Weekly global roundup: Nepali women learn about their right to divorce and increasingly do so; Argentina's new Gender Identity Law first in the world; Tanzania's President petitioned over contraception access; relativity in rape threats for women in South Sudan.
The War on Women fights to take away a women's rights to make decisions for their own lives, instead granting male leaders the sole authority to dictate their allowable actions. This injustice is furthered by a common Fundamentalist Christian idea that a woman can't be entrusted with authority even over themselves. If we take another look at the Bible, however, we'll have to confront this idea with the example of a woman whom Christ himself had entrusted with the authority to bear his message: Mary Magdalene
To say abortion is stigmatized in this country is to state the obvious. But we have a special brand of taboo that we foist atop even that stigma, which is the taboo of having someone else pay for a service you need – especially if it’s an abortion. Yet while abortion may be legal, but if you cannot afford it, it’s inaccessible.
When I think about Mother’s Day, I usually picture a Dad in plaid pajama pants destroying the kitchen with his kids in a clumsy effort to make his wife breakfast in bed. Mother’s Day looks a little different in our house.
A New York Times article looks at how parents do (and should) react when their children inevitably see Internet pornography, an FDA advisory panel recommends approving a drug for HIV-prevention, and Massachusetts cuts over $1 million from its HIV-prevention and testing program in county jails.
Forty percent of adults ages 18-29 don't really believe birth control matters, and you'll get pregnant when fate decrees. They're underestimating their fertility and the effectiveness of contraception. The real question is why?