Abortion stigma is a form of gender discrimination and punishment, and it represents social control of both women who need abortions and providers who provide them.
Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa’s health minister, reported that 77,771 legal abortions were performed in 2011, a 31 percent increase over 2010. This statistic has rattled the country’s growing anti-abortion movement, sending it into a frenzy of activity to roll back the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act passed 16 years ago.
Weekly global roundup: United Nations report on global maternal health yields mixed results; South Asian teen girls still marrying at high rates; Zambia sees conflict over various articles on reproductive rights in new constitution draft; Indonesia continues to struggle with reproductive and sexual health as they face growing rates of HIV infection.
Weekly global roundup: a revised family code in Mali oppresses women further; Fawzia Koofi makes waves in Afghanistan and worldwide; Venezuela wrestles with a stubborn maternal mortality rate; and a call for more midwives in Zambia.
In a region with restrictive abortion laws and low contraceptive prevalence, young women face significant barriers both to preventing unwanted pregnancy and to safe abortion care.
Stanford professors recently confirmed what many in the advocacy community saw coming: PEPFAR has made significant progress on ensuring access to care and treatment, but has not curbed new infections.
Radio ad says “Too many unborn lives are being lost while we wait for judges to get it right.”; Opponents of California’s Prop 4 and Prop 8 join forces on college campuses; HIV rate comparatively high in Philadelphia; Abortion laws liberalized in 16 countries since 1998; What if pro-choice Tom Ridge had been on the McCain ticket?; Birth attendants in Zambia.
Obama responds to anti-choicer on Title X family planning funding, Citizen impaneled grand jury being used against abortion provider in Kansas, Domestic violence and HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Both young men and young women in Zambia are under pressure to engage in multiple sexual relationships. For men, it’s due to norms of masculinity, and for women, it’s due to economic hardship.
Zambia is an ideal country in which to assess the effects of U.S. policy and funding through PEPFAR. SIECUS and Population Action International’s recent policy research trip to the country led to some disturbing observations that should inform the current debate over PEPFAR reauthorization.
