Waking Vixen » reproductive health

New Blog! IWHC’s Akimbo

Audacia Ray — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:47:28 +0000

I just launched a brand new blog, Akimbo, for the International Women’s Health Coalition – I’m really excited about this project.

Here’s what I wrote about it in the first post on the site:

Welcome to the very first post of Akimbo, the brand new blog brought you by the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC). IWHC has its headquarters in New York, and we work to promote and protect the sexual and reproductive rights and health of all women and young people, particularly in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, by helping to develop effective health and population policies, programs, and funding.

On this blog, our staff and partners will be blogging about the work we do – that means reporting from the front lines of grassroots organizing around the issues we work on: youth health and rights, access to safe abortion, sexual rights and gender equality, and the effect of HIV/AIDS on women. We’ll also update you on policies and news that affects women’s health and rights around the world, and offer up commentary on current events and issues.

And in case you’re wondering about the name of the blog – “akimbo” means standing with your hands on your hips. Yes, it’s a real word! We liked the sound of it and the image it conjures up.

We’d love to hear from you as we get going, so feel free to leave a comment or drop us an email.

I’m most excited about the project because I’m eager to bring more dialogue about sexuality rights and health around the world into the blogosphere – expanding minds beyond the northwest hemisphere and all. Also, I’ve spent a lot of time in the “pink ghetto” of sexuality blogs, and I love it here, but I’m eager to push the envelope in the feminist blogosphere and see what happens.

So come on over and have a look – I’ll be blogging there daily, and this week I’ve got posts coming down the pipeline from a bunch of fascinating activists from all over the world. We’ve got 15 youth activists in NYC from 10 different countries – they’re attending the Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, so some of them will be reporting back about what it’s like to speak up for sexual and reproductive rights at the UN.

Please help me spread the word!

Reframing Choice: Reproductive AND Sexual

Audacia Ray — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:55:12 +0000

Today is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that made abortion legal in the United States. NARAL Pro-Choice America has got a Blog for Choice thing going on, and it isn’t too late to sign up and participate. This post is a part of Blog for Choice.

It seems like we’re about to usher in a new era of the affirmation of women’s choices, and it looks like the Global Gag Rule will be rescinded by President Obama (I think typing that is going to give me a thrill for quite a while). But I’m not going to write this whole post about abortion. As we saw this week with the craziness about Krispy Kreme’s abortion donuts, the word “choice” is essentially seen as an euphemism for abortion. Choices about sexuality are much bigger than abortion.

The question that NARAL is asking bloggers to answer for Blog for Choice is this: What is your top pro-choice hope for President Obama and/or the new Congress?

My hope is a big, broad, thinky kind of hope. I’d like to see the notion of choice expanded beyond reproduction to also include sexual choices and health. I know that when it comes to public policy “sex” is a really scary word, but reproduction doesn’t doesn’t get at it all. There are lots of choices made around sexuality and sexual behavior that don’t have very much to do with making (or not making) babies. Though of course in the context of this day it’s important to focus on the ability of women to have access to legal and safe abortion, but it’s also important to think big. “Choice” shouldn’t be the euphemistic word for abortion.

Also: I know that my comments are missing and fucked up. I got hit with a lot of spam and I’m trying to restore my comments, which have been temporarily disabled. It might take a while because I’m not really sure what I’m doing. If you have a comment on this post, email me at dacia [at] wakingvixen.com and I will add it to the post.

Int’l Women’s Health Coalition’s Top Ten Wins for Women’s Health and Rights in 2008

Audacia Ray — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:55:30 +0000

This list just scratches the surface of this big ole wrap up we’ve been working on at the International Women’s Health Coalition. For all the details, including info about the next steps for all of these wins (because any gain in sexual health and reproductive rights shouldn’t be taken for granted) – click here. If you want to read away from your computer screen, you have the option of downloading a word or PDF doc too.

1. New U.S. Administration offers hope for women and girls
The election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States provides an opportunity to uphold human rights, promote health for all, and change the future of millions. Womenâ€™s health and rights advocates in every corner of the world expressed excitement and hopefulness.

2. A new “Mexico City policy” leads the way on comprehensive sexuality education
Prior to the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August, health and education ministers from throughout Latin America and the Caribbean pledged to invest in comprehensive sexuality education and increase access to health services to strengthen the regionâ€™s HIV/AIDS response. The resulting Mexico City Declaration on Sex Education in Latin America and the Caribbean was unanimously endorsed.

3. U.S. citizens turn back attempts to restrict abortion access
In November, U.S. voters overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures to restrict access to safe abortion in South Dakota, Colorado, and California. In April, the Council of Europe called for all 47 member countries to make abortion safe and legal.

4. Indian government puts the power of prevention in women’s hands
This year, Indiaâ€™s National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) will provide sex workers in four states with about 1.5 million female condoms, which is the only woman-initiated HIV prevention technology currently available.

5. Clinton Global Initiative prioritizes adolescent girls
At the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in September, longtime IWHC partner Bene Madunagu, head of the Girlâ€™s Power Initiative (GPI) in Nigeria, spoke to the need for comprehensive sexuality education programs for the 1.5 billion people in the world today between the ages of 10 and 25.

6. Women’s advocates secure advances in Ecuadorian Constitution
After a year of negotiations, Ecuadorâ€™s Constitution now says that young people must receive sexuality education and that the State has an obligation to provide sexual and reproductive health services to its people.

7. Colombia’s high court rules on the side of science – and women’s rights
In June, the highest administrative court in Colombia ruled that the sexual and reproductive health services provider Profamilia can continue to import and distribute emergency contraception (EC)â€”in accordance with womenâ€™s right to access a full range of safe and effective contraceptive methods.

8. Connecticut, Colombia, and others stand strong for sexual rights
This year, Connecticut joined Massachusetts in legally recognizing same-sex marriages. Internationally, a Colombian court extended pension benefits to same-sex partners, acknowledging that to exclude them would violate the principles of non-discrimination and human dignity.

9. U.S. states prioritize youth health over ideology
In 2008, the number of U.S. states refusing to participate in the federal governmentâ€™s abstinence-only-until marriage education program (Title V) reached 25, as state governments recognize what research and evaluations have repeatedly shown: abstinence-only programs are ineffective.

10. Muslim women in the United Kingdom granted equal rights in marriage
Muslim leaders in the United Kingdom succeeded in creating a new marriage contract under Shariaâ€™h law that gives husbands and wives equal rights, after four years of negotiations. The new contract no longer permits men to practice polygamy and grants women the right to initiate divorce.