past media summaries

March 16-31, 2010

PUSH JOURNAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS MARCH 16 – 31, 2010

TOP STORIES

U.S. Passes Health Care Reform: Multiple media outlets reported and published op-eds, blogs and editorials March 16-31 on the passage by Congress of a landmark health care reform measure. The new law was accompanied by an executive order stipulating that no federal funds can be used for abortion services. Among the legislation’s most important provisions were an extension of Medicaid eligibility to people making up to 133 percent of the poverty line and up to 200 percent for family planning services, and the elimination of pre-existing conditions – including pregnancy – as grounds for insurance companies to deny coverage. Read: CBS, RHRealityCheck.org, The New York Times (March 30) US News, Washington Post, Politico, Women’s eNews, Washington Post, US News, Washington Post, Politics Daily, NPR, The New York Times (March 22) Christian Science Monitor, The New York Times, Washington Post (March 17)

Canada Excludes Family Planning from Maternal Health Program: Multiple media outlets reported and published editorials and op-eds March 17-31 after Canada’s foreign minister declared that family planning would not be included in a new program of the Group of Eight industrial nations to improve maternal health around the world. He claimed that family planning and maternal health are not related, despite ample evidence to the contrary and objections from other G8 leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health, and reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortions," she said. Read: Canwest, The Canadian Press, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, The Globe and Mail (March 18) and The Globe and Mail

Rising Maternal Mortality Is Sign of US Inequality: IPS reported March 18 and the Boston Globe published an editorial March 16 calling for a comprehensive response to the rise in U.S. maternal mortality rates, as documented by Amnesty International. The Globe wrote, “Amid all the legitimate debates over how to achieve greater health coverage while reining in costs, some sense of urgency about the human cost of inaction has been lost.” Read: IPSand Boston Globe

OTHER NOTEWORTHY ARTICLES AND OPINIONS BY SUBJECT

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

UN Secretary General Calls for Accelerated Progress on MDGs: IPS reported March 26 and Agence France Presse reported March 16 that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon spoke on the importance of meeting the Millennium Development Goals. "If we fail, the dangers in the world -- instability, violence, epidemic diseases, environmental degradation, runaway population growth -- will all be multiplied," he said. Read: IPSand Agence France Presse

Religious Leaders to Fight AIDS Stigma: Associated Press reported March 23 that representatives of 40 religious communities from around the world ended a two-day retreat in the Netherlands by signing a "personal commitment to action” to fight stigma against HIV/AIDS. Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, praised the statement as a “sea change” in the way religious leaders approach HIV/AIDS. Read: Associated Press

Uganda Contraceptive Shortage: The New Vision published an editorial March 24 and reported March 21 on a report by Reproductive Health Uganda finding that women, particularly in rural areas, continue to face barriers to access to contraceptives and other reproductive health services. “The largest generation of young Ugandans enter the reproductive stage in the next 15 years and it is high time the government took control of planning population growth by allocating more resources to family planning,” wrote the paper. Read: The New Vision (March 24) and The New Vision (March 21)

Egyptian Parliament Commission Approves Abortion Reforms: ANSAmed reported March 22 that an Egyptian parliamentary commission had approved a measure to allow women to obtain abortions or sterilisation for health reasons or if they cannot afford treatment for fetal birth defects. Read: ANSAmed

DC Promotes Female Condom to Fight HIV/AIDS: NPR reported March 22 that public health officials in Washington, DC plan to reintroduce the female condom as a tool in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The MAC AIDS Fund is funding the distribution of half a million female condoms there. Read: NPR

Doctors to Provide Late-Term Abortions: A March 18 editorial in The Los Angeles Times applauded the announcement of Dr. Curtis Boyd of Albuquerque NM that he and two California physicians would begin providing late-term abortions. The two Californians had previously worked with the late Dr. George Tiller, one of the few providers of the service before his murder by an anti-choice extremist in 2009. Late-term abortions are provided by only a small number of U.S. doctors. “The makeup of the Supreme Court might shift with the political winds, but the courage of those committed to freedom of choice does not,” the editorial said. “When one falls, others rise.” Read: Los Angeles Times

Kenya’s Abortion Ban At Center of Constitutional Debate:  Multiple media outlets reported March 15–23 on Christian religious leaders’ campaign to ensure that Kenya’s new Constitution includes provisions to outlaw abortion and declare that life begins at conception. A new report by the Center for Reproductive Rights found that Kenya’s current restrictions on abortion are a significant threat to women’s health, even as life-saving post-abortion care remains legal. A lack of access to family planning services also contributes to a persistent high number of unwanted pregnancies. Read: CNN, Women’s eNewsand IPS

Abortion Opponents’ Racism Claim is Baseless: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a column March 17 by Cynthia Tucker decrying the Georgia Right to Life claim that black women’s high abortion rate constitutes a racist plot: “It's both sexist and racist to suggest that black women don't have the intellectual and emotional firepower to make their own decisions.”  She continued, “If conservatives are sincere about curbing abortions -- among all women, white, black and brown -- they should support efforts to broaden women's health care, which includes reproductive care.” Read: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Gender-Based Violence

Haiti Camps Are Dangerous for Women: CNN reported March 16 that with thousands of Haitians displaced from their homes following the January 12 earthquake, the threat of rape and other forms of violence continues to grow. Read: CNN

Women’s Equality

Clinton Says Women Central To U.S. Foreign Policy: MSNBC featured an interview with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton March 16 and The Times (UK) published an op-ed by her on March 30 detailing U.S. efforts to make women’s rights central to U.S. foreign policy. Read: MSNBC, The Times

Canada’s Liberal Party Highlights Women’s Rights: The Montreal Gazette reported March 30 that women’s equality was a major topic at a Montreal policy conference sponsored by the Liberal party to define the challenges facing Canada ahead of its 150th anniversary in 2017. Read: Montreal Gazette

“Gendercide” Persists in Asia: Agence France Presse reported March 18 that a new report by the United Nations Development Programme said 100 million women were "missing" in Asia because of a cultural preference for sons. Read: Agence France Presse

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The above summary is produced by the Communications Consortium Media Center, 401 Ninth Street NW, Suite 450, Washington DC 20004, 202.326.8700. Redistribution is encouraged with credit to CCMC.
 

past media summaries