The New York Times, October 15, 2003

Editorial Desk

In August, the United States Agency for International Development abruptly canceled bids for a program to market condoms to gay men and others in Brazil. When the decision was criticized publicly, the agency reinstated most of the program. This was the right choice. Preventing the spread of AIDS means working with the groups most at risk.

>>Available in Word and PDF / Available in Portuguese and Spanish

Summary: September 2003 web feature summarizing IWHC's colleagues in Latin America's diverse efforts to expand access to safe abortion in Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina, and raise awareness around the public health crisis of unsafe abortion across Latin America and the Caribbean (6 pages).

>>Available in PDF from the WHO website.

>>Available in French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian

>>To order a copy of the guidance in Polish, please contact the Federation for Women and Family Planning (Poland) at federacja@federa.org.pl.

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 / Available in French and Spanish

Summary: Factsheet developed by the International Sexual and Reproductive Rights Coalition in preparation for the 2002 United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children. Includes basic information, key actions, and international commitments related to the impact of unsafe abortion on children and youth (3 pages).

>>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.