Sarah M. is a college student working in Washington, D.C. this summer. We're excited to have her working with us on Rewire for the month of August!

Currently there are an estimated 750,000 people displaced in Lebanon, with no end to the violence in sight. Of those 750,000, statistics suggest that slightly over half are women and girls.

Those of us who have watched popular medical dramas, or those of us who have followed humanitarian crises in the past, know that babies do not stop being born when there is an upheaval—natural or man-made. Women do not suddenly stop needing reproductive health care. People still have sex and family planning is still necessary. Miscarriages still happen and complications in birth do not wait.

However, in a time of war or during an emergency, reproductive healthcare for women is one of the first aspects of society to suffer. Clinics shut down, among those that are still open, the level of competent healthcare available is seriously put in jeopardy, and the time and effort required to visit facilities is often being spent elsewhere.

This is where organizations like the UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, can be of the most help. On July 21^st the UNFPA announced that it was going to begin sending over shipments of reproductive health materials and supplies to the areas most affected in Lebanon, and also into Syria where displaced people have sought refuge.

UNFPA is among the first responders in humanitarian disasters and their life-saving reproductive health kits are sent abroad in times of strife. The kits contain sanitary napkins, safe delivery kits, hormonal contraceptives, condoms, and other necessary medical supplies. The safe delivery kits contain nothing more than a sheet of plastic, a clean razor blade, a bar of soap and a string to provide a clean surface to deliver a baby. These items might seem basic, but in many cases, they are the crucial difference between life and death.

This is why I find it unfathomable that there are people who put such an emphasis on politics that they lose sight of an opportunity to help women in dire situations. For example, in the days following the 2004 tsunami, UNFPA’s assistance helped to establish safe, clean places for mothers to give birth and provided access to critically needed supplies. However, the ever-present opposition to UNFPA (and family planning in general) saw the list of contents on the kit and zeroed in on the inclusion of manual vacuum aspirators and began to raise the false allegations that UNFPA was supporting abortions. This attack echoed similar negative advocacy campaigns around UNFPA’s work in Kosovo.

In reality, manual vacuum aspirators (MVA) are essential to providing safe healthcare. Botched abortions and complications during miscarriage require the removal of the fetus from the woman. The safest and most effective way to do this, according to the WHO, is to use an MVA to perform the procedure.

The women fleeing Lebanon (and those not lucky enough to leave) will benefit greatly from UNFPA’s humanitarian assistance. There will be mothers who are given the opportunity to give birth in a safe, clean, environment, and women and men who, through the access on condoms, will be able to prevent unintended pregnancies or sexually-transmitted infections such as HIV/AIDS. The real effects of the slander against UNFPA and other groups like it will fall onto the shoulders of these women, who may be marginalized for choosing to receive services, or who may not find them available at some time in the future when they need them most.