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Until just a few years ago, women and girls in the Hobor area of rural Greater Accra in Ghana had no local access to safe abortion care. The nearest services were more than 15 miles away, a distance especially challenging during rainy season. Today, a full range of comprehensive abortion and family planning services is […]

In August 2017, the brutal wave of violence directed at the Rohingya community in Myanmar reached the home of Noor (a pseudonym). Her husband was at the mosque, while she stayed at home to pray. Suddenly, she heard villagers screaming and the sound of gunshots. She immediately took her son and ran from the house. […]

Azeda is in her early 20s. She fled Myanmar in September 2017 to escape the wave of violence against the Rohingya community. But soon after she and her three children arrived at the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, her husband left her. She was just a few weeks pregnant. Knowing how difficult it would be […]

In October 2017, 22-year-old Toyoba fled to Bangladesh to escape the wave of violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar. She escaped with her husband, three children and other family members. Her brother was killed by the army and many relatives are still missing. “It was intolerable torture continuing in Myanmar …We had to flee in […]

Montaz is one of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh in recent months. Soon after she, her husband and three children arrived at the refugee camps in Bangladesh, she realized she was pregnant. On the advice of a neighbor in the camp, her husband bought medicine from a local […]

Sexual and reproductive health is often overlooked in humanitarian settings. It’s an invisible problem compared with the need for food, water, shelter and vaccines. But in crisis settings, women face significant hardships trying to prevent pregnancy. They have lost their livelihoods, their normal family and social structures, and their health care. They’re at greater risk […]

Reproductive health care for Rohingya refugees Since August 2017, around 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh and more continue to seek refuge every day. They are living in registered or makeshift refugee camps. The camps, like Kutupalong, which is the largest, are overcrowded. The smell of waste, sweat, and small fires for cooking hangs […]

Fleeing the violence against the Rohingya community in Myanmar, Hamida came to Bangladesh with her three children and husband in September 2017. They fled what she calls “the unbearable and inhuman condition of living life in Myanmar,” but she has found that life in the refugee camp is worse. Before the violence in Myanmar, she […]

Many of the Rohingya women and girls in Bangladesh’s refugee camps were subjected to rape and sexual assault before they fled Myanmar. Fatima (a pseudonym) was one of them. Just 17 years old, newly married and still living in Myanmar, she and her husband went to visit her mother’s home. While they were sleeping, the […]

Pregnancy at an early age can have long-lasting negative health, economic and social impacts. In Kenya, where the national teen pregnancy rate is 18 percent, the “Choice 4 Change” project is working to help young women aged 15-24 prevent unplanned pregnancies and avert unsafe abortions by increasing contraceptive uptake. The project was launched in 2015 […]

Postabortion contraception is an essential part of comprehensive abortion care. When women are offered contraceptive counseling and methods by a health provider at the time of their abortion in a health facility, they are likely to choose a method, according to a new Ipas study But the study finds that adolescents, who are at particular risk […]

A revised edition of the United Nations’ International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education released last week includes significant new recommendations on abortion, as well as new evidence that shows comprehensive sexuality education reduces unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion. The updated guidance provides an opportunity for governments and civil society organizations to strengthen their sexuality education programs by […]

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all women be offered a method of contraception on the day of their abortion. Ipas and other rights-based programs also strive to ensure that women’s decisions about contraceptives are fully informed and that women are offered a full range of methods. A recent study in Bangladesh, focusing on short-acting […]

Very few studies have examined the impact of post-training support for abortion providers on the quality of care they provide. A new Ipas study, published in the journal Reproductive Health, fills that gap. It found that providers who received individualized clinical and programmatic support for the 12 months following their training were more likely to provide an increased […]

Their grassroots movement broke the silence on the need for safe, legal abortion Historic law change doesn’t happen overnight. In Bolivia, a grassroots movement for safe, legal abortion has been building for many years, harnessing the power of leaders from across the country’s diverse population—which has more than 30 indigenous groups. As momentum grew for […]

Eight years of grassroots advocacy Update: In response to political pressure and protests against some provisions of the newly enacted penal code, Bolivian President Evo Morales repealed the code in its entirety on Jan. 21, 2018—including the abortion provisions, even though they were not the subject of protests. A renewed effort to revise the code is […]

A national grassroots movement to save women’s lives celebrates success Update: In response to political pressure and protests against some provisions of the newly enacted penal code, Bolivian President Evo Morales repealed the code in its entirety on Jan. 21, 2018—including the abortion provisions, even though they were not the subject of protests. A renewed effort […]

Although the need for contraception and safe abortion is heightened in refugee camps and other crisis settings, reproductive health services are often minimal or non-existent, putting women at risk of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion. In Pakistan, Ipas and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) partnered to conduct trainings focused on one of the major barriers […]

Working with partners, Ipas Bangladesh is taking action to strengthen reproductive health services for Rohingya refugees at two camps and six government health facilities in Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh. In recent weeks, nearly 400,000 Rohingya fleeing a brutal campaign of persecution by government military forces in Myanmar have crossed the border into Bangladesh, creating […]

Ipas’s Dr. Guillermo Ortiz says the health needs of women should come first A movement for safe, legal abortion in El Salvador has been building in recent years, and doctors like Ipas’s Dr. Guillermo Ortiz are also starting to speak out. As an OB-GYN who practiced for more than 20 years under the country’s total […]