MEDIA
SUMMARY
January 16-31, 2010
TOP STORIES
Haiti Earthquake
Imperils Women's Health: Multiple media outlets reported and
published editorials and blogs January 18-31 on efforts to respond
to the healthcare needs of women in Haiti, particularly the estimated
63,000 women who were pregnant at the time of the January 12 earthquake.
"When crisis strikes, women continue to get pregnant and
give birth, and they may face rising violence. Humanitarian aid
to protect their sexual and reproductive health is urgently needed,"
wrote Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA, The United
Nations Population Fund. Read: Huffington Post, Globe and Mail,
Washington Post, AFP, Women's eNews, RHRealityCheck.org, UNFPA
Dispatch Watch: CNN
Teen Pregnancies
Increase in United States: The New York Times and the Washington
Post reported January 26-28 and Scripps Howard published a column
January 28 on a study finding that the United States experienced
the first increase in the teen birth rate in more than a decade.
"One of the nation's shining success stories of the past
two decades is in danger of unraveling," said Sarah Brown
of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.
"Clearly, the nation's collective efforts to convince teens
to postpone childbearing must be more creative and more intense,
and they must begin today." Read: Scripps Howard, The New
York Times and Washington Post
Women's Rights Advocates
Mark Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: Multiple media outlets published
op-eds and blogs on January 21, marking the 37th anniversary of
Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion
in the United States. "Besides the health and societal benefits
Roe has afforded American women over the past 37 years, it is
also about the right to privacy, self-determination and bodily
integrity," wrote Xan Blake, president and CEO of the Planned
Parenthood Association of the Mercer Area (New Jersey). Read:
Anchorage Daily News, RHRealityCheck.org, Times of Trenton
Abortion Remains
as Hurdle to Health Care Reform: Multiple media outlets reported
and published op-eds, blogs and editorials January 18-26 on the
position of abortion in debates over health care reform, while
the election of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate imperiled
health care reform efforts. "We think it's possible to come
up with language that the Pro-Choice Caucus would not 'embrace,'
but would be acceptable," said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, (D-IL),
a supporter of reproductive rights. Read: The American Prospect,
Women's eNews, NPR, Washington Times
Roeder Trial Returns
Wichita to Center of Abortion Debates: CNN reported January
29 on the revival of fights over abortion in Wichita, Kansas and
NPR reported January 24 on efforts by prosecutors to keep discussion
of abortion politics out of the trial of Scott Roeder, who was
convicted January 29 of murdering women's health provider Dr.
George Tiller. Read: CNN, NPR
OTHER NOTEWORTHY
ARTICLES AND OPINIONS BY SUBJECT
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Report Addresses
Reproductive Coercion in United States: Newsweek reported
January 26 on a new study on reproductive coercion, written by
Elizabeth Miller, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the
University of California (Davis), and published in the journal
Contraception. Reproductive coercion involves men pressuring their
female partners into becoming pregnant, through threats, physical
attack, or sabotage of birth control. The study found that among
family planning clinic clients in Northern California, one in
five women between ages 16 and 29 had been subject to reproductive
coercion. This finding raises the possibility that reproductive
coercion is a factor in the United States' rising teen pregnancy
rate. Read: Newsweek
Rights Group Challenges
Irish Abortion Ban: The Guardian (UK) reported January 28
on a report by Human Rights Watch finding that Ireland's abortion
restrictions, which can impose life sentences on women seeking
abortions, put women's lives at risk. "Women in need of abortion
services should, as a matter of international law and human decency,
be able to count on support from their government as they face
a difficult situation," said Marianne Mollmann, women's rights
advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "But in Ireland
they are actively stonewalled, stigmatised, and written out."
Read: The Guardian
Report Finds MDG5
Unlikely to Be Met in Zimbabwe: The Herald reported January
22 on a new report by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund,
finding that progress toward improving women's health in the country
is slow, and the targets for Millennium Development Goal 5, which
seeks a dramatic reduction in maternal mortality, are unlikely
to be met. HIV/AIDS, postpartum hemorrhage, hypertension and sepsis
continue to be among the leading causes of maternal death. Read:
The Herald
IRIN Book Addresses
Safe Pregnancy in Afghanistan: IRIN published a 60-page book
on the stories of women and men who have experienced the perils
associated with pregnancy and childbirth in Afghanistan. Read:
IRIN
Women's Equality
Advocate Calls for
U.S. to Invest in U.N. Women's Agency: IPS published an interview
January 25 with Charlotte Bunch, founding director of the Center
for Global Women's Leadership at Rutgers University, on the Obama
administration's record on women's rights, including the development
of a new agency dedicated to women's issues. "The real test
will come with what kind of money the U.S. will invest in this
new agency in the coming years," said Bunch.
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