In the past week there have been two sets of startling stories about India and reproductive rights in the news.
The first story is based on a government survey finding that 40% of Indian women have not heard of AIDS. India has 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS per UN figures. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the most extensive study on health and nutrition in India, said in its latest report only 57 percent of women have heard of AIDS. In rural areas, where most Indians live, a mere 46% of women were aware of the disease.
The second story reports that GE ultrasound machines in India are being used for sex selection. Under Indian law, doctors who operate ultrasound machines can only use them in the case of an abnormal pregnancy and must fill out forms showing the reason for each procedure. However the only machines that the government can monitor are the 25,770 machines that are registered. The London Daily Main places estimates of the actual number of machines in use at anywhere from 70,000 to 100,000, according to the British Medical Journal. The portable ones that make it to rural areas, if unregistered and unregulated can allow any woman to determine the sex of her child. The fetus can then be terminated at a government hospital, where abortions, like other procedures, are free for those who cannot pay.
The biggest debate in Texas right now is over Governor Rick Perry's executive order mandating all girls entering the sixth grade to be immunized with the recently approved human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine starting in September 2008. The order, signed on February 2, has sparked all sorts of controversy: the conservatives are furious, the liberals are speechless, and the independents are suspicious. Personally, I have mixed feelings about Perry's decision as well. At first, I was elated that Perry, a conservative Republican, was able to see past the absurd argument that the vaccine would increase sexual promiscuity. But, almost as soon as Perry's order was signed, it turned out to be too good to be true.
March 10 is the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers. The abortion provider community is made up of medical professionals who are both highly skilled and uniquely dedicated to protecting the lives and health of women by providing them with quality reproductive health care.
But abortion providers are much more than highly trained medical professionals: they are also heroes.
March 8th is International Women's Day and in honor of this occasion, I'd like to draw your attention to a great lineup of blog posts and videos at the U.N. Foundation's The People Speak (TPS). TPS asked prominent women from around the world to talk about a woman whom they admire. Featured below are two women's answers: a blog post from Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan and a video of Eveline Herfkens of the U.N. Millennium Campaign.
What Woman Has Inspired You?
Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah: "Maha Abdel Waham"
Last year in Jordan, many remarkable women and girls from all corners of the world gathered together to launch the Global Action Women's Network for Children - a new initiative to tackle some of humanity's oldest tragedies. Chief among them are the needless deaths of millions of mothers and babies every year...and the wasted potential of tens of millions of girls who are kept out of school.
International Women's Day is always such a bittersweet occasion—an opportunity to draw attention to the challenges facing women worldwide, but also an opportunity to celebrate women—all that we are, all that we do, and all that we have achieved. The Irish charity and development agency Trócaire has recently launched a gender equality campaign to raise awareness of the inequalities that come simply with being born female: you can watch the campaign's powerful TV ad below.
Jennifer Roback Morse needs some help finishing an article for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs—can you pitch in? It's an unusual situation, since Morse—the author of Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work and Smart Sex: Finding Life-Long Love in a Hook-Up World, who describes herself on her website as "your coach for the culture wars"—usually seems to have all the answers. But in her most recent article, "Taxpayers Holding the Baby," coming up with a solution to the fact that in 2004, 55% of births in the state of Oklahoma were paid for by Medicaid, seems to have her stumped. I decided to take a closer look at her argument and see, as an advocate for reproductive health and pregnant and birthing women's rights, if I couldn't help out.
You know what the problem with women is? We want to be able to do things like get pregnant and have children on our own terms, seek employment free from workplace discrimination and command a fair wage in return for that employment—you know, we want "special privileges."
Along comes our savior in the form of investment fund manager Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing the UK Independent Party (UKIP). Mr. Bloom, in his first days on the EP's Women's Rights Committee, attempted to set his compatriots straight by offering this stunning slice of wisdom:
No self-respecting small businessman with a brain in the right place would ever employ a lady of child-bearing age.
Elisha Dunn-Georgiou is the International Policy Associate at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).
You would think that this year's 51st session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on Ending All Forms of Discrimination and Violence against the Girl Child would not be all that controversial compared with other themes the CSW has tackled. In past years the CSW has focused on themes like the equal participation of women in society, enhanced gender equality, or a reaffirmation of the Beijing conference—all topics that have strong opposition in countries around the world—especially those, like the United States, Sudan, and Iran that have refused to ratify the Convention to Eliminate All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). But the topic of this year's CSW should be a feel good topic that everyone—conservative or liberal—can rally around because everyone wants to get to the root causes that perpetuate violence against girls. Right? Well, maybe—it actually all depends on how you define violence and discrimination against girls.
What propels you to action? Was there one event in your life that made you sit up and take notice of injustice and inequity in the world? Maybe it was a series of events, traumatic or inspirational, prodding you to open your eyes and act.
For the girls who spoke at the United Nations in New York on Friday, March 2nd, it was lives filled with unimaginable horror and pain that pushed them to become the activists they are.
Six girls from around the world shared the distressing, sometimes harrowing, experiences of their lives with a room full of journalists, diplomats and U.N. staffers at the "Girls Speak Out" event. According to an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the event is part of the 51st annual meeting for the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, which is focusing on discrimination and violence against girls this year.
Let's kick off 2007 with a little immigration mania, shall we?
Yuki Lin, born on the stroke of midnight this New Year's, became the winner of a random drawing for a national Toys "R" Us sweepstakes. The company had promised a $25,000 U.S. savings bond to the "first American baby born in 2007." However, Yuki lost her prize after the company learned that her mother was an undocumented U.S. resident. Instead, the bond went to a baby in Gainesville, Georgia, described by her mother as "an American all the way."
The question is unambiguously answered by the 14th Amendment, which asserts that a child born on U.S. soil is an American citizen, having equal standing with all other American citizens. Nevertheless, this incident brings to light some pretty deep-seated beliefs about who is legitimately American and who, clearly, is not.
