I could go on. But if you’ve seen any of the news on the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development, you know it did not live up to the hype. Ask anyone from any sector–oceans, food security, education, energy–and they will all express disappointment. But for those of us advancing the sexual and reproductive rights of women, Rio+20 has been particularly disappointing.
Did Someone Say Vagina?
As a theater director, the first person I thought of when I heard the news from Michigan was Eve Ensler. I’ve directed The Vagina Monologues twice and, despite unsettling doubts that the play does not actually work as the V-Day events intend (to end violence), I loved doing it both times. In theater speak, The […]
Mandating Rape in Virginia
The new definition of rape, just approved by the FBI for the Uniform Crime Report is: “Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim.” A bill passed by the Republican controlled Virginia […]
One more time…
by Jill Morrison, National Women’s Law Center Abortion. [uh-bawr-shuhn] Contraception. [kon-truh–sep-shuhn] These are not the same. Yet I’ve repeatedly seen claims that the HHS decision on contraceptive coverage requires religious employers to cover “abortifacients.” Clearly, those opposed to the preventive services rule know they are on shaky ground when it comes to rallying their troops against […]
Wrap It Up India: The Time Is Now For Family Planning
According to “Condom Use Before Marriage and Its Correlates: Evidence from India,” a study published in the December issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, the majority of people in India having premarital sex between the ages of 15 and 24 did not use condoms. Authors K.G. Santhya, Rajib Acharya and Shireen J. […]
Does China Have the Solution for the Population Crisis? Not Even Close
by Meghan Yee On October 31, the world population reached 7 billion. According to one Chinese demographer, however, if not for China’s one-child policy, the world population would have hit that number five years ago. China has the largest population on earth with 1.4 billion people. However, since 1979, the National Population and Family Planning […]
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HERvotes Takes On the Mississippi “Personhood” Amendment
Welcome to the fourth #HERVotes Blog Carnival! This time, we’re writing with an especially urgent focus. There’s an extremely dangerous constitutional amendment to the Mississippi state constitution on the November 8th ballot. It grants personhood and constitutional rights to a fertilized egg. Election day is just one week away. We must stop the outrageous movement […]
The Staggering Facts of Seven Billion
We humans mark a milestone today—the world’s population reaches 7 billion. When I was born there were about 2.2 billion people on earth. When my assistant was born there were a little more than 5 billion people on earth. It took just 12 years to go from 6 billion to 7. As the population climbs […]
Reflections on a Population Surging Beyond 7 Billion
6,998,460,833: the world’s current population, according to an estimate by Population Action International (PAI). In anticipation of October 31st, the day the world’s population is predicated to reach 7 billion, I’ve sat at my desk transfixed by PAI’s scrolling ticker, documenting the rapidly increasing population as it approaches a number troubling to reproductive rights activists, […]
What Does Seven Billion Mean for Women?
The UN has projected that the world’s population will reach 7 billion today, a scary milestone amidst increasing global political and economic instability. More people will only place increased pressure on our environment, on the world’s habitats, forests, and resources such as water. But how does investing in women’s rights tie into slowing the world’s […]
Let(ting) Her Die is NOT an Option
“I was pregnant, I was miscarrying, I was bleeding. If I had to go from one hospital to the next trying to find one emergency room that would take me in, who knows if I would even be here today. What my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are trying to do is […]
African Women Need Contraception AND HIV Prevention
A study published on Monday called into question the benefits of injectable hormones, the most popular form of contraception used in Southern and Eastern Africa, and identified a link between the contraception and HIV transmission. The study appeared in a front page, above the fold article in Tuesday’s New York Times, attracting attention to the […]
Virginia Adopts Strictest Regulations on Abortion Providers in Nation
The Virginia Board of Health voted Thursday 12-1 to adopt unnecessary and punitive regulations of first-trimester abortion clinics requiring architectural renovations to change clinics into hospitals and change government oversight. Under the regulations, state authorities can enter a clinic to inspect at any time without notice to examine patient medical records, gather a list of […]
Think You’re Covered? Think Again
By Alicia Gay, ACLU If you were faced with the decision of having an abortion, would your health insurance cover it? This is a question that many women have probably never considered. It’s a health care procedure that most people just don’t plan ahead for. Well, if you happen to be covered under your employer’s […]
Voice Your Support for Teen Birth Control Access!
By Jessica Stites It’s been a refreshing week of sanity around birth control. First the Institute of Medicine announced that birth control should count as “preventive care” and be covered by insurance at no cost. And now, in response to a Good Morning America segment on the “debate” about whether mothers should let their teen […]
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 […]
Hard Times = Hard Choices
A new report from the Guttmacher Institute gives useful empirical backing for what most people already know: Bad economic times like the present significantly affect individual’s and couple’s reproductive decisions. (In fact, the only people who don’t seem to grasp this intuitively are rightwing Republicans
