Since our founding in 1973, Ipas has improved reproductive health by expanding access to abortion and contraception and by protecting individuals’ right to bodily autonomy and to make their own reproductive health decisions. Our vision and our mission remain steadfast:
Our vision: A world where all people have the right and ability to determine their own sexuality and reproductive health.
Our mission:Â Ipas builds resilient abortion and contraceptive ecosystems using a comprehensive approach across sectors, institutions, and communities.
We center our work on the needs and perspectives of individuals who seek abortion care, and we strive to better center the needs and perspectives of all people who can become pregnant. Our approach addresses all the factors that impact a person’s ability to access abortion.
We are working toward a sustainable abortion ecosystem, a dynamic condition in which resilient local stakeholders and systems are actively accountable and committed to abortion rights and responsive to everyone’s abortion needs.
We know that to achieve this, we must work through effective, equitable and intersectional partnerships, integrating abortion into the broader health, gender equality, and social justice movements.
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.
