Sometimes I wonder if we are not missing the larger picture. Perhaps instead of talking about preventing STDs and treating an illness, maybe we could talk in terms of promoting sexual health.
In recent weeks people who oppose Planned Parenthood and our mission to provide high-quality reproductive health care, have been conducting a secret, nationwide hoax campaign in an attempt to undermine women’s access to services. Now they are focused on spreading falsehoods about sex selection.
What does it mean to be queer and poor? How does one affect the other? At AWID 2012, a panel of GLBTQ advocates discussed their experiences exploring these intersections of sexuality, power, and economic justice.
Fundamentalist religious movements are gaining ground everywhere we look. What does it mean for human rights, and more importantly, how can we move the human rights agenda forward, effectively? A panel of experts on religion and rights examined this question at AWID 2012.
Young Arab women have led and are leading the charge for women's rights in the Arab world. Yet spring has turned quickly to winter and the prospects they face are grimmer than the world may have realized. At AWID 2012, young Arab women activists speak for themselves.
The Nebraska Legislature has been embroiled in a conservative controversy. The issue at hand has been pre-natal care for immigrant women. The angels and devils sitting on the shoulders and whispering in the ears of the GOP caucus in that state have been tugging their politicians back and forth over the issue, while Nebraskans have waited to see whether hatred for “illegals” would prove more powerful than “saving babies.”
We need to make sure that young people are getting tested if they have had unprotected sex, getting educated, and using the tools and resources available to them to prevent both STD transmission and unintended pregnancy.
Logic tells us that for the teen birth rate to go down without the abortion rate going up, fewer teens have to have sex or more teens have to use contraception. Data tells us that it's a little bit of both. But what policies, programs, social issues, and cultural shifts are behind this?
In the Dominican Republic, groups have been working to secure political and public support for reducing teenage pregnancy and ensuring access to youth-friendly health services and education. In the Dominican Republic, high rates of adolescent fertility and maternal mortality have attracted the attention of national authorities and civil society organizations.
