Summer Webinar Series - Resources and Questions from August 17, 2019

Safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care – Resources and Questions

RESOURCES

Call for Proposals

Katy Footman, Marie Stopes International, katy.footman@mariestopes.org

Bill Powell, Ipas, powellb@ipas.org

 

Other

QUESTIONS

To what extent are actual abortion and PAC services decentralized to communities? What can be done at community level?

MSI works at the community level through networks of community mobilisers – staff and volunteers who have been trained to raise awareness about the legal status of abortion, and the availability of services in their community. We also improve community access to safe abortion and post-abortion care services through our clinics, mobile teams that visit rural communities, support to existing private and public sector clinics, and networks of community midwives, as well as distribution of high-quality products to community pharmacies. We engage community leaders and stakeholders to build support for our contraceptive, safe abortion and post-abortion care services, and reduce stigma.

What strategies do you use in humanitarian settings where there is perhaps not the emphasis on investing in longer term advocacy and system change?

Ipas has been working with the Inter-Agency Working Group (IAWG) for Reproductive Health in Crisis <iawg.net> for many years to advocate for inclusion of safe abortion in humanitarian programs.  Along with other supporting IAWG members, a Safe Abortion Care (SAC) sub-working group was formed a few years ago which has spearheaded much movement around SAC within the IAWG and the humanitarian field.  See this link: http://iawg.net/areas-of-focus/safe-abortion-care/.

Ipas works directly with leading humanitarian partner organizations to build their willingness and capacity to deliver SAC in their humanitarian programs. Our work in this regard includes Values Clarification and Attitudes Transformation (VCAT) workshops for agency staff; VCAT training of trainers to build partner capacity to facilitate VCAT workshops within their own organizations; clinical and programmatic trainings on SAC and technical assistance to partner organizations before or during crisis and post-crisis responses; and other customized training plans and SAC orientations that respond to humanitarian organizations’ needs and the needs of the women and girls they serve. Here is a link to some information on our humanitarian work:  https://www.ipas.org/our-work/humanitarian-settings

 

What can we do locally to spread awareness and sexual education? For example, if you want to start a university student organization to spread education, reduce stigma, where do you start? Any advice, etc.

 

WHO recommended Self Care for SRHR and some abortive services can be self-administered.  Any thoughts on this?

Values and cultural norms tend to be major obstacles in accessing abortion. How do you work to counter these barriers while respecting local values and culture?

Please see the links to the Values Clarification and Attitude Transformation (VCAT) and the Stigma Toolkit above.  These are effective resources that have been used for years in many different countries, settings and contexts. (Ipas)

How are you folks using language that's inclusive to the trans population, etc. Are we assuming that "woman" is referring to any individual who is pregnant and wanting an abortion"?

Although we used the term ‘women’ throughout the webinar, and often refer to women and girls in our resources, we do so with a broad meaning as in many cases, it is not only people who identify as women who require abortion care. People outside of the term ‘women’, such as trans men and non-binary people, can also become pregnant and require care to support their reproductive health and rights. To this end, ‘women and pregnant people’ is a term that is more inclusive of these diverse clients and their sexual and reproductive health needs. (Marie Stopes)

Posted on 2019-08-26