Ipas Southern Region | Health. Access. Rights.

Abortion has been legal in South Africa since 1996, but unsafe abortion is still common and particularly impacts poor women and girls—especially those who live in rural areas. While abortion is also legal in Zambia, abortion stigma is persistent and abortion providers are in short supply. And Malawi’s abortion law is one of the most restrictive in Africa, only allowing the procedure to save a woman’s life. This leads many women and girls to seek out clandestine abortions with unsafe methods.

With offices in Midrand (South Africa), Lusaka (Zambia), and Lilongwe (Malawi), Ipas Southern Africa Region works with governments, partner organizations and local stakeholders to increase access to high-quality sexual and reproductive health care and to reduce injuries and deaths from unsafe abortion. Ipas is expanding abortion access by training abortion providers, supporting health facilities, and helping ensure abortion with pills is an available option. Ipas also educates communities on the importance of abortion rights and builds grassroots movements for law reform through a wide range of activities including workshops, educational dramas and radio programs.

Our Core Values

Driven

We are impatient for a world where women and girls’ sexual and reproductive rights are fully realized and unsafe abortion no longer exists. We are focused and disciplined in our mission.

We make the most of our time, energy and resources and push ourselves to keep moving forward despite obstacles. We don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good because we need safe abortion today. We care deeply about the impact and quality of all that we do.

Principled

We believe sexual and reproductive rights are basic human rights. Access to safe abortion is an integral and unassailable part of those rights. Safe abortion is also a fundamental part of basic health care. Our work on safe abortion promotes gender equity. Our actions are founded on these core beliefs. We have integrity when we do not compromise these principles and when we trust in women’s decisions.

Bold

We are unapologetic and unconditional in our commitment to a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. We solve problems through creative thinking, curiosity, and we challenge assumptions that might otherwise limit us. We make decisions based on experience and evidence and feel safe in taking calculated risks both in our communication and our action.

We always seek to challenge our own biases and assumptions and we are not afraid to create new pathways for women to exercise their right to safe abortion. We believe that this requires honest, direct communication and we are not afraid to tell the truth. We are also not afraid to laugh at ourselves and have moments of joy in our work.

Interdependent

Our goals are ambitious and larger than us. We are devoted to advancing the abortion field and the rights of women, not just Ipas. We share information, expertise and responsibility, and we strengthen our entire field as a result. We have a collaborative spirit and recognize when we are stronger together. We respect our colleagues, internal and external, by giving each other the benefit of the doubt and celebrating and supporting the work of others.

Our Strategic Priorities

Make Abortion Legal

Law and policies must respect and protect abortion as a human right, without unnecessary or harmful barriers limiting access. Financing for sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care, ensures resilient, affordable, and equitable access to abortion across the health sector. That’s why we advocate around the world, at local, national and international levels.

Put women and girls, and all people who can get pregnant, in control

Individuals must know where and how to access abortion and contraception, with information about options, including abortion self-care. They also must feel supported in their decisions and have the confidence to access services when they need them.

Ensure abortion care is accessible, available, acceptable and high quality

Abortion rights are recognized as part of the broader right to health. The pathways to abortion must be clear and accessible and must meet the total needs of anyone seeking that care. Abortion care should be universally accessible through a trained and supported health workforce, integrated throughout health-care systems, and free of stigma.

Be innovative, effective and always learning

We hold ourselves to a high standard for internal operations and governance to ensure we can be efficient and effective in implementing our programs and responding to the needs of those we serve.

Be a valued partner

We strive to always bring value to our partnerships and collaborations, as we depend upon our many global and local partners to help advance our urgent work of expanding access to—and strengthening a movement for—quality abortion and contraceptive care.

Building sustainable abortion ecosystems

At Ipas, we’re working with partners to build sustainable abortion ecosystems. Our comprehensive approach works across institutions and communities and recognizes there are multiple factors that influence a person’s ability to access abortion—including individual knowledge and power, community and political support, trained and equipped health systems, and laws and policies that uphold the human rights to health and to bodily autonomy.

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Where We Work

Malawi

Malawi’s abortion law is one of the most restrictive in Africa, as it only permits termination of pregnancy to save a woman’s life.

South Africa

Abortion has been legal in South Africa since the enactment of the 1996 Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act. But unsafe abortion is prevalent and particularly impacts poor women and girls and those who live in rural areas.

Zambia

Although abortion is legal in Zambia, the barriers to accessing safe abortion care are formidable. Doctors are in short supply, and there is a strong and persistent social stigma surrounding abortion.

In the News

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Ipas Africa Southern Region commemorates the International Day of the Girl Child

Ipas Africa Southern Region (ASR) joined the world to commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child reflecting on this year’s theme: Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership, Our Well-being.

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Celebrating Women’s Day and women’s month in South Africa

Women’s Day marks a historic moment in South Africa when over 15,000 women in 1956 marched to the Union Buildings to petition against the passage of laws that violated basic human rights.

Pharmacists Think it’s Illegal to Dispense Abortion Pills: Worrying Consequences

Victoria Satchwell was desperate when she called the fifth pharmacist asking them to dispense abortion pills for an almost 10-week pregnant client. The woman is a 19-year-old rape victim living in Vredefort, a small farming town in the Free State.

How to improve safe abortion care in South Africa's public health facilities: Findings from a 2018 assessment

Despite the fact that abortion is legal in South Africa under a range of circumstances and available in public health facilities throughout the country, many women and girls continue to seek clandestine, unsafe abortions that put their health and lives at risk.

Eastern and Southern Africa Parliamentary Caucus launches to advance sexual and reproductive health in the region

In a landmark development for the Eastern and Southern African region, parliamentarians from diverse backgrounds and countries have united under the banner of the Eastern and Southern Africa Parliamentary Caucus on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (ESAParc).