Maternal Mortality: Nigerian experts applaud as IPPF launches free online medical abortion course

October 14, 2022
By Sola Ogundipe

Top Nigerian medical experts have applauded the launch of a free online medical abortion training course by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), aimed at stemming the tide of unsafe abortion and its complications globally.

Welcoming the development, the experts said the course which is specifically designed to equip healthcare workers with the necessary skills to provide care for women seeking medical abortion up to 13 weeks gestation, would go a long way in correcting the misinterpretation and misconception about safe abortion, legal abortion, medical abortion, and allied issues.

Continued: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2022/10/maternal-mortality-nigerian-experts-applaud-as-ippf-launches-free-online-medical-abortion-course/

Ukraine war: Volunteers deliver emergency contraception pills

By Annabel Rackham, BBC News
Apr 29, 2022

Charities are working to deliver emergency contraception into Ukrainian hospitals as reports of rape rise.

Nearly 3,000 packets of morning-after pills have been sent to areas of the country most affected by the Russian invasion.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has provided the pills, which volunteers are delivering.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/health-61269792

Care and compassion over colonialism: Namibia must protect women and girls seeking abortions

By Marie-Evelyne Petrus Barry and Bience Gawanas
21 Oct 2021

Namibia’s parliament is debating reforms to the abortion law that would bring the country in line with international standards on sexual and reproductive health rights. Activists, medical doctors and public health experts are urging lawmakers to ensure that ‘every pregnancy in Namibia should be a wanted pregnancy’.

This past week, we have watched with great interest and hope as Namibia’s Parliamentary Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Social Development and Family Affairs held its first four days of public hearings on whether to reform its Abortion and Sterilisation Act of 1975.

Continued: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-10-21-care-and-compassion-over-colonialism-namibia-must-protect-women-and-girls-seeking-abortions/

UK accused of ‘Trump tactics’ after ‘devastating’ £131m cut to family planning aid

Millions of the world’s poorest women and girls will ‘pay the price’ of the UK government reneging on its commitments, say aid workers

Kerry Cullinan
30 April 2021

The UK government has been accused of “using tactics reminiscent of the Trump era” after cutting millions in aid for family planning.

Boris Johnson’s government is set to slash its commitment to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) by 85% – from an expected contribution of £154m to just £23m – in an enormous blow for women and girls in the poorest countries where health services have already been decimated by COVID-19.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/uk-accused-of-trump-tactics-after-devastating-131m-cut-to-family-planning-aid/

End of US ‘global gag rule’ raises hopes for women’s healthcare at crucial time

‘The gag rule has had a trickle down impact by affecting access to other lifesaving services.’

28 January 2021
Claire Porter Robbins

When the Trump administration reinstated the “global gag rule” in 2017, the
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) lost some $100 million in funding in the following years, impacting a spectrum of healthcare projects in 32 countries and going well beyond the intended goal of preventing abortions.

A health clinic in Haiti’s southern coastal town of Jacmel was one of the first casualties.

Continued: https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2021/1/28/global-gag-rule-abortion-access-biden-mexico-city-policy-haiti-namibia

Polish women’s lives at risk as illegal near-total abortion ban takes effect

28th January 2021

As of yesterday 27 January, a near-total ban on abortion has become the reality for women in Poland as the October 2020 judgement of the country’s Constitutional Tribunal was published in the journal of laws.

This unlawful judgement would remove the possibility for women to access abortion in cases of severe and irreversible foetal defects, and threaten doctors who provide abortion care with 3 years in prison. The wording, which dismisses women’s wellbeing as a valid reason for termination of pregnancy, opens the way to potential further bans of abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Continued: https://www.ippfen.org/news/polish-womens-lives-risk-illegal-near-total-abortion-ban-takes-effect

Family Planning And Safe Abortion Services Made ‘Essential’ In India During Lockdown

Family Planning And Safe Abortion Services Made ‘Essential’ In India During Lockdown

By Abhinav Pandey
24th May, 2020

I have been listening to various news debates, participating in webinars, zoom calls, online meetings and conference calls since the nation has been under lockdown amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. There has been a wide range of ideas and opinions from people across disciplines. The point I want to raise here is that women are facing a lot of issues during this lockdown that need to be addressed as soon as possible in order to curb the pressure on them.

After attending so many calls and participating in several online conferences, I came to know that a huge population of women are facing an issue of unplanned pregnancies and all sorts of violence within their households. According to UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), 47 million women might lose access to contraception if the lockdown carries on for six months, and about 24.55 million couples might lose access to contraception along with 9 lakh abortions, thereby increasing the chances of pregnancy-related deaths.

Continued: https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2020/05/family-planning-and-safe-abortion-services-are-made-essential-during-lockdown/

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Five Statements of Support for WHO, with a Preface

Five Statements of Support for WHO, with a Preface
UNFP
22 May 2020
Preface, by Marge Berer

Today’s newsletter includes five statements – by the Campaign, an international group of CSOs, and IAWG, IPPF and Ipas – all in response to demands by the US government on the UN and the World Health Organization to omit any language or policy related to abortion and sexual and reproductive health from the Covid-19 response. This issue was not at all the focus of the World Health Assembly (WHA) on 18-19 May, however, as Trump hoped them to be. Instead, the other issues raised in his three letters to the heads of WHO and the UN – got all the attention, as well as a few more.

Continued: https://mailchi.mp/safeabortionwomensright/newsletter-22-may-2020?e=372dd34034

How coronavirus is changing access to abortion

How coronavirus is changing access to abortion
Health care practitioners are struggling to maintain access to contraception and abortions during the pandemic.

By MIRIAM WEBBER
05/21/2020

As the coronavirus steamrolls the global order, reproductive health care practitioners and advocates are struggling to maintain access to contraception and abortions.

Lockdowns and disrupted supply chains have prompted a flurry of action in the sector as governments, practitioners and advocates react to a crisis that has highlighted the often tenuous access to sexual health care products and services.

Continued: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/21/how-coronavirus-is-changing-access-to-abortion-273193

Lockdown Keeps Millions of Women from Getting Birth Control

Lockdown Keeps Millions of Women from Getting Birth Control

April 16, 2020
by VOA

Stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus have made it impossible for millions of women in Africa, Asia and elsewhere to get birth control.

The women have no idea when they will be permitted to go out again to get access to birth control or other reproductive health needs.

Continued: https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lockdown-keeps-millions-of-women-from-getting-birth-control/5367306.html