Search Results
A social media initiative promoting the decriminalization of abortion in Bolivia scored international attention and the country’s first feminist hashtag to trend widely on Twitter: #DespenalizaMiDecisión (or “Decriminalize my decision” in English). To demonstrate the public’s support for legal abortion and women’s right to choose, the National Pact for the Decriminalization of Abortion in Bolivia, […]
A mobile health referrals system in Busia County, Kenya A critical element for ensuring that women and girls get the reproductive health care they need is an effective referrals system, linking communities with health-care facilities. In Busia County, Kenya, Ipas recently worked with county health officials, health-care providers and community members to design and test […]
In her first report as UN Special Rapporteur, Agnes Callamard recommends the repeal of all criminal abortion laws. Her message is clear: When women die from unsafe abortion, governments may be responsible for arbitrary killing. Callamard is Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. Her report, says Patty Skuster, Ipas senior legal advisor, “strengthens […]
Ipas and DKT International announced this month an exclusive partnership in which the Ipas Manual Vacuum Aspiration (MVA) technology will be licensed to DKT for global distribution, furthering their joint mission of providing safe and high-quality family planning and abortion care for the estimated 56 million women worldwide who choose to have an abortion each […]
On Monday, 15 May, 2017, the U.S. State Department announced a plan for implementing President Trump’s expanded Global Gag Rule. The announced plan directs government agencies 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. Under the expanded […]
Abortion has been legal in India since 1971, yet in this sprawling country of more than one billion people, progressive laws do not guarantee access to safe abortion services. An estimated 50 percent of abortions performed in India are unsafe. With an eye toward reducing deaths caused by unsafe abortion, two recent studies in India […]
A new article by researchers from Ipas and Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), lays out a regulatory pathway for medical abortion to be made available without a prescription. The paper, which identifies the evidence needed to determine whether women can safely access non-prescription medical abortion, […]
Even though abortion is legal in South Africa for a broad range of indications, many women still encounter barriers when trying to access safe abortion care. Medical abortion, or abortion with pills, is not available in all areas of South Africa and has the potential to greatly improve women’s abortion access. Two new articles by […]
An estimated 26 million women and girls of reproductive age live in refugee camps and other crisis settings around the world. They experience increased levels of exploitation, sexual violence and transactional sex, which can lead to unwanted pregnancy. But their access to contraception, safe abortion care and other reproductive health services is often minimal or […]
Abortion is legal in Zambia, but as the authors of a new study note, “the reality is far more complicated.” Very few women know they have the right to have an abortion or know where to seek this care. Unsafe abortions have caused unnecessary deaths in Zambia, even among women who have the right to […]
Research has shown for some time that physical or sexual violence perpetrated by a woman’s husband or sexual partner leads to poor reproductive health outcomes. But two recent Ipas-led studies conducted in Bangladesh shed light on some specific questions: What influence does intimate partner violence have on reproductive outcomes among women seeking abortion and on […]
A new Ipas study shows Ethiopia has greatly improved the availability of safe abortion care throughout the country—a significant accomplishment since the abortion law was liberalized in 2005 and a strong testament to the Ministry of Health’s commitment to advancing women’s reproductive health and rights. The new study, A decade of progress providing safe abortion […]
When it comes to ensuring women and girls receive high-quality abortion care, Ipas combines the latest evidence with lessons learned in collaboration with health professionals globally to produce broadly relevant and useful clinical recommendations. “Ipas’s clinical staff, trainers and partners are continuously learning from the unique challenges and opportunities they encounter in Ipas-supported health facilities—often […]
The overregulation of mifepristone in the United States is not only medically unnecessary, but also harmful to women seeking medical abortion, asserts a commentary published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine. In the developing countries where Ipas works, similar harm results when women can’t access mifepristone due to regulations or high cost […]
By Liza Muringo Kimbo, Ipas Africa Alliance country director At the end of January 2017, I, along with more than 70 representatives from governments, inter-governmental institutions, national human rights institutions, civil society, medical associations, law enforcement agencies, youth and academia, took part in the Africa Leader’s Summit on Safe, Legal Abortion in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. […]
More than 22 million women every year—almost all in developing countries—will have an unsafe abortion because they lack access to safe, high-quality abortion care. There are 225 million women in developing countries who want to avoid pregnancy but lack access to modern contraception. Death from pregnancy-related causes is the second-leading killer of teen girls and […]
Despite progress, unsafe abortion persists After liberalizing Ethiopia’s abortion law in 2005, the government implemented programs designed to train health-care providers, to equip facilities and expand the services they offer, and to integrate abortion care into broader reproductive health services. These efforts have resulted in significant improvements in access to abortion and postabortion care in […]
The Africa Regional Conference on Abortion: From Research to Policy conference, held Nov. 29 – Dec. 2 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, brought together researchers, policymakers, advocates, health-care providers, youth advocates, journalists, and donors—all focused on reducing the detrimental impact of unsafe abortion on African women, especially young women and girls. The conference corresponded with two […]
The social networking mobile application WhatsApp—which allows users to send messages, create groups of contacts, and share videos and images for free via wireless Internet from their smart phones—is increasingly popular around the world. And in Bolivia, Ipas is finding success using WhatsApp to connect young people with information on sexual and reproductive health and […]
Communities with a high level of abortion-related stigma may also have a higher incidence of unsafe abortion, according to two recent studies in Kenya. One, published in the Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, surveyed 759 women receiving abortion services in private and public health facilities in two counties—one located in a region with […]