Marie Stopes International: New global website for pro-choice abortion activists launched today

Friday, 23 October 2009 12:00 AM

Leading sexual and reproductive health agency Marie Stopes International (MSI) launches its new website today, to provide a pro-choice knowledge and information exchange resource for anyone working to eradicate unsafe abortion world wide.

www.globalsafeabortion.org goes live on the second anniversary of the world's first global conference dedicated to safe abortion, which was held in London and hosted by MSI in association with Ipas and Abortion Rights. The new website has been developed in response to feedback from almost 800 delegates who attended the 2007 conference.

"Conference delegates told MSI that it would be helpful if we could find a way to keep the spirit of the conference alive and to provide the community with an opportunity to continue networking, co-ordinating effort and sharing information," said Tony Kerridge, spokesperson for Marie Stopes International.

"Seventy thousand women die every year as a consequence of unsafe abortion, and it remains a key challenge in women's health. MSI has developed this new online resource for anyone interested in, or working towards, legal or practical reforms to ensure every woman's right to access safe abortion services wherever she lives in the world."

The website is currently in a prototype form, to provide interested third parties with an opportunity to review the proposed content and structure and feed back to MSI and the website design teams, Dreamm and Beyond. This consultation process will last until 20 November, 2009. The site will then launch in its final form in December.

One key feature of the site is a series of dedicated country specific pages, which it is envisaged will have content generated by locally based organisations. MSI is interested in hearing from any group or grassroots organisation interested in becoming a 'country page contributor' for any country currently not assigned one. Interested parties can either complete a form on the site itself or contact tony.kerridge@mariestopes.org.uk.

"Our hope is that in time, www.globalsafeabortion.org will become the essential resource for pro-choice advocates the world over," added Kerridge.

"We have some extremely ambitious plans for the site, including live 'master classes' hosted by leading figures within the movement, and a library we hope will bring all the very best pro-choice thinking, advocacy and research into a single location."

Visit the site at www.globalsafeabortion.org. The consultation process closes on Friday 20 November, 2009.

For media enquiries and spokesperson interview please contact:

Tony Kerridge: 020 7034 2365 / 07748 948037 / tony.kerridge@mariestopes.org.uk

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