As a devastating armed conflict forced thousands of displaced people to gather in camps outside Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Ipas DRC team knew sexual and reproductive health services that included abortion were desperately needed. In the spirit of their tagline, “Makoki ya Mwasi,” a Lingala term that loosely translates as “the rights of women,” Ipas DRC refused to let a lack of funding deter them. They only had enough resources for 10 days of services, but worked around the clock to launch a mobile clinic and make every second count for the women and girls who needed them.
A bold new effort to coordinate and catalyze the safe abortion movement across Francophone Africa is under way.
In Nigeria, where abortion is highly restricted and access to services is limited, more and more people are self-managing their abortions after going to patent medicine vendors (PMVs) for abortion information and pills.
Representatives of seven youth groups from across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are joining forces to advocate for sexual and reproductive health and rights, including safe abortion care in accordance with the Maputo Protocol.
As a devastating armed conflict forced thousands of displaced people to gather in camps outside Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Ipas DRC team knew sexual and reproductive health services that included abortion were desperately needed. In the spirit of their tagline, “Makoki ya Mwasi,” a Lingala term that loosely translates as “the rights of women,” Ipas DRC refused to let a lack of funding deter them. They only had enough resources for 10 days of services, but worked around the clock to launch a mobile clinic and make every second count for the women and girls who needed them.
Anu Kumar, President and CEO of Ipas, released the following statement in response to the U.S. House of Representatives’ State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee Appropriations Bill’s historic exclusion of the Helms Amendment and critical advances for reproductive justice globally:
As a brutal civil war in the Tigray region of Ethiopia continues, Ipas Ethiopia is taking action to ensure that sexual and reproductive health care services are a priority at more than 125 health facilities across the region—a move prompted by widespread reports that rape and sexual violence are being used against women and girls as a weapon of war.
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.