past media summaries

January 16-31, 2010

PUSH JOURNAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS 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 37^th 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. Read: IPS

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past media summaries