Ipas’s Dr. Demeke Desta shares what it was like before the law changed—and the progress he’s seen since.
The High Court in Malawi has ruled that adolescent survivors of sexual violence have the right to access abortion services in both public and private health facilities. Previously, abortion was only legally permitted to save a pregnant person’s life.
Khusbu Poudel, Ipas Nepal’s program coordinator for climate justice, gender, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, didn’t fully grasp the extent to which women’s and girls’ bodily autonomy is affected during climate crises until she joined Ipas two years ago.
In the beautiful Tororo District of Eastern Uganda, where Tororo Rock rises in the distance, you can find the Petta Health Centre III—an Ipas supported-facility where clients come from across the region to receive comprehensive and caring abortion services from an Ipas-trained provider.
Legal access to abortion and contraception in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was officially expanded in 2018, when the Maputo Protocol effectively became the law of the land. But much work remains to make accessible abortion care a reality.
