Women's reproductive health
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Three Sisters
Documentary:
Women in Eritrea are often depicted as Africa’s most liberated sisterhood.
They fought on the frontlines in the country’s 30-year war of independence. But in Eritrea’s poor rural heartland, woman’s liberation is a war still being fought. And the challenge is to convince women themselves of the need for change. This documentary tells the stories of three rural women and explores what the government and National Union of Eritrean Women in partnership with IFAD are doing to help improve women’s lives. Documentary: Women in Eritrea are often depicted as Africa’s most liberated sisterhood. ... more -
Abstinence-only multimillionaire funds 527 attack on abortion issue
On a day when most Americans are looking at the news from Wall Street, as markets plunge, comes word from far-right social conservatives that one multimillionaire funder will attempt to distract voters with independent television advertising on more Culture War issues.
Last week featured the now resoundingly discredited lies about age appropriate comprehensive sex ed, discredited even by Karl Rove on Fox News Sunday when he said, "McCain has similarly gone, in his ads, one step too far and sort of attributing to Obama, things that are, you know, beyond the 100% truth test."
Those lies were about legislation in Illinois promoting comprehensive sex ed, that clearly stated in Section 2, Lines 11 and 12, that all sex ed curriculum would be "age appropriate." For Kindergartners, that meant teaching kids "good touch, bad touch" lessons to protect them from pedophiles and predators.
The abstinence-only-until-marriage crowd pushed the McCain campaign one step too far, even for Karl Rove. Now one of abstinence-only's chief profiteers, Raymond Ruddy, a wealthy multimillionaire, is going to be the primary funder of an independent advertising campaign that will attack Obama on the also discredited, by FactCheck.org, claims that he supports infanticide.
Social conservatives -- emboldened by the addition of Sarah Palin to the ticket -- are promoting Culture War issues to shift the focus away from the economy, housing, energy, the environment and national security. In the process, the debate Americans could be having on these critical issues is being distorted -- as is the reality about sexual and reproductive health.
Who can blame the far-right when at stake in the election is their access to government grants to continue profiting from their failed abstinence-only programs; their efforts to ban all abortions, even in the case of rape and incest; and to reduce access to contraception by allowing individual medical professionals to redefine contraception as abortion, as the Bush Administration is currently attempting to do.
The ad will be emotionally powerful and manipulative, but in the end it is being funded primarily by one multimillionaire, whose company Maximus, has benefited from more than $100 million dollars in government grants during the Bush Administration. That fact won't likely appear in the 30 second ad or many mainstream media reports. Meanwhile, wars still rage, the economy is in decline, the environment is a mess, Americans with jobs are concerned about losing them, and those without health care are wondering what to do if they get sick.
Raymond Ruddy, the multimillionaire behind the ads, will be okay though. Don't worry about him when you see his ads or hear the media reports about them. On a day when most Americans are looking at the news from Wall Street, as markets plunge, comes word from far-right social conservativ... more -
Steroids could prevent miscarriages?
Up to 3,000 miscarriages each year in the UK could be prevented thanks to new research into what causes women to lose their baby early in pregnancy. The study sheds new light on how a cheap experimental treatment works and has led to a formal trial of the drug.
Earlier studies suggested that giving steroid drugs to some women who have suffered repeated miscarriages allows them to have a normal pregnancy. Steroids are use widely to treat asthma and eczema and cost just £1 per day.
"There's a massive, desperate need," said Dr Siobhan Quenby at the University of Liverpool, who said she has been "inundated" with email enquiries from women about the treatment. "There are thousands of people around the world who are absolutely desperate because they keep miscarrying and there is no cause found and there is no treatment for them."
Annie Greenhouse, 35, of York had four miscarriages before being given the experimental treatment. "I was absolutely devastated the first time, and it got harder each time. After the fourth one I felt, 'that's it, I can't possibly do this.' I felt I had responsibility for those lives and if I got pregnant and it went wrong I would be responsible."
But the fifth time she got pregnant she was given the steroid treatment and had a successful pregnancy. Her baby Finlay is now nine months old. "It's been fantastic. It has completely changed my life. It's wonderful being a mum. It's the most amazing thing ever."
Quenby estimates that steroids could help around a third of women who suffer unexplained repeated miscarriages. In total around 18,000 women miscarry every year in the UK and around half of these miscarriages are unexplained. Up to 3,000 miscarriages each year in the UK could be prevented thanks to new research into what causes women to lose their baby early... more -
Dubya's new attack on birth control
With just a few months left in office, President Bush is still doing the bidding of social conservatives who oppose women's reproductive freedoms. Under the guise of rules to protect antiabortion nurses and doctors from discrimination in hiring, a proposed new regulation would expand the definition of abortion to include any form of contraception that can work by stopping implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. This can include common birth-control pills, emergency contraception, and the intra-uterine device, or IUD. Doctors who refuse to perform abortions for reasons of personal conscience already are protected by law.
The potential impact of this new rule on the more than 500,000 hospitals, family planning clinics, and medical offices that receive any form of federal funding could be dramatic. The rule could also undercut many state laws - including one in Massachusetts requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception for rape victims - and laws requiring prescription drug insurance plans to include contraceptives. Massachusetts passed such a law in 2002.
The draft proposed rule highlights the fact that many antiabortion groups also oppose one good method of preventing the unplanned pregnancies that lead to abortions - birth control. At some point in their lives, 98 percent of US women use birth control. With just a few months left in office, President Bush is still doing the bidding of social conservatives who oppose women's repro... more -
Abortion: Can it be Regulated?
I am asked if abortion was banned could it be regulated.
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Hoping to make a baby boy? Have a burger first!
"Have a burger and chips before getting pregnant and you're more likely to have a baby boy whereas a girl is more likely if you eat chocolate or ice cream. It may sound about as convincing as puppy-dogs' tails, but this is the latest cutting-edge science as reported in New Scientist."
This study adds to the evidence that a baby's gender is not simply down to whether the father delivers an X or a Y chromosome. The environment of the womb, it is claimed, can be manipulated to favour either male or female sperm. It also has to do with blood sugar levels. My question is this: Does this explain why girls tend to love chocolate so much? "Have a burger and chips before getting pregnant and you're more likely to have a baby boy whereas a girl is more likely i... more -
Sterilized in the name of Eco-friendliness
Meet Toni, a woman who was sterilized at age 27 to reduce her carbon footprint. She's what I would call an envirofundamentalist. She works for an environmental charity (good!)... but she takes her passion for the planet to a whole new level. She had an abortion in her 20s in the firm belief that she was helping save the planet.
"Every person who is born uses more food, more water, more land, more fossil fuels, more trees and produces more rubbish, more pollution, more greenhouse gases, and adds to the problem of over-population."
And after that "terrible mistake" she decided to make sure it would never happen again and set out to find a doctor to perform the irreversible sterilization surgery.
What?!? I know. That's what I said. I'm all about women having the right to chose. And I support people working towards a more environmentally sustainable future. But this seems a bit extreme to me. What do you think about her choice? Meet Toni, a woman who was sterilized at age 27 to reduce her carbon footprint. She's what I would call an envirofundamentalist. ... more -
Court rejects 'Roe v. Wade for Men'
Wow, I hadn't even heard anything about this!
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Abortion is the Easy Option?
Claims made by the angry Archbishop of Canterbury that the British women having abortions are taking the easy way out, positioning abortion as the acceptable norm rather than the last resort. His comments come a week before the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act in the UK. Claims made by the angry Archbishop of Canterbury that the British women having abortions are taking the easy way out, positioning abo... more
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Study show drop in abortions, maternal deaths!
Birth control practices, most significantly noted in 3rd world countries, is key to saving the lives of many women. It's starting to make a difference... Birth control practices, most significantly noted in 3rd world countries, is key to saving the lives of many women. It's starting... more
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Women's reproductive health
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Women's reproductive health
