The medical community has been clear: intrusive laws restricting abortion care undermine the relationship between health care providers and their patients and are based on political ideology, not on providing the best possible care.
In the early morning of December 13th, 2012, the Philippines House of Representatives voted to pass on second reading the Responsible Parenthood, Reproductive Health and Population and Development Act of 2011 (commonly known as the RH bill), which will give millions of women access to contraception and other reproductive health services that were in many cases out of their reach.
Does the decline in abortion rates indicate better reproductive health choices and outcomes for women? And if so, how do we continue to build on this success?
It's been six months since the Michigan State House voted in favor of HB 5711, the anti-abortion "super bill" considered one of the most extreme in the country. Now that the year is about to come to a close, it appears that the bill is back on the legislature's agenda, and is expected to be voted on by the Senate as soon as today.
Moving forward, our agenda is clear: young people must be meaningfully involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of international development policies.
Just in time for World AIDS Day, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled a Blueprint for Achieving an AIDS-Free Generation. Overall, the Blueprint is surprisingly strong, especially in light of the fact that over the past few years, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) has done a lackluster job on young people and focused its rhetoric almost exclusively on biomedical approaches.
