Ipas (organization)

Ipas
Founded 1973
Type Nonprofit 501(c)(3)
Location
Area served
Worldwide
Website www.ipas.org
Official Logo for Ipas, Sexual & Reproductive rights organisation

Ipas is a global non-profit organization that works to increase women's ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights, and to end deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion. Ipas's work is grounded in the belief that women everywhere must have the opportunity to determine their futures, care for their families and manage their fertility. Through local, national and global partnerships, they work to ensure that women receive safe, respectful and comprehensive abortion care, including counselling and contraception, to prevent future unwanted pregnancies.

Scope of work

Ipas works to improve women's access and right to safe abortion care and reproductive health services by:

  • Training doctors, nurses, and midwives[1] in clinical and counseling skills for abortion, postabortion care and family planning;
  • Improving health-service delivery to make abortion safer and more accessible for women[2] and less costly[3] for the health system;
  • Researching the impact of unsafe abortion and documenting best abortion care practices and policies;[4][5]
  • Working with advocates and policymakers around the world to support women’s reproductive rights and increase access to safe and legal abortion services;
  • Engaging with women and men in their communities to expand their knowledge of reproductive health and reproductive rights;[6]
  • Increasing access to reproductive health technologies, including manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion.[7]

Areas of focus

Abortion in Nigeria

In 2017, Ipas (Nigeria), called for a review of Nigeria's law criminalising abortion in the country.[8] At a workshop covering Woman’s Reproductive Health and Rights in Abuja, Nigeria, Ipas's Country Director spoke out about the issue, saying "Any law that does not recognise or reflect the true situation of the country is a dead law."[8] foegal

History

Ipas was founded in 1973, following the passage of the Helms Amendment,[9] which prohibits use of U.S. foreign aid to support abortion services overseas. Ipas began manufacturing and distributing manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) instruments in 1973.[10] Ipas launched the postabortion family planning initiative in 1990.[11] In 2003 Ipas created, defined and implemented the concept of "woman-centered comprehensive abortion care".[12] Ipas University, a self-paced online learning site for reproductive health care providers, launched in 2009.[13] Womancare Global, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ipas, also launched in 2009, to market and distribute the MVA instruments, as well as a number of other reproductive-health technologies.[14] By 2010 Ipas had offices in 13 countries and serves 40 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.[15]

Not Yet Rain (2009) is a documentary film about abortion in Ethiopia, produced by filmmaker Lisa Russell and Ipas.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Akiode, A; Fetters, T; Daroda, R; Okeke, B; Oji, E (2010). "An evaluation of a national intervention to improve the postabortion care content of midwifery education in Nigeria". International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics. 110 (2): 186–90. doi:10.1016/j.ijgo.2010.05.003. PMID 20638991.
  2. ↑ Banerjee, Sushanta K; Tank, Jaydeep (2009). Expanding the provider base: Improving access, saving lives. New Delhi: Asia and Oceania Federation of Obstetrics & Gynecology. pp. 93–103.
  3. ↑ Unsafe abortion: The preventable pandemic The Lancet
  4. ↑ Castleman, Laura D.; Blumenthal, Paul D. (2009). Spontaneous and induced abortion: Chapter 6. Philadelphia: American College of Physicians. pp. 137–157.
  5. ↑ Paul, Maureen (2009). Lichtenberg, E. Steve; Borgatta, Lynn; Grimes, David A.; Stubblefield, Phillip G.; Creinin, Mitchell D., eds. Management of unintended and abnormal pregnancy: Comprehensive abortion care: NAF textbook. West Sussex, UK: American College of Physicians.
  6. ↑ Rogo, K. O; Muganda-Onyando, R.; Magak, K.; Mukenge, M.; Ombaka, C.; Oguttu, M. A.; Ochieng, J. A.; Orero, S. O. (2006). Testing community level strategies to reduce unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion in western Kenya: The community based abortion care project (COBAC). Nairobi, Kenya;Los Angeles CA: Center for the Study of Adolescence (CSA);Pacific Institute for Women's Health (PIWH);Kenya Medicational and Educational Trust.
  7. ↑ Tsu, VD; Coffey, PS (2009). "New and underutilised technologies to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity: What progress have we made since Bellagio 2003?". BJOG: an International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology. 116 (2): 247. doi:10.1111/j.1471-0528.2008.02046.x.
  8. 1 2 "Vanguard Article on Nigeria's Abortion Law".
  9. ↑ USAID | USAID's Family Planning Guiding Principles and U.S. Legislative and Policy Requirements
  10. ↑ Medical Students for Choice | The Ipas MVA Plus – An Advancement in Technology
  11. ↑ Guttmacher Institute | Essential Elements of Postabortion Care: Origins, Evolution and Future Directions
  12. ↑ Ipas | What is woman-centered comprehensive abortion care?
  13. ↑ IpasU
  14. ↑ WomanCare Global
  15. ↑ Ipas | Where Ipas Works
  16. ↑ Feministing | Not Yet Rain: A new documentary about abortion access in Ethiopia
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