Ipas is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1973 whose mission is to reduce deaths and disabilities caused by unsafe abortion and increase women’s ability to exercise their sexual and reproductive rights. Ipas is unique in its focus on reducing unsafe abortion, its comprehensive approach to the issue, and its unwavering commitment to the human right of every woman to make safe reproductive choices.
Ipas works globally, with offices and a multidisciplinary professional staff in 15 countries – Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya (serving the Africa region), Nigeria, South Africa, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua (serving Central America), Albania (serving Eastern Europe), and the United States. We conduct activities in more than 25 additional countries in collaboration with local partners.
Ipas has made a difference in the lives of tens of millions of women, families and communities throughout the world. Serving as a key technical resource, Ipas has collaborated with a wide range of global, regional, and local organizations engaged in activities to address unsafe abortion and related sexual and reproductive health issues. We do not provide clinical services or directly manage clinical facilities.
Our priority program areas include:
- focusing attention on unsafe abortion as a global public health and human rights concern requiring response from the international community;
- providing clinical training to health care providers and promoting a woman-centered approach to comprehensive abortion care, including post-abortion contraception;
- working with local health systems to expand and improve delivery of abortion-related services as part of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care;
- supporting communications activities to ensure that women are aware of their reproductive rights and to reduce stigma associated with abortion;
- researching the problem of unsafe abortion and ways to improve services, including state-of-the-art monitoring and evaluation;
- promoting access to preferred technologies for safe abortion care, including manufacturing and distributing manual vacuum aspiration instruments in over 100 countries and paving the way for increased use of medication abortion globally;
- supporting local efforts to influence reforms in abortion laws and policies;
- and producing and disseminating globally training and information materials to inform policy and practice related to abortion.