highly successful, even in the country’s remote, primary-level health […]
Ipas and Ibis Reproductive Health have published the first inclusive report on how the Helms and Hyde Amendments limit women’s access to abortion both in the United States and abroad. The report highlights the ways in which the Amendments violate human rights, impose barriers on access to safe abortion for women and young women, tie […]
Cecilia Espinoza, Ipas youth senior advisor, explains why the right to safe abortion—including for young women—is vital to achieving the new global development goals From March 14-24, world leaders and advocates for women’s rights from around the world will be in New York attending the United Nations’ sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status […]
Near the end of January, several governments in Latin America and the Caribbean called for women to delay pregnancy until the Zika virus is no longer a threat. These recommendations came after increasing evidence that shows a potential link between Zika in pregnant women and microcephaly in infants. “This warning might not sound preposterous to […]
At its Annual Meeting in November 2015, the American Public Health Association (APHA) adopted three new far-reaching statements to support access to abortion and contraception and promote reproductive justice. The statements include a policy calling for an end to restrictions on funding for legal abortion services, which “deny, delay and impede access to abortion services, […]
Health complications from unsafe abortion are preventable. Access to safe abortion doesn’t just give women the ability to exercise their rights—it saves lives. And increasing access to safe abortion can also save countries money. In Sub-Saharan Africa, health system costs to treat unsafe abortion complications range from $68 to $76 million per year. Yet health […]
On Jan. 18, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) launched a continental campaign for the decriminalization of abortion in Africa to bring attention to unsafe abortion which significantly threatens women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights. ACHPR announced the campaign during the African Union Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) […]
Update, Jan. 31, 2017: Due to pressure from opposition actors, the president refused to sign this bill into law and it died. Work continues to pass legislation to save women’s lives and protect their rights. Today in Sierra Leone, the country’s parliament voted in favor of a new abortion law that will make safe abortion […]
Comprehensive abortion service-delivery interventions such as offering post-training support to providers can increase postabortion contraceptive uptake and reduce unintended pregnancy, according to a large-scale Ipas study recently published in Studies in Family Planning. The analysis looked at the prevalence and attributes of postabortion contraceptive acceptance at 2,456 health facilities in six major Indian states, among […]
Mifepristone-misoprostol medical abortion (MA) was successfully integrated into public sector surgical abortion services in South Africa and was chosen by a large majority of women who were eligible and offered choice of early termination method, according to a recent study published in Contraception. Legal abortion has reduced abortion-related deaths and injuries in South Africa, but […]