A new research report has uncovered some great news for people who love making sure women have tons of abortions: make it illegal. And, while you're at it, if you go ahead and limit women's access to contraception, they'll end up pregnant and desperate enough to resort to unsafe measures more often, resulting in more…
Remember that Idaho pharmacist that refused to dispense an anti-uterine bleeding drug until she found out whether or not the woman had an abortion? The same battle is being waged daily around the world, only with access to misoprostol.
A worldwide study shows that the best place to give birth is Norway. Afghanistan comes in last — but the United States isn't doing too well either.
Yesterday, Hillary Clinton announced the Saving Lives At Birth Grand Challenge a joint initiative on maternal health with USAID and the Gates foundation. Kind of awkward about USAID recently backing off women's rights provisions in Afghanistan, a major Clinton priority, with the regional director telling The…
A joint UN initiative equipping pregnant women and health care workers in Rwanda with mobile phones has led one hospital to see maternal deaths decline. They went from ten the previous year — to zero.
Are you generous? Rich? Both?! Boy, do I have something to show you!
It's not often that there's good news for women's access to health care, but here's some: maternal mortality is down by one third since 1990. What did the trick?
Supermodel Christy Turlington Burns went into the hospital in 2003, expecting to simply deliver her first child, Grace. Instead, she found herself hemorrhaging on the delivery table. Through that dark experience, Turlington Burns found her life's calling.
• Last week, deplorable human being/politician Mike Huckabee told journalists that allowing gays equal rights is comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy, and drug use. He also said gay couples shouldn't be allowed to adopt because "children are not puppies." •
According to a new study by the World Health Organization, AIDS is the leading cause of death and disease in women 15 to 44 around the world. Also upsetting: maternal mortality accounts for 15% of adult female deaths. [AP]
[Freetown, Sierra Leone; September 22. Image via Getty]
[Freetown, Sierra Leone; September 21. Image via Getty]
"If men had uteruses, "paternity wards" would get resources, ambulances would transport pregnant men to hospitals free of charge, deliveries would be free, and the Group of 8 industrialized nations would make paternal mortality a top priority." -Nicholas Kristof. [NYT]
Afghan women can be married at 16, but many are forced into arranged marriages much earlier — and police in rural areas often return abused women to their husbands. Luckily, a handful of shelters offer refuge to some women.
Mark Penn decries the rates of male incarceration, alcoholism and educational attainment. Then he whines about the gain in female life expectancy over men's since 1900, failing to note it probably has something to do with the 99% drop in maternal mortality in that time. Fail. [Wall Street Journal, CDC]
In an Op-Ed on the NY Times' website today, missionary and doctor Sue Malkin writes about the staggering maternal mortality rates in Malawi. Malkin explains that part of the problem in getting care to expectant Malawian women is that they're not always empowered to make decisions about their own well-being, which…
