Marcy Bloom does U.S. advocacy and capacity building for GIRE - El Grupo de Informacion en Reproduccion Elegida/The Information Group on Reproductive Choice.
Earlier, I wrote about the evolution of abortion rights as basic human rights and how that legal strategy can potentially be used to change laws in many countries, with the ultimate goal to end the tragically high maternal mortality rates around the world.
I will continue now with a discussion of how four human rights specifically apply to the need for safe and legal abortion.
You've come to know Rewire for its daily dose of provocative perspective on policy as it affects sexual and reproductive health issues. Unafraid to take on the bad data and trumped up ideology of extremists, and featuring some of the best analysis and opinion from leaders throughout the policy field, Rewire is just getting warmed up!
Today we introduce RH Wiki, another opportunity for the community to take more ownership of this site and make it an up to the minute, content rich expression of progressive thinking on sexual and reproductive health issues. Our moderated RH Wiki allows registered users to submit changes to these sections of the website: About the Right, Policy Watch, Issue Briefs, and Glossary.
21 years ago The Lancet posed the question, "Where is the ‘M' in ‘MCH'?" Today, we have the answer—we are all too familiar with the challenges we face when we speak of maternal (child) health. We have put into place a powerful global initiative—the fifthof the Millennium Development Goals—that weaves together a set of solutions to combat maternal mortality rates. Maternal mortality is not the only focus of the fifth MDG—a goal that is more widely set on improving maternal health, such as reducing non-fatal childbirth and pregnancy injuries—but it is a pressing concern. And it is the focus of The Lancet's Maternal Mortality Series—a collection of five articles devoted to maternal survival around the world.
Yesterday Merck & Co, the makers of the Gardasil vaccine, announced they were suspending their campaign to get state legislatures to make the HPV vaccine mandatory for girls entering the sixth grade. Though the vaccine to prevent cervical cancer has been seen by many as a significant medical advance, there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding mandatory vaccination.
[img_assist|nid=166|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75]This is a weird blog for me. I usually indulge in the policy wonkiness that folks like me thrive on here in Washington, DC. And while I love the work I get to do on sexual and reproductive health and rights, the theatre has become another of my great loves. My partner opened up this world for me as he is an award winning local actor and musical theatre performer in Washington. We also indulge in frequent New York weekends that are a volleyball match between theaters and restaurants followed by much needed sleep on Amtrak on the trip back home.
Our most recent trip to New York was memorable as work and private life melded into enjoying what critics have hailed as the best new musical to hit Broadway in a long time. For me, I can explain it best as sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) on Broadway, and in particular, the most forthright and unapologetic defense of adolescent sexual health and rights I've ever seen as a form of entertainment.
In an appeal to the Republican Party's conservative base, John McCain said that he does not support the law that legalized abortion and that it should be overturned. This contradicts his statements on the campaign trail in 1999 when he took a softer stance, saying that he "would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force x number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations."
Over the years, I have come to appreciate the reproductive health and justice movement as an international feminist and human rights struggle. There are a myriad of connections and lessons. We can all learn from each other.
The public health statistics of abortion restriction and illegal abortion in the world are grim. But we can use these numbers—which represent real flesh-and-blood women—to inspire us to make changes.
An alarming number of physicians do not feel obligated to tell their patients about certain medical procedures they morally oppose. Often falling into this category are teen birth control and abortion. A recently published study in the New England Journal of Medicine, led by Dr. Farr Curlin, a bioethicist at the University of Chicago has brought forth new information. The researchers surveyed 1,144 doctors from all around the US and found some truly disturbing facts about medical care in this country. Many doctors who morally oppose certain treatments do not feel obligated to refer people elsewhere for care they do not wish to provide.
Talk of sexual and reproductive health in strictly political terms leads to the loaded catch-phrase captured by social conservatives a generation ago: family values. In purely political terms, family values have no party or ideology, we all come from families with values. Talking about our values, and framing our policy discussions in ways that connect with people where they live, and not in the abstract, is one reason progressive candidates were successful in the 2006 elections and why there is so much hope for this as the start of a truly progressive generation.
Two years ago George Lakoff and the Rockridge Institute stepped into a debate over use of the word "choice" in reproductive rights with The Nation's Katha Pollitt. That debate, in part, inspired many groups to think differently about framing values issues. In this recently released video, Lakoff reintroduces the foundation of that debate, looking at family values from a nurturing model, one where children are supported, loved and encouraged to be nurturing and accepting; which is preferred to a strict, domineering, paternalistic model favored by social conservatives.
