As a veteran foreign aid advocate, I was keenly interested when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced in January a major restructuring of the U.S. government's foreign assistance program under a new vision of "transformational diplomacy." Its lofty goal was described as "helping to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system." As the details of the new strategic framework for foreign aid begin to emerge, however, my cynical concern that short-term national security and democracy promotion objectives favored by the State Department would trump the traditional focus of U.S. foreign assistance on development and poverty reduction appears to be on its way to being confirmed. Such a shift could prove enormously detrimental to long-term development programs, including family planning and reproductive health.
[img_assist|nid=577|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=116|height=177]One of the two groups that formed to sue Montgomery County, Md. public school system over the sex ed curriculum has given the newly-revised condom video positive reviews. Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC) thinks the latest version is more clinical and less MTV. The video no longer has "a cute little blonde with a cucumber," according to the president of CRC. Now the demonstration about the correct use of prophylactics only shows a pair of hands putting a condom on a wooden penis and is narrated by a male voice. Maybe the right-wingers substituted a woody...oops, i mean wooden model for the cucumber because they worried about engorged, ...er high expectations. Or, they thought the woman health education teacher was too suggestive (though I guess they aren't worrying about splinters).
Editorial Note: With this post, Rewire welcomes Dawna Cornelissen, who is a graduate student in Women's Studies at Texas Woman's University. She is also the president of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood at TWU.
Everything is Bigger in Texas ...even parental consent forms for abortions. Earlier this month, the Texas Medical Board approved a six page form for minors seeking abortions. This form is a result of Senate Bill 419 passed in June 2005, which was intended to reauthorize the State Board of Medical Examiners, but additionally, made it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion on a minor without written parental consent. Although a copy of the form is not yet available, Polly Ross Hughes, of theHouston Chronicle, reports that the form "warn(s) of medical risks and tout(s) ‘women's right to know' brochures backed by abortion opponents."
Finally, we have a vision! After years of asking what has regrettably been a rhetorical question, "We know what we're against, but do we actually know what we're for?" the Center for American Progress has provided an answer. In issuing "More Than a Choice: A Progressive Vision for Reproductive Health and Rights" last week, the Center lays out a new approach to reproductive rights.
Kudos to the Center for prioritizing this issue[img_assist|nid=564|title=|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=100|height=85] (it's still at the top of their website after three days!), and to author Jessica Arons, for laying out an agenda that can help us shift the debate and bring a new generation to our side. Arons moves us one step further down the path of broadening the discourse beyond its historic myopic focus on abortion.
The Administration's decision to block the funding for UNFPA for the fifth year in a row is descriptive of its overall attitude: set your course and don't ever change. The standard operating procedure seems to be: make a decision, and no matter what the evidence shows, stay your original course.
There isn't one, but maybe there is something like it... I subscribe to the RSS feeds for Family Research Council’s (FRC) “Alerts,” and I was struck recently by the 6 new ones that appeared in my inbox:
“Volunteers for Virginia Marriage Amendment needed”
“Volunteers need to help pass marriage amendment in Wisconsin”
“South Dakota faces ballot initiatives on marriage, abortion, and gambling”
“Tennessee marriage amendment needs your help”
“Effort to defend traditional marriage underway in Idaho”
“South Carolina elected officials need to support the marriage amendment”
This is not the FRC PAC sending out these messages.This is FRC’s main office for the 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is legally bound from engaging in partisan electoral activities.Ballot initiatives are technically apolitical — after all, it is not inherently Republican to want to ban gay marriage and abortion (wouldn’t both be an exercise of “big government” intrusion?).They have been the means for political engagements for non-profit organizations in the past, but I don’t know that I’ve seen such a clear example of this scale of activism until this one.
Every once in a while, a piece of writing comes along that truly connects the dots, challenging us to think beyond the traditional ways in which we tend to divide up issues. "We must act on the lessons learned during the Zuma rape trial," co-authored by South African gender activists Bafana Khumalo and Dean Peacock (both men, by the way) of Sonke Gender Justice Project, is just such an article. It weaves together analysis of the now-infamous Jacob Zuma rape trial (wherein former Deputy President of South Africa Jacob Zuma was acquitted of raping a 31-year-old family friend) with the story of a colleague of the authors who was raped in her home by a stranger while the trial was unfolding.
Rewire celebrates the life of a legendary woman, Gov. Ann Richards, with her family of origin and her ever expanding family of friends, especially noting her daughter Cecile Richards and the Planned Parenthood Federation community. She will be missed, but her unstoppable spirit will continue to guide us all.
Thanks for all the laughs, the leadership and one remarkable life!
The media images and descriptions of young girls being wed to much older men in places such as Afghanistan, India and Ethiopia have captured the public mind in recent months. These reports tell the story of young girls being sold off, often for a modest bride price, to a life of poverty, social isolation, early and frequent childbearing -- even domestic violence and early death due to higher risks of maternal mortality or HIV/AIDS. The New York Times, National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal,Glamour magazine, and mainstream America get the urgency of eradicating child marriage. But most U.S. policymakers are not reacting. Why?
In the midst of a global pandemic, HIV/AIDS, the Church of England has called an openly gay, and for the first time an openly HIV-positive priest to minister to a parish that has suffered many losses from the disease. Forty-plus million people are living with the disease, and countless clergy have died from it, most without acknowledging it publicly because of "official policy". The priest had been forced to resign from a previous parish because of his diagnosis. Maybe with this second calling, the world is also given an opportunity to learn from this one parish in the entire world where a ministry will be offered from the lessons AIDS has to teach us all.
