Abortion Access for All

At Ipas, we believe in a world where every person has bodily autonomy and can determine their own future.

Did you know that In Latin America, more than 97% of girls and women of reproductive age, live in countries that restrict or completely prohibit abortion, further contributing to increasing maternal mortality rates in the region? Additionally, 75% of the unsafe abortions occur in areas where law criminalizes women, whereas, in areas where abortion is legal and accessible, 9 of 10 procedures are performed safely.

Across Latin America, women and girls are systematically denied their Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR). Ipas believes in a world where every woman and girl has the right and ability to determine her own sexuality and reproductive health. To achieve this vision, in Ipas CAM we work with diverse partners in 9 countries to ensure that women, girls, and other people who can become pregnant have improved access to safe abortion and contraception. Guided by a commitment to human rights, innovation, and sustainability, Ipas has helped to improve SRHR and gender equality for people living within a range of restrictive abortion settings, including Latin America.

We employ an ecosystem approach to our work, which places women and other people who need safe abortion and contraception at the center of all that we do and includes work in the health, social, and legal sectors. Ipas has deep experience in supporting our partners in civil society, feminist and social movements, and government to catalyze legal and policy changes that support SRHR; providing technical support to health systems to implement gender-sensitive, evidence-based abortion and contraceptive care; and conducting action-oriented research that centers the perspectives and needs of those seeking abortion care, including migrant women and girls in Latin America and individuals contending with climate change.

Some of the milestones we have achieved in this last period are:

• Between July 2021 and May 2022, 7 Mexican states decriminalized abortion. We worked with the Ministry of Health (MoH) to implement the training and supply systems needed to translate these legal wins into real access to abortion in 6 states. In Oaxaca, we helped establish abortion services in 7 primary care and secondary-level clinics, as well as an internet microsite with information on access to abortion, including ASC. In Hidalgo, Ipas and the MoH are working to establish legal guidance for abortion at the primary care level.  
• In Argentina, we helped the MoH update the national abortion protocol, build a national registry system, and develop providers’ capacity to use these tools. In Buenos Aires Province, Ipas expanded abortion access to more than 500 primary care facilities in 130 municipalities. We helped 11,935 pregnant women access abortion care between August and December 2021. Additionally, we supported local partners to create and disseminate the "The Right to Abortion is Law" campaign. 
• Ipas has helped 10,879 women access safe abortions in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. This milestone was achieved through our support to each country’s health system, including the dissemination of virtual capacity strengthening resources and/or training for 6,332 health professionals in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua as well as the launch of Bolivia’s first public SRHR telehealth service.