IPPF was formed in 1952 at the Third International Conference on Planned Parenthood in Bombay, India.
It was the result of campaigning by a handful of brave and angry women, including Elise Ottesen-Jensen from Sweden and Dhanvanthi Rama Rau from India, who were imprisoned for their assertion that women had the right to control their own fertility.
They were determined to work with different cultures, traditions, laws and religious attitudes to improve lives for women around the world.
National family planning associations from eight countries formed the new Federation, including:
Hong Kong www.famplan.org.hk
India http://www.fpaindia.org/
Netherlands www.rng.nl/
Singapore
Sweden www.rfsu.se
United Kingdom http://www.fpa.org.uk/
United States www.plannedparenthood.org
West Germany www.profamilia.de
IPPF was formed in 1952 at the Third International Conference on Planned Parenthood in Bombay, India.
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In Brief
1952 - The fledgling organization operated on a tiny budget of $5,000 and kept in touch with its supporters via a monthly ‘Around the World News of Population & Birth Control’.
Circulation rapidly reached 12,000 copies to 30 different countries.
1956 - The IPPF had a directory listing in 43 countries in which family planning advice was obtainable.
1961 - The contraceptive pill went on sale.
After receiving a research grant from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the work of Gregory Pincus (Director of the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology) resulted in the development of an oral pill that prevented ovulation.
1966 – Sweden was the first country to provide a government grant to IPPF.
1981 - The ‘Family Planning in the 80s’ conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, was the first world conference on the subject to be jointly sponsored by the three major players – IPPF, UNFPA and the Population Council.
Today – IPPF is still leading a ‘brave and angry’ stance with regard to people’s right to access to good sexual and reproductive health care and services.
As these important choices and freedoms are seriously threatened, we are needed now more then ever.
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