It’s been nearly a year since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic—a crisis that has disrupted the lives and educations of millions of school-aged children. Even before the pandemic, an estimated 263 million children were not in school, a number that undoubtedly has grown due to school closures to slow the spread of the virus.

Kizza Blair is a fourth-year medical student in Uganda and a member of Medical Students for Choice. In this Q&A, we ask him about the value of safe abortion care and the impact of the Helms Amendment, a U.S. law that restricts U.S. foreign assistance funding for abortion services and disproportionately affects Black and brown women in low- and middle-income countries.

Statement from Ipas President and CEO Anu Kumar:

What we saw on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol was an act of domestic terrorism, incited by the current president.  This was not an “undermining” of democracy, but a direct attack on it. 

The tireless work of abortion rights advocates paid off on Dec. 30 when Argentina’s senate voted to legalize abortion—an historic shift after the senate rejected a similar bill just two years ago.

In Kenya, the response to curb the COVID-19 pandemic was immediate. In late March, a countrywide quarantine was imposed—airports, schools, churches and mosques were closed, public gatherings were restricted and movement into and around the country was limited.

Ipas honored for outstanding COVID-19 response in the DRC

Young women and girls in Bolivia are facing a rise in sexual violence since the COVID-19 pandemic began—and Ipas has partnered with the country’s ministry of education to tackle the problem.

As part of a multi-year project launched by Ipas Bangladesh and partners in 2017, listeners can now join a club devoted to reproductive health, with a focus on modern contraception.

In recognition of International Safe Abortion Day, Ipas reached out to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), to talk about H.R. 7816, the Abortion Is Health Care Everywhere Act, the first-ever bill to repeal the Helms Amendment.

Tisungane Sitima was one of the first students in the gender and development program at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Malawi—an experience that set her on the path to becoming a champion of sexual and reproductive rights. In this Q & A, she talks about why she became an advocate and her work as chairperson of Ipas Malawi’s initiative to protect access to abortion and contraceptive services during—and beyond—the coronavirus pandemic.