Today, Rewire welcomes a new regular staff blogger, Andrea Lynch, who will cover international issues from her vantage point in Brighton, England, and later this summer from Nicaragua. Her first blog post Colombia Leads the Way in Latin America coincides with an editorial on the same topic in today's New York Times that states in Colombia and much of Latin America "unsafe abortion is the third leading cause of maternal mortality. The health dangers are not shared equally, as wealthier women can pay competent doctors, while poor ones must resort to unsafe clinics or, worse, do it themselves."
The abortion issue has been dominant in headlines recently. As the importance of it as a public health and women's rights issue matures in other parts of the world, ideological leaders in the US would roll back the progress being made in reducing abortions by keeping them safe, legal and rare.
But what began as an effort to stop abortion by ideologues has become a full frontal attack on a range of reproductive health, highlighted by an attempt to undermine rigorous science in the process. In a world where nothing can be proven, the world the ideologues seek, then nothing can be certain. Science, when current understanding is proven wrong, celebrates advancement and new understanding. Ideologues confronted with fact, cling to flat-earth beliefs, refusing progress.
At a time when U.S. lawmakers are continually throwing up new barriers to safe and legal abortion, it’s a comfort to know that at least some countries are waking up to the reality that restricting legal abortion is often more of a death sentence than a deterrent for women. In a landmark decision handed down earlier this month in response to a case brought by Colombian lawyer Monica Roa last year, Colombia’s Constitutional Court ruled 5-3 to decriminalize abortion in cases where a woman’s life or health is in danger, in cases of rape or incest, or under circumstances where a fetal malformation is incompatible with life outside the womb—leaving Chile, El Salvador, and, uhm, South Dakota, with the most restrictive abortion laws in the Western Hemisphere. Ladies of Sioux Falls, book your ticket to Bogotá today…
The Administration recently released the list of members for the US delegation to the UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on HIV/AIDS, and it raised some eyebrows – both for the fact that it is so large (with 26 Administration members and 11 from the private sector) and on account of some of those who were selected.For an Administration that has left us all questioning its commitment to evidence-based public health policies, several of these nominees have quite questionable backgrounds on HIV.It appears that ideology is again the most important credential to this Administration.
HIV knows no borders, gender, culture, religion, or class. It is as complex an issue as the world has ever dealt with. This important backgrounder on the far right from Pam Chamberlain and Political Research Associates, points out that, sadly, the latest US export is our polarized politics from people who promote ideology over proven data. If you believe that the UN has an important role to play in finding real world soultions to complex issues, or if you are preparing to be at the UN meetings, this report is a must read.
In a recent study involving emergency room patients and their knowledge of emergency contraception (EC), researchers found that while 60% of those surveyed did not know how to get the medication, nearly 1/3 of respondents had never heard of EC. The report also found 70% of those surveyed had sex within the last2 months but fewer than half of the participants used birth control regularly.As the American College of Emergency Physicians convenes this week in Washington DC, we hope that the above information from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine is shared and appropriate action taken to educate ER personnel.
With news of so-called “new” birth control methods that block periods making headlines in the last several days, lack of research for and approved availability of truly new contraceptive methods can’t be overlooked.According to Reproductive Health Technologies Project, “…more can and should be done to help close the gap between Americans’ reproductive health needs and the information, technology and services currently available to them.”
From Reuters: Lee Jong-wook died today two days after a blood clot was found on his brain. Lee, 61, was spearheading the organisation's fight against global threats from bird flu, AIDS and other infectious diseases. WHO director-general since 2003, Lee was his country's top international official.
United Nations' Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Lee's death "devastating" and noted his deep commitment to fighting scourges such as AIDS and malaria and preparing the world for a possible bird flu pandemic.
In a time of heightened political rhetoric, it is always good to see real solutions producing real results to serious issues.
Noting that during her three years as Governor, abortions in Kansas declined 11 percent, funds for adoption and programs that counsel women on a variety of options are increasing, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a bill invading the privacy of women obtaining late-term abortions. "Privacy is a fundamental concern to all Kansans," Sebelius said.
Sebelius vetoed the bill against the backdrop of Attorney General Phil Kline's ongoing law suit seeking to obtain private medical records for women obtaining services at two clinics.
Both efforts typify what is happening across the country as progressives like Governor Sebelius can point to real success in reducing abortion thanks to pragmatic solutions while the opposition tries to score debating points by promoting bills that do nothing to reduce abortion and promote the erosion of civl liberties.
More practical solutions are being promoted to prevent HIV in African American communities in Illinois ...
In the next five minutes, another 25 women and girls will be infected with HIV. They are students, housewives, teachers, mothers, and more.HIV/AIDS programs have failed them, just as they have failed the 17 million women currently living with HIV/AIDS, and the countless others who have already died. We must do better.
Let’s take a look at the failure and its causes. In 2001, governments of the world declared that we would empower women and girls against the pandemic. When the world’s governments and civil society again convene at the United Nations next week they need to recognize that the situation is worse for women and girls today than it was five years ago. Infection rates among women and girls are rising in all regions, not only sub-Saharan Africa, because policies and funded programs to empower and protect them have not been a priority.
Following on the heels of coverage in the New York Times yesterday and Scott's post about it, we hear more today about the HIV epidemic in Kenya. First Lady Lucy Kibaki has made a strong statement against condom use:
Considering that the successes in lowering the infection rate in Kenya have been from comprehensive prevention campaigns, this statement could not have been a more obvious step backward.
