Women's eNews, December 11, 2002

By Françoise Girard

Editor's Note: The following is a commentary. The opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily the views of Women's eNews.

Many concerned citizens saw President Bush's move blocking the United States' $34 million contribution to the United Nations Population Fund last July as yet another attack on abortion. But his actions then and since have revealed a much broader anti-woman agenda, one that is threatening women's health, human rights and equality in the United States and worldwide.

>>Available in PDF

Summary: By Françoise Girard and Wanda Nowicka (Reproductive Health Matters, Vol. 10, No. 19, May 2002). Describes the findings of the July 2001 Tribunal on Abortion Rights in Warsaw, which was organized by the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning in response to the Polish Anti-Abortion Act of 1993. A panel of Polish and foreign experts heard testimonies from seven women and, based on their stories, concluded that restrictive abortion laws do not decrease the incidence of abortion but rather push it underground, endanger women's health, create a climate where even those services that are allowed by law become unavailable, and contravene standards set by international human rights law. The Tribunal brought the issue of abortion into the media and galvanized Polish and other Eastern European women's groups to become more active in defense of abortion rights (9 pages). 

Click here to order the full issue of Reproductive Health Matters.

>>Available in PDF

Summary: By Françoise Girard andWilhelmina Waldman (International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol.26, No. 4, December, 2000, New York: Alan Guttmacher Institute).Examines the international legal framework for the reproductive rightsof refugees and internationally displaced persons, as well as someaspects of UN and NGO policies relevant to refugee reproductive health(7 pages).

Click here to order this issue or other issues of International Family Planning Perspectives.

>>Available in Word and PDF / Available in Spanish

Summary: By Françoise Girard (Journal of Women's Health and Law, Vol. I, No. 1, November, 1999, Toronto and Vancouver: Butterworths). Analyzes the significance for women's health of the UN's five-year review of implementation of the Programme of Action agreed in the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The author outlines and discusses the significance and impact of the original ICPD agreements and of the new commitments made by governments in 1999 to hasten implementation of the Programme of Action (14 pages).

Summary: By Corinne Whitaker and Adrienne Germain (African Journal of Reproductive Health, Vol. 3, No. 2, October, 1999, Benin City, Nigeria: Women's Health and Action Research Centre). Invited editorial co-authored by IWHC Senior Program Officer for Africa and IWHC President that describes the scope of the problem of unsafe abortion in Africa and outlines several possible approaches to solving it (4 pages).

Abortion Policy and Women's Health in Developing Countries

>>Available from IWHC

Summary: By Ruth Dixon Mueller (International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 20, No. 2, 1990, New York: Baywood Publishing). This paper, commissioned by IWHC, draws on presentations given at the IWHC-sponsored Christopher Tietze International Symposium, "Women's Health in the Third World: The Impact of Unwanted Pregnancies," Brazil, 1988 (17 pages).

To order a copy of this article, email Whitney Welshimer at wwelshimer@iwhc.org.