Reproductive Rights

Jailed for Birth Control

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by Alexander Sanger

Entrapment, then jail for birth control? Not for abortion, for birth control? The idea would be ludicrous if not for the recent use of entrapment and edited videos trying to establish the ‘guilt’ of family planning providers allegedly ‘selling’ fetal remains after legal abortions. The attack here is on family planning providers, and Planned Parenthood in particular, with Congress and state legislatures trying eliminate their funding, thereby forcing Planned Parenthood to close its doors and stop serving patients unable to pay. Continue reading →

Planned Parenthood Slams Pope Francis Over Abortion Speech, Women’s Rights

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by Cristina Silver, September 25, 2015

Planned Parenthood has harsh words for Pope Francis after the leader of the Roman Catholic Church championed life — including before birth — in his address to Congress on Thursday. Francis and the church are limiting women’s rights by urging Catholics not to use contraception, said a spokesman for the women’s health organization. Continue reading →

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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