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PRESS RELEASE 8 November 2024: Donald Trump has been announced the winner of the U.S. election, threatening reproductive health and rights around the world. A return to Trump’s policies - and the potential implementation of Project 2025 - will cause millions of people to lose access to contraception, abortion, and other critical healthcare services, both in the US and around the world. Trump will reinstate the Global Gag Rule (GGR) upon coming to office in January next year. The GGR causes significant and specific harm to IPPF, and will amount to an approximate loss of US$60 million in USAID funding.  Regardless of who is in office, the United States does not fund abortions abroad, as stipulated by the Helms Amendment, which has been in effect for more than 50 years. But the GGR takes those restrictions much further: The last version that was in place during the Trump administration's first term from 2017 - 2021 forbid non-US organisations that take U.S. global health funding from any abortion-related activities -  regardless of the source of funds they use to provide those services. Abortion service delivery and advocacy are core components of our mandate, and we consider them non-negotiable human rights. IPPF has never, and will never, sign the GGR.  Thirteen of our MAs would lose USAID funds, with six MAs currently managing multi-million dollar funding, namely Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mauritania and Togo. In Malawi, the Family Planning Association of Malawi (FPAM) is the main family planning and adolescent health partner for two major USAID integrated health projects. Their work has improved equity in access to contraceptive services. In Ethiopia, the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) is the lead local FP partner on USAID’s youth, nutrition, and health communication projects. IPPF is also leading ExpandPF, a large multi-country USAID project in Francophone West Africa, which started in 2023 and is planned to continue until 2028. It is expected to reach nearly 1.2 million contraceptive users.  Abruptly cutting this work short will have tragic consequences for the local population, clinics, outreach, and community services and programs.  Under Project 2025, Trump’s policy advisors have proposed an extreme new expansion of the GGR to include all foreign assistance to US and non-US organisations, including humanitarian funding.  Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, Regional Director for the Africa Regional Office of IPPF:   “Global NGOs, reproductive health advocates, and women’s rights groups like our own were closely watching the US election, hoping for a more progressive stance for comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare. The wider impacts of the GGR on our movement and sexual and reproductive health and rights access and progress harms everyone in the ecosystem.”  Dr Alvaro Bermejo, Director-General, International Planned Parenthood Federation:  “We are now facing a future where the alt-right are further emboldened, and without urgent opposition by civil society to the current course of action, the Trump-Vance Administration will expand the pathway already prepared. The threat to the sexual and reproductive justice agenda now demands a deliberate, and unified, effort from IPPF and our global movement. We remain committed to a future where your choices, your identity, and your freedoms are protected.”  For media inquiries, or to arrange an interview with our spokespeople, contact IPPF’s press office at: media@ippf.org     About the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)  IPPF is a global healthcare provider and a leading advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) for all. Led by a courageous and determined group of women, IPPF was founded in 1952 at the Third International Planned Parenthood Conference. Today, we are a movement of 150 Member Associations and Collaborative Partners with a presence in over 146 countries. Our work is wide-ranging, including comprehensive sex education, provision of contraceptives, safe abortion, and maternal care and responding to humanitarian crises.  We pride ourselves on being local through our members and global through our network. At the heart of our mission is the provision of – and advocacy in support of – integrated healthcare to anyone who needs it regardless of race, gender, sex, income, and crucially no matter how remote.    Photo credits: Rutgers/Esther Ruth Mbabazi/Uganda - IPPF/Moctar MENTA - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Ukraine - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Cook Islands - Wara Vargas - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch - IPPF/Hannah Maule-ffinch/Maldives  

Haz click aquí para leer este posicionamiento en español The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is deeply concerned about the escalating violence and political instability in Haiti, particularly its disproportionate impact on women and girls since March 2024. This crisis is expected to leave 3,000 pregnant women without essential medical care, leading to nearly 450 women experiencing life-threatening childbirth complications. With almost 580,000 Haitians displaced, women and girls are experiencing an alarming surge in sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), including rampant sexual assaults, torture, and collective rape by armed groups. From January to March 2024, there were 1,793 SGBV incidents reported. Conflict-related insecurity has also significantly increased negative coping mechanisms, contributing to the rise in SGBV, as well as sexually transmitted infections and HIV.  The ongoing violence is preventing access to essential sexual and reproductive healthcare services, endangering the lives of mothers and newborns. Our partner in Haiti, the Haiti Midwives Association, informed us, ‘the gangs prohibit the movement of motorcycles and pedestrians, threatening and sometimes shooting in the air to terrorise us further. Due to these difficult conditions, fewer and fewer patients are attending the hospital, whether for prenatal consultations, deliveries or postnatal care.” This inaccessibility has led to a significant increase in maternal and infant mortality.  Eugenia López Uribe, Regional Director of the IPPF Americas & the Caribbean, said, “Humanitarian aid must be granted access through local organisations, such as our partner the Haiti Midwives Association, and their wellbeing must be guaranteed in this process. Women and girls can no longer wait! Our partner has provided access to vital emergency services such as pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care, as well as care after sexual violence for 20 years. However, since February, they have been forced to stop their activities because of the imminent risks they face as women living in Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.” On this International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, IPPF calls for zero tolerance toward any form of SGBV and demands the immediate protection of Haitian women, children, and those most at risk. We strongly call for unhindered humanitarian access to allow aid into Haiti. This aid must be designed and controlled by local NGOs and aid workers, and any foreign peacekeepers must safeguard and protect local communities - in particular their sexual and reproductive rights - so mistakes of the past are not repeated.  Let’s not forget: Haiti's poverty and instability has been shaped by decades of foreign occupation and colonialism. The international community owes Haiti more than mere condolences; they owe an unwavering commitment to a future where human rights, including sexual and reproductive health rights are respected and protected, and nobody is left behind.     

Texas judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk, has suspended the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval of the abortion pill Mifepristone in a horror move for abortion access across the United States. The decision will result in a nationwide ban on Mifepristone in seven days, with the FDA given one week to appeal the ruling. While the ban also affected access in states that have secured abortion post-Roe v Wade, a conflicting ruling from Judge Thomas O. Rice from a federal court in Washington state ordered the FDA to maintain access to Mifepristone in 17 democratic states and Colombia District – effectively putting access to the pill into limbo. Mifepristone, which has been FDA-approved for more than 22 years and has a safety record of over 99%[i], is taken alongside the drug Misoprostol during medical abortion procedures. Since then, it has been used by over 5 million[ii] Americans and was used in more than half of abortions nationwide last year. While Misoprostol can be used alone in medical abortion, people should have access to the full spectrum of abortion care options. Mifepristone is also used in the medical management of miscarriage and second and third-trimester pregnancies when the fetus has died before birth. While the ruling does not prohibit the FDA from making a new authorization for Mifepristone, this will likely take many months. Severe disruption to abortion care services, healthcare services and supply chain issues are expected as healthcare providers and pharmacies grapple with legality, stock, retraining and reeducation. Beth Schlachter, Director of Global Advocacy for the International Planned Parenthood Federation, said: "For 22 years, Mifepristone has been safely used in medical abortion care across the U.S., allowing healthcare providers to deliver safe, practical and discreet care to people who have chosen to end their pregnancies, regardless of their economic status or ability to travel. "In one fell swoop, anti-abortion extremists have once again stripped people of their rights in another blow to liberty. This horror ruling based on junk science, wilful distortion of fact and extreme political agendas will profoundly affect the lives of millions of people already struggling to access the care they need, especially in states where abortion is already banned." Anti-abortion extremists deliberately filed the case against the approval of Mifepristone in the Amarillo division of the Northern District of Texas — a single-judge division where cases are automatically assigned to Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative judge appointed by former President Trump. The group claim that: "the statutory basis on which the FDA's approval of Mifepristone was issued 22 years ago is invalid" - an assertion both the Government Accountability Office and FDA have previously investigated and put to rest "an 1873 vice law that made it illegal to send "obscene, lewd or lascivious" material through the mail applies to abortion pills" - federal courts have consistently ruled it doesn't apply to lawful abortions "the drug's original approval wasn't supported by evidence of safety and efficacy" — a claim that medical and policy experts have continuously discredited Beth Schlachter, added: "The implementation of a national ban on Mifepristone via a state court debunks one of the principal anti-abortion arguments in the Roe v Wade case  - that the ruling curtailed state freedom and that abortion rights should be defined on a state-by-state basis. "This weaponization of federal courts by anti-abortion extremists proves just how dangerous the overturning of Roe v Wade is for everyday Americans, whose access to healthcare now lies in the hands of fanatical religious extremists determined to disrupt, harass and deceive until they end access to abortion care and long-held sexual and reproductive rights for good." The International Planned Parenthood Federation's local partner, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, will continue to provide abortion care where safe and legal to do so. Those seeking medical abortion can also access care via AidAccess and WomenonWeb. At least two abortion networks, Trust Women and Whole Womans Health, have also announced that they will not immediately stop prescribing Mifepristone and will await a directive from the FDA – a move known as a conscientious provision which refers to providers who continue to provide care despite the legal parameters.   Alongside its partner and other reproductive health organizations, IPPF will keep fighting for access to abortion care, freedom from stigma and freedom from criminalization until everyone, everywhere, is free to make choices about their sexuality and well-being. [i] https://www.plannedparenthood.org/uploads/filer_public/42/8a/428ab2ad-3798-4e3d-8a9f-213203f0af65/191011-the-facts-on-mifepristone-d01.pdf [ii] Ibid For media enquiries, please contact Karmen Ivey at kivey@ippf.org or media@ippf.org   About the International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global service provider and advocate of sexual and reproductive health and rights for all.  For 70 years, IPPF, through its 118 Member Associations and seven partners, has delivered high-quality sexual and reproductive healthcare and helped advance sexual rights, especially for people with intersectional and diverse needs that are currently unmet. Our Member Associations and partners are independent organizations that are locally owned, which means the support and care they provide is informed by local expertise and context. We advocate for a world where people have the information they need to make informed decisions about their sexual health and bodies. We stand up and fight for sexual and reproductive rights and against those who seek to deny people their human right to bodily autonomy and freedom. We deliver care that is rooted in rights, respect, and dignity - no matter what.  

Profamilia – an IPPF Member Association and the leading sexual and reproductive rights organization in Colombia – is celebrating the first anniversary of the decriminalization of abortion across the country. The move - Ruling C-055 - which allows abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation under any circumstance is saving lives across Colombia, and means those who have an abortion no longer face prosecution or criminalization. A historic step for the rights of women and pregnant people both in the country and across Latin America. Over the last year, Profamilia via its nationwide network of more than 50 clinics has helped guarantee sexual and reproductive health and rights, focusing on providing safe abortion care services in person as well as the provision of telemedicine for rural women.   For a country which sees 132,000 cases annually of complications from unsafe abortions and 70 women lose their lives each year – the shift in focus to abortion as a public health issue means healthcare providers can now focus on providing life-saving care and ending unsafe abortion. Alongside the ruling, the Ministry of Health, has also regulated abortion services throughout Colombia via Resolution 051, reiterating that abortion is an essential and urgent health service, which women, including migrant women, and pregnant people (transgender men, trans masculinities, non-binary people, among others) must be able to access without restriction and for free. Further rulings also embeds the provision of sexual and reproductive health information into Colombian health services. Marta Royo, the Executive Director of ProFamilia, said: "Profamilia's commitment will always be to provide comprehensive, humanized and safe services that allow free and informed decision making, and we reiterate this today” "After one year it is possible to see the progress the country has made in terms of reproductive autonomy and rights for women and pregnant people. However, we must move from text to action, and ensure that decriminalization means healthcare. Profamilia's commitment will always be to provide comprehensive, humanized and safe services that allow free and informed decision making." Eugenia López Uribe, Regional Director of IPPF for the Americas and The Caribbean.