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Abortion stigma is global; women in every country—regardless of the legal status of abortion—are shamed for seeking or for having an abortion. This is discrimination, and it affects anyone associated with abortion: women who have had an abortion or who may seek one and providers of abortion care. Stigma around abortion harms women. It prompts […]
Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a new Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health, supported by commitments from governments, international organizations, the private sector, foundations, research and academic institutions, and other key civil society partners, including Ipas. It outlines ambitious yet achievable targets that offer a roadmap to ending preventable deaths […]
Hundreds of Rwandan women and girls are unjustly harassed, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned each year on abortion-related charges, according to a new report from Ipas and the Great Lakes Initiative for Human Rights and Development (GLIHD). Even though the Rwandan penal code was revised in 2012 to permit abortion for some indications, the report describes how […]
In a bold and unprecedented move, leaders from all 11 political parties in Malawi signed a communique—an official statement on the record—supporting both law reform on abortion and the passing of a proposed draft bill into law. Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world—24 percent of maternal deaths being attributable […]
Roughly seven million women were treated in the developing world for complications from unsafe abortion in 2012, according to a new study by Susheela Singh and Isaac Maddow-Zimet, researchers at the Guttmacher Institute. Not only is the number of women who experience complications very high—and preventable—but the cost for women, their families and governments to […]
In a major step forward for women’s access to safe abortion care, the government of Nepal recently announced that abortion services will be available free of charge at public health facilities. Abortion has been legal in Nepal since 2002 and is available in all 75 districts, but cost has been one of the key barriers […]
At Matero Reference Health Center in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, dedicated young volunteers staff the youth-friendly corner—a private space where young people come for counseling on sexual and reproductive health topics, including contraception and safe abortion. The health center serves a low-income community where young people struggle to access sexual and reproductive health care due to […]
A new video by Ipas Central America highlights the work of a youth-led collective in Nicaragua to prevent and combat sexual abuse through training workshops with teachers, students, parents and the media. Ipas began supporting the ambitious group “Youth who believe in other youth” (Jóvenes que creemos en otros jóvenes—or “JxJ Collective” for short) in […]
Health Worker Roles in providing safe abortion care and post-abortion contraception is now available online from the World Health Organization (WHO). The guidelines provide recommendations for expanding of health worker roles in the provision of safe abortion care, the management of complications of abortion, including postabortion care and emergency obstetric care, and for postabortion contraception provision. […]
The final findings of a two-year review of the Malawi abortion law were unveiled on Friday by the Malawi Law Commission, a body comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Health, the Judiciary, faith and traditional leaders, the Law Society, the Ministry of Justice and the Malawi College of Medicine. Citing the high incidence of […]
On Friday, June 26th, Ipas President and CEO, Elizabeth Maguire, participated in a panel marking the 50th anniversary of the U.S. international family planning program, recognized as one of the most effective programs in U.S. foreign aid. The panel was hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington-based research and policy institution chartered by the […]
Katherine L. Turner, MPH, Ipas senior health systems advisor, heads a multi-disciplinary team to develop, review and update Ipas’s global health systems guidance, training curricula and service delivery tools. For over a decade, Turner has led the development of Ipas’s core training and service delivery materials on high-quality abortion-related care. These materials form the basis […]
With abortion-related causes accounting for an estimated 26 percent of maternal mortality in Uganda, the country’s Ministry of Health has approved national standards and guidelines aimed at reducing deaths and injuries caused by unsafe abortion. They will be implemented in health facilities across Uganda and are designed to improve the health system’s capacity to deliver safe […]
When “Youth+Tech+Health Live 2015” convened in San Francisco last month, bringing together youth advocates and technology and health experts from around the world, Ipas and partners were on hand to put sexual and reproductive health and rights into the conversation—more specifically, to share the innovative ways Ipas and our partners are using mobile technology to […]
Advocates for women and girls around the world have sounded the alarm over the treatment of a pregnant 10-year-old in Paraguay. The pregnancy was discovered when the girl’s mother sought medical care after the girl complained of abdominal pain. Authorities allege that the girl was raped by her stepfather. It is cruel and dangerous to […]
Many voices urge nonjudgmental safe abortion care as part of midwifery This year, on International Day of the Midwife, we salute midwives and their commitment to provide full spectrum care for women—throughout their reproductive lives. The International Confederation of Midwives supports the position that midwives, where permitted, should be trained and equipped to provide safe abortion […]
Women living in Mexico’s capital are learning more about how to access safe, free, legal abortion services thanks to a new campaign that includes activities and events throughout the city—plus dissemination of messages about sexual and reproductive rights in marketplaces, beauty salons, buses and bus stations, as well as through a web site, radio spots, […]
In the Huffington Post this week, Ipas Executive Vice President Anu Kumar delves into the case of Purvi Patel, and how feticide laws are used to control women and their behavior during pregnancy. “There has been a national outcry (and rightly so) that a Christian baker might refuse to make a wedding cake for a […]
At many Ipas-supported health facilities around the world, providers newly trained in comprehensive abortion care are getting individualized clinical support as they begin service provision—the instruction, observation, coaching, encouragement and constructive feedback of experienced providers who are serving as clinical mentors. Dr. Francis Bongo of Zambia is one of many Ipas-trained clinical mentors who make […]
The Inter-American Human Rights Commission has accepted a case filed on behalf of Beatriz, a Salvadoran woman who was denied a therapeutic abortion when her pregnancy threatened her health and her life. Beatriz case is exemplary of systematic violation of women’s reproductive rights in El Salvador through state’s policies and laws that don’t allow pregnant […]