"Broken Justice: A True Story of Race, Sex and Revenge in a Boston Courtroom" -- the autobiography of a brave physician fighting for his freedom, career, and principles -- recounts an important part of reproductive justice history that may change the reader as much as it changed its author.
As we approach our last chance to improve the PEPFAR reauthorization bill, we must ask ourselves: do we care about claiming a victory on a mediocre piece of legislation and maintaining relationships with Congress, or do we care about taking a principled stand for the needs of people around the world?
Seminarian Kelli Clement says she is not pro-choice "in spite of" her faith. Rather, her faith, she says, "instructs me to be pro-choice." She calls for deeper connections between religious liberals and the broader progressive community.
One of the dangerous silences of global HIV prevention efforts has been the neglect of anal intercourse between women and men as well as the HIV prevalence among gay men and other men who have sex with men in Asia, Africa and other parts of the developing world.
This week on Reality Cast, I’ll be interviewing Aspen Baker from Exhale. Also, news on how the CDC injected a sobering reality into the discourse about teen sex, why the Elliot Spitzer revelations are causing mass media stupidity, and the new threat of the “female agenda”.
I don't work on reproductive health and rights on the international level, but I have worked on the national level and think that there's obviously much work to do that could definitely make us "a better defender" for women's rights internationally. Just last week a UN committee called the U.S. out for failing to address severe racial disparities that exist in reproductive health care.
So yes, we need to improve our conditions at home, but first there needs to be just a general recognition that these real problems exist rather than continuing to hold ourselves up on a pedestal as this champion of women's rights, coming to save "the oppressed women" from "uncivilized" countries, and as Kavita said, which has been happening in the midst of this guise of fighting terror.
One example is female genital cutting. While, as Michelle mentioned, the U.S.'s efforts to assist countries in getting the practice banned definitely isn't a bad thing, what about recognizing that our own practices of "vaginal rejuvenation" or "labiaplasty" isn't that far off? Yes, the two are still very different and I certainly wouldn't say labiaplasty would be on the president's top list of issues to address. I'm just saying is just the identification of certain problems that may be just as immediate here (such as the UN's recent findings) as other countries and not placing ourselves in the superiority seat is a first step. And putting ourselves to a higher standard from that perspective will allow us to avoid the moral high ground and come from a less condescending and invasive place.
I am interested in hearing from those of you who work primarily on women's reproductive health and rights globally whether you think the "walk the talk" at home argument holds water?
Would the United States be able to be a better defender of women's rights abroad if it set high standards for the same at home? How do do those realities affect this country's actions overseas or the ability of women's rights organizations that are US based to be successful in their work with partners in the rest of the world?
Women’s access to unbiased, medically-sound reproductive health care in Canada is being compromised by doctors hiding behind conscience clauses to refuse services and referrals.
Yesterday the CDC finally released data it had long held internally that demonstrates an alarming increase in the number of HIV/AIDS cases among young African-American men who have sex with men (MSM).
