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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 […]

Since she was a child, Dr. Victoria Ramirez knew she wanted to be a doctor so she could help others. Now, as a practicing OB-GYN in El Salvador, she’s one of a growing number of doctors and other health professionals working to protect women’s health and lives by advocating for a repeal of the country’s […]

Can women accurately self-assess their eligibility for medical abortion? New research from Nepal indicates that, with some simple guidance, they can—a finding with broad implications for the growing question of how much medical oversight of the medical abortion process is needed. The study, published in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first to examine women’s […]

On Monday, August 21, Chile’s Constitutional Court voted in favor of lifting the total ban on abortion in the country. The measure legalizes abortion in cases where the woman’s life is in danger, when the fetus is not viable and in cases of rape. “Ipas applauds the Chilean government and the advocates who have worked […]

Under President Trump’s expanded Global Gag Rule, U.S. government agencies have been directed to apply an unprecedented global anti-abortion policy that will require foreign NGOs to choose between receiving U.S. funding and providing comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. A new, detailed examination of the gag rule’s likely impact by Ipas Senior Policy Advisor Patty […]

An open-access database of comprehensive information on global abortion laws and policies has been launched jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Population Division of the United Nations (UN) Department of Social and Economic Affairs. Available on both WHO and UN online platforms, the database provides country-specific sexual and reproductive health indicators, and […]