Spreading our wings

Ibis opens its office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ellertson Fellowship

The Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health is established to support early-career researchers in a range of social science disciplines to build independent research portfolios, undertake projects that would inform abortion and reproductive health policy, and grow their leadership in academic and policy arenas. The Ellertson Fellowship ran until 2010, supporting 14 Ellertson Fellows.

In memory of Charlotte

Ibis's founder Charlotte Ellertson dies at 38, leaving a legacy that inspires us at Ibis and colleagues across our field and the globe to work toward a world in which all people can lead healthy reproductive lives characterized by autonomy and choice. Kelly Blanchard is appointed Ibis's President.

Engaging young people and their communities

To address high rates of unintended pregnancy and HIV among young women, Ibis develops participatory research techniques to engage young women, parents, and communities in identifying ways to increase knowledge and expand access to sexual and reproductive health in South Africa.

Reproductive health access
in the US military

Research launches to identify barriers to sexual and reproductive health care faced by US servicewomen which led to crucial policy change, including expanded coverage of contraception through TRICARE.

Connecting young people with information and care

Informed by our research, Ibis launches the mmoho campaign to advocate for sexual and reproductive health services and education for young people in South Africa.

Measuring the quality of abortion care

Ibis begins work in Ghana and South Africa focused on understanding and improving measurement of the quality of reproductive health care. This work informed the development of the Abortion Service Quality Initiative, a joint project with Metrics for Management and Ipas that is developing a universal, evidence-based, person-centered metric to assess abortion quality across a range of service delivery models.

Abortion throughout pregnancy

Ibis's Later Abortion Initiative (LAI) launches to document and disseminate information about service delivery innovations in later abortion care, raise awareness about the importance of access to later abortion care, and help improve referrals in the United States. LAI builds on the longstanding Later Abortion Network.

Bold technology innovations

Ibis collaborates with Samsara on the development of Ammi in Indonesia, the first-ever smartphone app providing an interactive source of safe abortion information. This work also informed the development of Euki— a comprehensive, inclusive, secure app for sexual and reproductive health released by Women Help Women and Ibis in 2019—as well as the MAMA Network 's MAMA Sofia app and the Libre app from Las Libres.

Data makes a difference

As part of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, Ibis and partner researchers collected data on clinic closures, changes in service delivery, and the impact on people seeking abortion care that was key to the Whole Woman's Health v Hellerstedt decision, which struck down admitting privileges and ambulatory surgical center requirements in Texas.

Photo by Mike Morgan

Innovative research methodologies

Ibis researchers launch the first abortion study using respondent-driven sampling, an innovative research tool to collect data on stigmatized or legally restricted behaviors, to understand abortion seeking and care experiences outside of legal public sector services in
South Africa.

Inclusive SRH care
for all

Work begins to better understand the sexual and reproductive health needs and experiences of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people in the United States. Results have provided insight into unique barriers to care, how to overcome them, and ways to be more inclusive in sexual and reproductive health research.

Abortion care in legally restricted settings

Results are published from our partnership with an abortion hotline in Indonesia documenting that people can safely self-manage their abortion after 12 weeks' gestation with support from trained hotline counsellors. Another Ibis study in Peru finds that women can safely and effectively self-manage their abortion after receiving information from a health care provider about how to use misoprostol.

Gathering together in person

Ibis's most recent in-person retreat brings together staff from our three offices for four days. Staff strengthened connections with each other while building our shared vision for Ibis's future, including the next steps in our organizational transformation process and ways to continue to embed justice and equity in all of our work.

Studying Accompaniment model Feasibility & Effectiveness (SAFE) Study

SAFE study results are published showing that self-managed abortion with accompaniment support was no less effective than the same regimens in a clinic setting—findings that help legitimize novel, supportive, and demedicalized models of care.

Trust Black Women:
Listen to us about our reproductive lives

Trust Black Women study results demonstrate racism as a central feature of southern Black women's reproductive health experiences. This community-based participatory research study in partnership with SisterSong sought to better understand the SRH experiences and concerns of Black women in Georgia and North Carolina.

Africa Region Strategy

Ibis launches its Africa Region Strategy, a collaborative blueprint to build power and support expanded information, services, and support for sexual and reproductive health and rights across the continent.

Free the Pill

After years of evidence generation and coalition building led by Ibis, a company submitted the first-ever application to the US FDA to move a birth control pill over the counter, bringing us one huge step closer to this transformative change in contraceptive access in the United States.

Head back to the beginning