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In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department, Ipas warns that the Global Gag Rule is widely misunderstood and misinterpreted, making access to safe abortion and contraceptive services even more difficult for women and girls in the global south. The gag rule is a U.S. policy restricting foreign nongovernmental organizations that receive U.S. global […]
The project began with an innovative idea: an app providing community health workers (CHWs) and women in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh with information about menstrual regulation (MR, as abortion is known in Bangladesh). In spring 2018, Ipas partnered with IDEO.org, an organization that uses human-centered design to develop solutions to complex social challenges around […]
The Benin Government has taken a major step towards advancing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls. On January 31, the Ministry of Health hosted a national dissemination workshop on the results from the “Strategic Evaluation on unwanted pregnancy, Abortion & Contraception in Benin.” The evaluation was conducted under the leadership […]
By Laura Andrade A new app released last week by Ipas Mexico will make it easier for health-care providers and abortion service providers to access information about safe abortion. “Ipas App Mx” offers user-friendly, visually engaging digital tools designed to educate providers and decrease women’s barriers to accessing safe abortion. The free app, which is in Spanish and only available in Mexico, can be found on the online stores for Android and iOS. The app contains four informational and interactive modules: The regulatory framework for legal abortion in Mexico; Technologies recommended to perform safe […]
Roe and the Global Gag Rule Forty-six years ago, the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade gave women in the U.S. the legal right to safe abortion—a landmark ruling now in danger of being overturned or severely weakened. This year also marks the second anniversary of the reinstated and expanded Global Gag Rule, a U.S. policy […]
El consejo de Marta María Blandón para jóvenes activistas: invertir esfuerzos en alianzas y nunca perder de vista quiénes son nuestros adversarios Después de décadas de incansable trabajo en toda Centroamérica, Marta María Blandón es reconocida ampliamente como defensora apasionada y sumamente eficiente de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres en la región. […]
Marta María Blandón’s advice to young activists: Invest in partnerships, never lose sight of adversaries En Español After decades of tireless work across Central America, Marta María Blandón is widely recognized as a highly effective and passionate champion for women’s sexual and reproductive rights in the region. “Marta María is never afraid to speak up and speak out when […]
Mexico has the second-largest population of Catholics in the world, which typically is seen as posing a major obstacle to expanding legal access to abortion. But a new study challenges that notion. The study, published in the journal Contraception, says Catholicism is “not an unsurmountable barrier to liberalization of abortion.” Using survey data from 2,669 […]
Thanks to their dedication, more women and girls have access to safe abortion and contraception Abortion is legal in India, but that doesn’t mean women and girls can easily access a safe abortion when they need one. In this sprawling country of more than one billion people, unsafe abortion is still far more common than […]
A new systematic review of medical abortion in the late first trimester reports a range of efficacy and provides reassurance that adverse events are rare, but highlights the need for further research. A growing proportion of induced abortions in the United States and internationally are medical abortions. There are few medical requirements for safe provision […]
A new law in Nepal aims to further expand access to reproductive health services, including safe abortion care. The Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights Act, approved by Parliament and endorsed by the President Rt. Hon. Bidhya Devi Bhandari on Sept. 18, includes provisions increasing the number of conditions under which abortion is legal and […]
By Anu Kumar, Ipas CEO and President Adapted from Kumar’s Mahmoud Fathalla Lecture, “The centrality of reproductive health and choice in women’s lives,” presented at the 2018 FIGO World Congress of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Dr. Fathalla, a former president of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), is a lifelong women’s health and rights […]
Ipas is pleased to welcome our new Chief of Development and External Relations, Muadi Mukenge. As part of the executive leadership at Ipas, Muadi will oversee and provide strategic direction for the organization’s work on partnerships, development, and communications. Her vision will be integral in crafting and executing long- and short-range fundraising and communications initiatives […]
By Anu Kumar, Ipas President and CEO Here in the United States, those of us committed to reproductive rights and justice have been fighting an uphill battle for decades—one that got even more intense in 2016 due to the presidential election. Even before the 2016 election, the gains made here have been threatened by constant […]
The UN Human Rights Council (HRC) has adopted a resolution acknowledging the need for safe abortion care for women and girls living in humanitarian settings around the world. The resolution, “Preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights in humanitarian settings”—adopted by consensus on September 27, 2018—acknowledges that unsafe abortion violates “the right to enjoyment […]
Safe, legal abortion is available in Nepal, but out of reach for many women in remote areas. We’re working to change that. A remarkable collaborative effort involving community members, government health officials, partner organizations and Ipas Nepal has brought safe abortion services to one of the most rugged and remote areas of Nepal, the Mugu […]
In an historic two-day hearing before Brazil’s Supreme Court last week, experts presented arguments and evidence regarding the question of whether abortion should be made legal up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. Currently abortion is a crime in Brazil—except after rape, if a woman’s life is in danger, or if the fetus has a fatal […]
In an historic shift toward greater fulfillment of women’s sexual and reproductive rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), women can now legally access abortion under a broader range of conditions—including in cases of sexual assault, rape or incest, and when a continued pregnancy would endanger the mental and physical health of the woman […]
Metrics for Management, Ibis Reproductive Health, and Ipas have joined forces to launch the Abortion Service Quality (ASQ) Initiative. Launched in April 2018, this three-year project will develop, validate, disseminate, and champion the widespread adoption of a common measure of abortion service quality for use in and out of facilities. The resulting measures will be used […]
A study released last month by Ipas Mexico finds that sexual violence is a significant cause of pregnancies in Mexican girls ages 10-14—and recommends specific actions in the country’s health, education and legal sectors to combat the problem and ensure victims can access adequate care, including safe abortion services. The study, “Sexual violence and child […]