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The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has sent abortion pills and emergency contraception to Ukraine in response to reports of rape during Russia’s invasion.
“What we know is there’s a significant demand from our partners, who are overwhelmed with the number of survivors presenting for services,” Caroline Hickson, the regional director of the IPPF European Network explained.
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“We don’t need data to tell us that this is happening. We know that in ordinary life, violence against women is endemic in Ukraine,” she added. “So the most important thing for us is to act to care right now, and to make sure that the medical services and the psychosocial services are there to support those women.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the IPPF for comment.
The fighting in Ukraine has shifted eastward after Russia failed to take Kyiv following a month-long siege. Ukrainian officials said the bodies of 410 civilians were found in Kyiv-area towns and cities such as Bucha, where more than 100 civilians were found buried in mass graves.
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Human Rights Watch has documented evidence of summary executions, unlawful violence and threats against civilians and repeated rape in the first few weeks of the invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of carrying out “a deliberate campaign to kill, to torture, to rape, to commit atrocities” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said at least nine pregnancies had resulted from rape during the occupation of Bucha. She claimed that about 25 girls and women aged 14-25 were systematically raped in the basement of a building in the city.
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To meet the demand amid these reports, the IPPF delivered 2,880 packets of emergency contraception – also known as the morning-after pill – to Ukraine, along with post-rape kits that include pregnancy tests and abortion pills that can be used up to 24 weeks after pregnancy, Newsweek reported.
“There may be many women who find themselves pregnant and it’s just the very worst moment in their lives to be pregnant because they may be fleeing, they may be displaced, they’re separated from their families, from their support structures,” Hickson said.
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“To be pregnant at that moment in time may be devastating for some women, and they also need access to emergency contraception and to abortion care… It’s absolutely vital for survivors of violence and it’s also incredibly important across the board.”
