Author Says Global War on Reproductive Rights Is Disaster for Development

Discussion Will Be Held in DC and Webcast Live at www.wilsoncenter.org on Thursday, June 25 at 12pm EST.

RESOURCES

NPR, Fresh Air: Interview New York Times, Nicholas Kristof blog on "The Means of Reproduction" "The Means of Reproduction" on Amazon

WASHINGTON, June 22 – Reproductive health and rights have become the focal point of the global culture wars, according to Michelle Goldberg, author of The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and The Future of the World.

“There is one thing that unites cultural conservatives throughout the world, a critique that joins Protestant fundamentalism, Islamists, Hindu Nationalists, ultra-Orthodox Jews, and ultramontane Catholics,” Goldberg writes. “All view women’s equality and self-possession as unnatural, a violation of the established order. Yet in one society after another, we can see the absence of women’s rights creating existential dangers.”

Goldberg asserts that granting reproductive rights to women worldwide can help achieve gender equality, control rapid population growth, curb sex ratio imbalances, decrease poverty, limit the spread of HIV/AIDS and slow environmental degradation.

On Thursday, June 25 at 12 p.m., Goldberg will discuss The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, 5th Floor Conference Room). The discussion will also feature Carol Peasley, President and CEO, Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA).

To RSVP for the event, email ecsp@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation. The discussion will also be webcast live at www.wilsoncenter.org.

Goldberg, a former senior writer for Salon.com who is now a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, explores population issues on four continents: the global gag rule, abortion, religious fundamentalism and female circumcision. Her book examines the history of American foreign policy on birth control and family planning, noting that the global family planning infrastructure was created by Republicans during the Cold War as a way to curb communism. She traces the historic shift in global family planning programs after 1994 to feminists who believed in putting women’s rights first and opposed coercive population control.

In separate remarks, Goldberg said "The Obama administration has already brought about crucial improvements in American policy towards women's rights and reproductive health globally. Whereas under Bush the United States was part of an axis of fundamentalists, the country will now once again be a major force for progress. It turns out that American elections have an even greater impact on women's lives worldwide than they do here at home. But that doesn't mean these issues are going away -- there are still powerful forces arrayed against women's freedom all over the world."

In an interview with National Public Radio, Goldberg highlighted the work of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. “It's much more involved in a kind of global program of women's empowerment,” she said, “so it fights for women's education, against fistula, against female genital mutilation or what some people call female circumcision. It's involved in this much broader kind of program of women's health and rights.”

Goldberg noted high maternal mortality rates in Africa – one in every 26 women will die of pregnancy-related complications – and its implications. “So you can't solve maternal mortality by legalizing abortion and providing safe abortions, but you also can't cut maternal mortality without doing that,” she told NPR. “If you have unsafe abortion responsible for a third of maternal deaths, it's one of the easiest ways that you can start to bring down some of these scandalously high numbers.”

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, in his April 12 blog, agreed with Goldberg on the significance of women’s rights and highlighted a significant point in the book: “Women’s rights must not be treated as trivial adjuncts to great questions of war and peace, poverty and development. What’s at stake are not lifestyles but lives.”

Michelle Goldberg is also the author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism.

Carol Peasley is the president and CEO of the Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA). Previously, she served for more than 30 years with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), achieving the rank of Career Minister. She held senior positions in Washington and overseas, including as USAID Mission Director in both Malawi and the Russian Federation, and as counselor to the Agency and senior deputy assistant administrator for Africa in Washington. She has served on the board of ShoreBank International and Opportunities Industrialization Centers International, and worked as a senior advisor at the Financial Services Volunteer Corps.

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