For too many, accessing health care is a challenge. Integrating reproductive health and HIV/AIDS services–providing both services under one roof–makes it easier for women to get what they need.
Millennials represent the first generation that has never known a world without HIV and AIDS, and I fully believe that they will be the generation of leaders to finally and decisively turn the tide against this global pandemic.
I dreamed of coming to Washington to speak at AIDS 2012 to deliver a message to those with the financial and political means to turn the tide of the epidemic: For millions of us, repressive drug policies and stigma stand in the way of treatment and prevention. But I am barred from participating.
Dear Representative Trent Franks and other anti-choice politicians: Stop claiming you care about women and babies. You didn't care about me when I was raped, and you don't care about the suffering of American people. How dare you suggest otherwise.
Stories abound of children stolen from their families in countries of conflict and chaos. Beware of countries with a history of atrocities and don’t become complicit: The "blinders" are quite profound once you enter the adoption process and become committed to a child.
In clinics nationwide, young women — mostly poor women — are lured into so-called "crisis pregnancy centers" which falsely advertise themselves as health clinics, but which are anything but. These crisis pregnancy centers are often set up and run by Catholic churches, which, for obvious reasons, doesn't bode well for any woman seeking information about contraception or terminating a pregnancy. Instead of offering counseling about a woman’s choices, these CPCs steer women towards a right-wing, anti-choice agenda, using Jesus and guilt as weapons.
Melinda Gates anointed herself as the new saviour of women's and children's health, and the press ate it up in both pictures and words. A truly Hollywood event, except this is not entertainment. This is women's lives.
