People are always shocked to learn how widespread and easily available mobile technology is in “developing nations” like Bangladesh, Kenya, and Afghanistan. When my husband visited my city of birth, Dhaka, last year he could not believe how many people had cell phones in a country where more than half of the population cannot access […]
US Assistance to Global Health Programs: The Battle Continues
The recent hostile budget process targeted women’s health programs globally as much as it did domestically. International family planning was targeted for a 40% cut and UNFPA funding eliminated in the House majority proposals alongside a total elimination of Title X and Planned Parenthood funding. The final amount approved for FY 2011 by Congress for […]
New Kansas Regulations May Wipe Abortion Providers Off the Map
Will Kansas become the first state in the nation without an abortion provider? The once-unthinkable could happen by Friday when a host of new state regulations takes effect. These detailed rules govern everything from the minimum size of the janitors’ closets to which drugs sit on the stockroom shelves. Clearly, these are the kinds of […]
Virginity Tests: Time to Let Gender Out of Revolution’s Closet
There is no doubt that the recent revolution in Egypt got the wheels of the Arab Spring rolling. But just as quickly as women flooded the corners of Tahrir Square and the streets of Cairo in the hopes of a democratic Egypt, their voices were sidelined. This is not uncommon. Even in conservative countries, we […]
North Carolina Defunds Planned Parenthood
By Amanda Litman, 6/15/2011 Today, North Carolina’s Republican-led Congress voted to override Democratic Governor Beverly “Bev” Perdue’s veto of the $19.7 billion, two-year state budget–making North Carolina the third state to defund Planned Parenthood. In one short sentence at the end of the budget, Republican lawmakers have banned the North Carolina government from making any […]
Midwives: Women Saving Women
Today, May 5, 2011 is International Day of the Midwife, which was spearheaded by the International Confederation of Midwives in 1992. It’s been said over and over, but it bears repeating. ONE WOMAN DIES EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY DUE TO COMPLICATIONS OF CHILDBIRTH. That’s approximately 529,000 women each year, with another 10 MILLION more […]
Day Three: Live-Blogging Women Deliver!
It’s Day 3 of the three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 in Washington, D.C., and Ms. Bloggers are still on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority. Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep the U.S.’s […]
Day Two of Women Deliver: Ellie Smeal, Rachel Leigh Cook, Ali Larter
At Day 2 of the three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 in Washington, D.C., Ms. Bloggers are there on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority. Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep the […]
Day One of Women Deliver: Melinda Gates, Ban-Ki Moon, Hillary Clinton
The three-day international conference Women Deliver 2010 opened in Washington, D.C., Monday morning, and the Ms. Blog was there on the scene. The conference intends to hammer home the point that maternal and reproductive health is a global priority. Want to do something to help? You can click here to urge President Obama to keep […]
Saving Mothers’ Lives
By Congresswoman Lois Capps As we celebrate Mother’s Day with our mothers, daughters, and sisters, it is important that we remember the mothers around the world we have lost. Every single year several hundred thousand girls and women across the world die from pregnancy-related causes. Ninety nine percent of deaths associated with pregnancy and childbirth […]
Unbelievable: Stupak Hijacking Health Care Reform Again!!
News broke late Friday night that Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) was brokering a deal with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to ban all abortion coverage in the health-care reform bill. You may be feeling deja vu. Backed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Stupak pulled the same trick–an 11th hour meeting with Pelosi–to […]
A Unisex Vaccine Against Cancer
Originally posted on Huffington Post by Kathy Spillar, Ms. magazine Executive Editor By this time, few adults in the U.S. haven’t heard of the “cervical cancer vaccine” Gardasil, which has been well-publicized and recommended for routine administration to girls and women ages 9 to 26. But how many know that Gardasil–which attacks four strains of […]
Bishops and Pawns
Originally Posted on Huffington Post by Kathy Spillar, Ms. magazine Executive Editor As health care reform is being debated today at the White House between Democrats and Republicans, who better to weigh in than … Catholic bishops?