Gender Equality United States Project #49602

Abortion Access for All

by Ipas

Project Report | Jan 27, 2025
Ipas U.S. Update and Digital Innovations

By Ciara Corcoran | Individual & Major Gifts

Austin City Councilwoman, Vanessa Fuentes

At Ipas, our unwavering commitment to reproductive justice drives every aspect of our work—both in the United States and around the world. As challenges to reproductive rights intensify in the U.S., we recognize how these struggles reverberate globally, influencing policies, perceptions, and access to care. Together with you, our donors, we are steadfast in our mission to dismantle barriers, protect reproductive freedom, and create a world where everyone has the power to make decisions about their own bodies and futures.

We are investing in our work in the U.S. Soon, we will begin the search for a full-time director to lead our U.S. program team. This is in addition to our U.S. Partnerships and Mobilization Advisor, based in Texas, who joined us last year. We’re excited that the team is growing and that our supporters like you see the value in our growing U.S. program.

Your support has been instrumental in strengthening partnerships with grassroots organizations and expanding access to abortion care. Over the past year, you’ve helped us deepen our collaboration with local abortion funds in Texas, empowering them to reach more people in need. Thanks to your generosity, Ipas has also taken on the critical role of fiscal sponsorship, allowing small organizations like Buckle Bunnies, the American Society for Emergency Contraception, Raven Labs, and Hydra Fund to focus on their vital work while we handle administrative and legal responsibilities.

Looking ahead to 2025, your commitment will help us launch an education campaign with our Texas partners to ensure Texans have the knowledge and resources they need to understand medication abortion and access abortion pills.

Outside of the U.S., made possible your generosity, Ipas is harnessing digital innovations to transform access to reproductive health and abortion care worldwide. In Bolivia, your support made it possible to launch Dra. Violeta, the first Spanish-language chatbot offering fast, confidential, and accessible assistance to survivors of sexual violence. In Mexico, you helped create TeAcompaño, a chatbot that answers critical questions about reproductive health and connects users with trusted pharmacies and healthcare facilities offering abortion care. And in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo, your commitment enabled the development of Nurse Nisa, a chatbot that simulates a conversation with a trained health provider, offering guidance on contraception and self-managed abortion with pills.These groundbreaking tools are changing lives every day, and they wouldn’t exist without your dedication to reproductive justice.

As we reflect on the progress made this year, we are filled with gratitude for your unwavering support and partnership. None of this vital work—from expanding grassroots partnerships in Texas to launching life-changing digital tools worldwide—would be possible without you. Together, we are standing up to challenges and ensuring that reproductive rights remain a reality for those who need them most. Thank you for being an integral part of this mission—your generosity is shaping a world where everyone has the freedom to make decisions about their bodies and futures.

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Sep 25, 2024
Healing in the Heart of Conflict: Dr. Buyibuyi in the DRC

By Ciara Corcoran | Individual & Major Gifts

Dr. Celestine Buyibuyi speaking with two women

With a presence in over 20 countries, Ipas works to make abortion care accessible, even to those in regions affected by conflict. The support of donors like you makes this work possible. Just one example of this life-changing work, made possible with your partnership, is being done by Dr. Celestine Buyibuyi.

In the conflict-ridden region of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), access to quality healthcare is limited, particularly for women and girls. For many, healthcare is beyond reach due to violence, displacement, and the destruction of health facilities. Dr. Celestine Buyibuyi, a doctor working as Ipas’s community engagement advisor in East DRC, is committed to changing this reality. Every day, she leads efforts to provide life-saving sexual and reproductive health services (SRH) to women affected by the ongoing conflict.

Working in North Kivu, one of the most volatile provinces in the DRC, Dr. Buyibuyi and her team ensure that women and girls, especially survivors of sexual violence, can access essential services, including safe abortion and post-abortion care. These services are vital for women in conflict zones, where the risk of sexual violence is extremely high and unplanned pregnancies often result from rape.

Dr. Buyibuyi's typical day begins with providing clinical care at the camp for displaced persons. She treats survivors of sexual violence and patients with complications from unsafe abortions—working to restore their health and dignity. In a region where stigma around abortion is strong, her compassionate approach helps reduce fear and shame, empowering women to seek the care they need.

Dr. Buyibuyi also partners with local community groups, including women’s organizations, to raise awareness about reproductive health. Through these partnerships, she works to break down cultural and legal barriers that prevent women from accessing care. These grassroots efforts are crucial to making SRH services more accessible, especially for vulnerable women.

Despite the challenges of working in a conflict zone, Dr. Buyibuyi remains driven by the belief that every woman has the right to make decisions about her body. Her work transforms lives, one patient at a time, and contributes to broader efforts to improve reproductive health across DRC.

Thank you for your belief not only in Ipas but also in people like Dr. Buyibuyi. Due to your generosity, our healthcare teams can continue their mission to restore dignity, empower survivors, and provide compassionate care to the most vulnerable. Your partnership is transforming lives and bringing hope where it’s needed most.

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Mar 28, 2024
How Abortion Access Builds Gender Equity

By Chandra Noyes | Annual Fund Officer

Hlaingtharyar, Myanmar

At Ipas, we believe that abortion is a human right—a life-saving service that everyone should have access to. Extensive research shows that when abortion is legal, available, and affordable, women and girls can better overcome obstacles to gender equity and realize their full potential. With the help of your support, when we work for abortion access, we're working for so much more. As Women's History Month ends, we thought we would share a few of the ways that abortion access helps close the gender gap and examples of what Ipas is doing to help.

Abortion access enables women and girls to pursue and sustain their education, breaking down barriers to academic achievement and promoting gender equity in educational opportunities. Multiple studies link legal abortion to increased high school graduation and college attendance for women and girls. In Kenya, Ipas partners with Entashata, a community-based organization that provides sexual and reproductive health and sexuality education for youth. Aimed at breaking the stigma around family planning, these programs enhance access to health and socio-economic rights. The organization’s commitment to education resulted in an annual campaign to enroll boys and girls in schools, resulting in over 50 girls supported in completing their secondary education.
Abortion access helps women secure and retain employment, break free from poverty cycles, and exercise autonomy in family planning decisions. This fosters greater economic independence for women and gender parity in the workforce, translating into a stronger economy for all. Migrant workers at factories in Myanmar often have to resort to unsafe abortion to keep their jobs and livelihoods. Ipas offers them other options by sharing vital health information through an outreach project built around small group discussions on such topics as abortion, contraception, and sexual health. Women who previously had not received any sex education are now accessing contraceptives and sharing their knowledge with their friends and coworkers.
Abortion access makes it easier for women to leave unhealthy or violent relationships and avoid being trapped by an unplanned pregnancy. When abortion is available and affordable to more people, it also reduces gender-based violence by providing women with the means to control their reproductive lives and make decisions about their future. Thanks to advocacy by Ipas and partners in Nigeria, the federal Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act will now help ensure that survivors of gender-based violence get the quality abortion care they need—and legally protect their right to this care.

As a supporter of Ipas, you’re not just ensuring people have access to contraception and abortion. You’re making sure that women and girls can stay in school, that they can remain financially independent, and that they have the freedom to leave abusive relationships. We know that access to abortion is an important part of building an equitable world and we’re grateful to you for joining us in our mission. Together, we’re making strides towards equity.

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