Maria de Bruyn is a Senior Policy Advisor for Ipas and a medical anthropologist by training. At Ipas, she has identified, researched, and publicized linkages between abortion and other sexual and reproductive health issues, including HIV/AIDS. Ipas is an international women’s health and rights organization working to reduce deaths and injuries from unsafe abortion.
A rights-based perspective for the global AIDS response requires addressing the comprehensive needs of women and girls, including those seen in areas that do not “conform” to the focus on motherhood and marriage.
Human rights defenders often put their own lives on the line to promote and protect all of our rights. Today we celebrate the women living with HIV and others who advocate for sexual and reproductive rights in the context of HIV and AIDS.
More than 10 panels and roundtables at the International AIDS conference argued for decriminalization of sex work, drug use and sexual identity.
Women leaders at the International AIDS Conference identified key priorities, such as increasing engagement generational and geographic boundaries and demanding more funding for advocacy on sex, sexuality and gender in the HIV epidemic.
Youth advocates at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women challenged a multi-generational, multinational audience to examine their own thinking about sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Young women are the most vulnerable to maternal morbidity and mortality. A panel at the UN Commission on the Status of Women examines the reasons.
At the Commission on Population and Development, Norway and South Africa take strong stands on the importance of safe abortion in addressing maternal mortality rates.
Personal stories of coerced sterilization and on the influence of religious tradition on sexual and reproductive health captured the audience at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Since the 2006 Toronto International AIDS Conference, an increasing number of organizations have spoken out about the need to respect the reproductive rights of women living with HIV/AIDS. A topic that is often neglected – or avoided – has been enabling HIV-positive women to deal with unwanted pregnancies through emergency contraception and voluntary safe legal abortion.
SRH groups meeting with the new UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health raised many key issues, including unsafe abortion; homophobia by conservative and religious groups; and access of indigenous groups and young people to adequate health services.
