Ipas: Support Of Women's Reproductive Health And Rights - Brief Article

WIN News, Spring, 2000

IPAS, 300 Market St., Suite 200, Chapel Hill, NORTH CAROLINA 27516; Fax: 919-929-0258 e-mail: ipas@ipas.org; President: Elizabeth S. Maguire

"As I begin my tenure as President of IPAS, I want to update you about Ipas's activities and invite you to join me in supporting women's reproductive health and rights around the world[ldots]IPAS is a world leader in confronting unsafe abortion, working from multiple perspectives to save women's lives and to enhance women's reproductive choices.

IPAS serves the most vulnerable women in the most difficult places, from the poorest of the poor in Mexico City to villagers in rural Nigeria. Ipas provides a comprehensive program of support that includes training healthcare providers, initiatives in research and policy, and distribution of reproductive health information and technologies.

Millions of women around the world continue to risk their lives to determine the number and spacing of their children.

These women, primarily in developing countries, are denied the fundamental right to reproductive choice. As a result, 20 million women a year resort to unsafe abortion. Of these, 80,000 women die needlessly and hundreds of thousands more are seriously injured.

IPAS works to increase the accessibility of lifesaving care to all women, particularly those least able to exercise their basic reproductive rights. These are the rural and urban poor, adolescents, displaced persons, victims of violence, and those infected with HIV/AIDS.

The suffering caused by unsafe abortion cannot be measured only by the number of women who die. This human tragedy affects women, men, children, families and communities throughout the developing world. We know that when a mother dies, the chances of her children surviving their fifth birthday are cut in half.

Ipas influences global policies that support essential local practices[ldots]

* assisting governments to translate the rhetoric of the UN conferences held in Cairo (1994) and Beijing (1995) into specific policy programs aimed at addressing unsafe abortion;

* collaborating with the World Health Organization to develop policy and clinical guidelines for abortion and postabortion care;

* mobilizing support for the inclusion of postabortion care in the multi-agency, international field manuals for reproductive health in refugee settings;

* advocating for the expanded role of midwives in providing postabortion care, in support of the policies and practices of the International Confederation of Midwives and its member organizations.

IPAS plays a unique role in advocacy and action. We work on the frontlines to eliminate unsafe abortion and to ensure that women's voices are heard when policy decisions are being made.

IPAS is implementing practical solutions that save women's lives and preserve their health. By helping women exercise their reproductive rights, Ipas can help better empower women to make other critical life choices. IPAS's efforts hasten the day when no woman has to risk her life, health, future fertility, well-being of her family because she lacks safe reproductive choices[ldots]"