Jodi L. Jacobson is a long-time leader in the health and development community and an advocate with extensive experience in public health, gender equity, human rights, environment and demographic issues. She is currently Editor-in-Chief of RH Reality Check. In September 2011, Ms. Jacobson was awarded the "Preserving Core Values in Science" Award by the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals.
Previously, Ms. Jacobson was the Director of Advocacy at American Jewish World Service, where she established a new department, leading the organization’s efforts to mobilize the American Jewish community toward ending the genocide in Darfur, fighting global AIDS, ensuring access to quality basic education worldwide, addressing the global food crisis, and promoting global debt relief and effective anti-poverty policies, among other issues.
From 1994 to 2007, Jodi served as founder and Executive Director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) (est. 1994), an organization that monitors and seeks to promote accountability of US international policy to women’s reproductive and sexual health and rights. During Ms. Jacobson’s tenure, CHANGE grew into an internationally known advocacy organization on public health and human rights, produced cutting-edge research on international policies and programs, and became a leading source of information and advocacy for international and domestic movements, academics, program managers and the media. Under Ms. Jacobson’s leadership, CHANGE developed an outreach list of researchers, advocates, and policymakers throughout the world, and a media contact list of over 2,000 reporters representing every region of the world. As ED at CHANGE, Ms. Jacobson was an invited speaker at 3 consecutive global HIV/AIDS conferences and at numerous regional conferences, and was an advisor on US global AIDS and reproductive health policies to parliamentarians and government officials in the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Ms. Jacobson is frequently sought out by the media for comment on issues related to public health. She has been quoted extensively the Lancet, BMJ and The Economist and national daily news media including The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. She has written numerous articles and papers, and is the co-author of 10 books, including 8 volumes of State of the World, and others such as Women's Empowerment and Demographic Processes: Moving Beyond Cairo (Edited by Harriet Presser and Gita Sen, 2000, Oxford University Press).
Prior to establishing CHANGE, Ms. Jacobson was a consultant to numerous organizations in the environmental and reproductive health and population fields, including the International Women's Health Coalition, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Population Council, and the Women's Environment and Development Organization. Her previous work experience includes a position as Senior Policy Analyst for Energy and Environment at the National Governor's Association (fellowship), and as a Senior Researcher at the WorldWatch Institute (1985 to 1994) where she did groundbreaking work on international environment and population issues.
Ms. Jacobson has testified before Congress on several occasions, has been a principal player in the 2006 and 2004 International AIDS Conferences (Toronto and Bangkok) and was a member of two United Nations Expert Groups on Population and Development leading up to the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). She was active in both the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, and in U.S. preparations leading up to the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. Ms. Jacobson has degrees in economics and environmental science and many years of practical and professional experience in public health.
In Thursday’s hearing, Planned Parenthood argued that its exclusion from the WHP would have a significant negative impact on low-income Texans’ access to health care; in its defense, the state argued that any negative impact was irrelevant to the case.
The development of a potential human life requires conception as a first step. But that is not the same as either pregnancy or personhood. You can’t reduce complex reality to a slogan, and when you try to do so, you actually minimize the personhood of women.
It seems they can’t help themselves. One after another, not inconsequentially right-wing, white, male politicians continue to pontificate on the choices women should, and should not, be able to make in the aftermath of a rape. For John Koster, that is in the aftermath of “the rape thing.”
Martinez Removes “Forcible” From Rape Provisions for Childcare Assistance, But Many Questions Remain
This evening, we received confirmation from the office of Children, Youth, and Families Department of New Mexico that Governor Martinez requested that the word “forcible” be removed from the proposed guidelines for childcare assistance. But many questions about the proposed policies remain.
Forcible rape is back in the news, this time in New Mexico, where the administration of Governor Susana Martinez is seeking a “forcible rape” test for women seeking childcare assistance, proving you don’t have to be male to be a misogynist.
Today, in a striking decision, the Virginia Board of Health allowed lies, ideology, and politics to triumph over medical science and the rights of women when it imposed medically-unnecessary restrictions on reproductive health providers.
Talking Points Memo reported today that Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh, already controversial for his demeaning and offensive comments, and his support for Congressman Todd Akin, attacked law student and women’s health advocate Sandra Fluke.
Remember when Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan was nominated to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, and the media hounded him with questions about how he could handle campaigning and still take care of his young children? Actually, they didn’t. But they are still hounding female candidates for office.
Progressive religious and human rights groups today called on the Democratic National Committee to “stand up for people of faith and [of] no faith and not allow conservative politicians and religious leaders to redefine the meaning of religious liberty.”
Progressive religious and human rights groups today gathered in Charlotte, North Carolina, site of the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and called on the Democratic National Committee to “stand up for people of faith and [of] no faith and not allow conservative politicians and religious leaders to redefine the meaning of religious liberty.” Both during and [...]
