Reproductive Rights

Men in the Movement: Fathers, Partners and More

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by Alexander Sanger

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the launch of State of the World’s Fathers at the United Nations. The report, produced by the global alliance MenCare, provides an excellent overview of men’s roles within families, in the home, and in the health system. Above all, the report highlights the fact that advancing gender equality not only improves women’s lives but benefits men too–even when it means giving up some of their privileges. Continue reading →

Gay Marriage versus Reproductive Rights

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by Alexander Sanger

Katha Pollitt recently penned (see http://www.thenation.com/article/205049/theres-reason-gay-marriage-winning-while-abortion-rights-are-losing) another one of her astute analyses of the failure of reproductive rights to gain traction with the American public. She points out that gay rights are on a juggernaut to legality and respectability. She sets forth a number of reasons, a few of which deserve elaboration. Continue reading →

On this Earth Day Invest in Family Planning

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by Alexander Sanger

Last year, I traveled to Bolivia to get a firsthand glimpse of the work of our local Member Association CIES. It’s hard to forget the twenty-minute drive from the airport to La Paz’s city center. Nestled high above Bolivia’s capital city, the airport is located in El Alto, which offers a sweeping view of La Paz below and Bolivia’s dramatic mountains along the horizon. While El Alto was little more than a village sixty years ago, hundreds of thousands have flooded in from the countryside–escaping increasingly erratic weather and difficult agricultural conditions–to find work and opportunity in recent years.
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Tom Webber

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Tom Webber 1943-2015

The Planned Parenthood family lost a mighty warrior on February 26 – Tom Webber died at age 71, far too young. His lungs gave out, no surprise to those who knew him, since he had a habit of using them at full volume on many occasions, whether he needed to or not. I first met Tom in 1991 at a meeting of the CEOs of the larger Planned Parenthood affiliates. Since I was new, I introduced myself to my new daunting colleagues. Whatever I said, it inspired Tom to come up to me at the first break to welcome me and thank me. Shortly thereafter, as the meeting recommenced, Tom launched into one of his habitual diatribes about some organizational failing, weakness or idiocy. He would lean forward, point his finger around the room and dare anyone to contradict him. It was great theater, and he also invariably made sense.
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