Reproductive Health Matters articles from May 2002

Reproductive Health Matters archives from May 2002

Making abortion a woman's right worldwide. (Editorial).
May 1, 2002... THIS is RHM's 10th anniversary year and the third journal issue in which RHM has focused on abortion since 1993 (1). Looking back, it is heartening to see how much has changed internationally in the past 10 years with regard to abortion, which...

In the Service we said. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... In the Service we said In the Service we spoke clearly and distinctly: We said, This is Jane from Women's Liberation; please leave your name, your number and a message. We'll call you back. When she did, we did; then we said, What...

Women's Liberation. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... Women's Liberation - for Esther Every week we went to a meeting, but not like now. No one stood up and said, My name is Jane and I'm an abortionist. No. Because we didn't want to stop, we weren't trying not to do it. We sat...

Oona Delany, 1971. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... Oona Delany, 1971 A woman came to us, seventeen weeks, nervous. Maybe scared, like Julie said. Her eyes were steady, dark. I'd seen some scared, and Oona Delany was different holding back, but not afraid to do it. Her...

Here is what happened. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... Here is what happened She was fifteen years old, she had to pay for college she had to pay for this, she came to my apartment on a Saturday afternoon, her parents didn't know, I didn't know her parents; her girlfriends brought...

Yes and no. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... Yes and no yes; it's true, we killed babies, none of them born yet none of them born yet to mothers just born a while ago themselves mothers who were their babies' sisters, sharing the very same daddy mothers with plenty of...

She said. (Poems).(Poem)
May 1, 2002... She said - before 1973 On the phone she said, I have a friend who's got a problem, but she couldn't get to a phone so I'm call- ing for her. Do you know what I mean? Is this the right place? When she lay down, she said, Are...

Unsafe abortion: worldwide estimates for 2000.
May 1, 2002... Elisabeth Ahman (a), Iqbal Shah (b,1) Abstract Unsafe abortion is preventable and yet remains a significant cause of maternal morbidity and mortality in much of the developing world. Over the last decade, the World Health Organization...

Complications of unsafe abortion: a case study and the need for abortion law reform in Nigeria.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Complications of unsafe abortion account for 30-40% of maternal deaths in Nigeria. This paper reports a case of unsafe abortion by dilatation and curettage, carried out by a medical practitioner in a private clinic on a...

Clear and compelling evidence: the Polish Tribunal on Abortion Rights.
May 1, 2002... Francoise Girard (a), Wanda Nowicks (b) Abstract On 25 July 2001 the Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning organised a Tribunal on Abortion Rights in Warsaw, to publicise the negative consequences of the criminalisation of...

Making abortions safe: a matter of good public health policy and practice.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Globally, abortion mortality constitutes at least 130/0 of maternal mortality. Unsafe abortion procedures, untrained abortion providers, restrictive abortion laws and high mortality and morbidity from abortion tend to occur...

The struggle for abortion law reform in Thailand.
May 1, 2002... Abstract In Thailand abortion is against the law except in cases of risk to a woman's health or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or other sexual crimes. This paper presents an overview of the history of the abortion debate in...

Elective abortion as a primary health service in rural India: experience with manual vacuum aspiration.
May 1, 2002... Kirti Iyengar (a), Shared D. Iyengar (b) Abstract India allows abortion up to 20 weeks of pregnancy but places restrictions on abortion facilities and providers. Abortion services are especially deficient in rural areas. Although...

The role of village health nurses in mediating abortions in rural Tamil Nadu, India.
May 1, 2002... Abstract This paper reports on qualitative research on abortion services in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu in south India, and the role of government village health nurses (VHNs) in assisting women to obtain abortions. The aim of...

Induced abortions among adolescent women in rural Maharashtra, India.
May 1, 2002... Abstract In a study in rural Maharashtra, India, adolescents constituted 13.1% of the 1717 married women who had an induced abortion during an 18-month period in 1996-1998. The 197 adolescents who were subsequently interviewed had a lesser...

Constructing access to legal abortion services in Mexico City.
May 1, 2002... Abstract For the last three decades, government and health institutions have recognised that unsafe abortion is an important social and public health problem in Mexico. Although the Penal Code in every state defines at least one situation...

Clandestine abortion in Mexico: a question of mental as well as physical health.
May 1, 2002... Abstract This paper reports on research carried out in Mexico City in 1995-1996 on the meaning of motherhood, contraception, an unwanted pregnancy or child, and the experience of illegal, clandestine abortion, as described by 12 women of...

Social actors and discourse on abortion in the Mexican press: the Paulina case.
May 1, 2002... Abstract The "Paulina case" is the story of a 13-year-old girl in Mexico who became pregnant in 1999 after being raped. Although she received permission to obtain a legal abortion, the hospital convinced her mother through misleading...

Should therapeutic abortion be legal in Nicaragua: the response of Nicaraguan obstetrician--gynaecologists.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Abortion is legal in Nicaragua only to save the life of the woman. In 2002, amendments to the Penal Code to change the penalties for obtaining and providing illegal abortions and regulations on the authorisation of legal abortions...

Making legal abortion accessible in Brazil.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Abortion is legal in Brazil if it is the only means to save the woman's life or if the pregnancy is the result of rape. Although this has been the law for over 60 years, it has almost never been applied until recent years. In the...

Abortion in a restrictive legal context: The views of obstetrician-gynaecologists in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
May 1, 2002... Abstract In Argentina, unsafe abortions are the primary cause of maternal mortality, accounting for 32% of maternal deaths. During reform of the National Constitution in 1994, the women's movement effectively resisted the reactionary...

Orientame: preventing and solving problems related to unwanted pregnancy for 25 years in Colombia.
May 1, 2002... Abstract For over 25 years, the Orientame Foundation in Bogota, Colombia, has been providing reproductive health services to women, regardless of their socio-economic or marital status, race, age or religious affiliation. Orientame started...

In memoriam: Dr Jorge Villarreal Mejia.(Obituary)
May 1, 2002... With sadness, we communicate the death in Bogota on 8 December 2001 of our much loved teacher and friend Dr. Jorge Villarreal, Colombian doctor, pioneer in sexual and reproductive health, founder of ESAR (Foundation for Education in...

Using the right to life to confront unsafe abortion in Africa.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Unsafe abortion is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in Africa. In international human rights law, there are two possible approaches to tackling the problem of unsafe abortion. One is to advocate the right of...

Safe abortion: a right for refugees?
May 1, 2002... Abstract Thanks to initiatives since 1994, most reproductive health programmes for refugee women now include family planning and safe delivery care. Emergency contraception and post-abortion care for complications of unsafe abortion are...

Abortion: the Portuguese case.
May 1, 2002... Abstract Abortion was completely illegal in Portugal until 1984. Illegal abortion provision was a matter of silence until then and treated as a "black market" issue rather than as a health issue. The first attempts to change the abortion...

The war on drugs and the war on abortion: some initial thoughts on the connections, intersections and effects *.
May 1, 2002... Abstract While many people view the war on abortion and the war on drugs on the part of state and federal governments in the USA as distinct, there are in fact many connections and a great deal of overlap between the two. Their histories,...

Understanding and responding to anti-choice women-centred strategies.
May 1, 2002... Abstract This paper discusses the rise and use of a "woman-centred" anti-choice strategy to oppose abortion in Australia and the USA. It argues that this strategy seeks to imitate and exploit aspects of the pro-choice, women-centred...

Women on Waves: where next for the abortion boat?
May 1, 2002... Abstract Women on Waves was founded to contribute to the prevention of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions throughout the world by direct action. Because national penal laws, including those governing abortion, generally extend only as...

Sex selection: the systematic elimination of girls. (Roundtable).
May 1, 2002... Abstract In strongly patriarchal societies, where the cultural and economic value of sons is at a premium, son preference manifests itself in many ways, ranging from differential allocation of household resources, medical care and neglect...

Sex selection: a gender-based preference for a pregnancy.
May 1, 2002... THE article by Oomman and Ganatra raises important ethical, moral and legal questions with regard to the non-medical (mis)use of antenatal diagnostic technologies for sex selection. The focus of my discussion will be on sex determination and...

Sex selection/determination in India: contemporary developments.
May 1, 2002... THIS short note will deal briefly with contemporary developments relating to the decline of child sex ratios due to abuse of medical technologies. The historic contribution of the Maharashtra campaign, which first called public attention to...

Why shouldn't couples be free to choose the sex of their baby?
May 1, 2002... If couples have the reproductive freedom to choose how many children to have and when to have them, and to terminate unwanted pregnancies, then why should they not also have the freedom to select the sex of their child if they can do so? ...

Sex selective abortions: short-term and long-term perspectives.
May 1, 2002... Resume Dans les societes patriarcales, ou la valeur culturelle et economique des fils est superieure, la preference pour les garcons se manifeste de differentes manieres, depuis l'allocation differentielle des ressources du menage et des...

Nepal legalises abortion. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In March 2002, Nepal's lower house of parliament amended the civil code to partially legalise abortion and bring about sweeping changes in other discriminatory laws. Once Nepal's king signs the legislation, abortion will be legal upon request...

Taiwanese controls drive doctors to use black market mifepristone. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The medical abortion drug mifepristone is the only drug in Taiwan to be subjected to controls requiring all movements of the drug to be registered (apart from addictive drugs). Tight restrictions are forcing some doctors to rely on black market...

Anti-abortion terrorists make use of anthrax scare. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... More than 200 abortion clinics in the USA received threatening letters containing a substance resembling anthrax powder in 2001. Some of the envelopes contained letters signed by the right-wing Army of God that said the letters were...

Advocacy tool for induced abortion on non-medical grounds. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In March 1999 the FIGO Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women's Health published Guidelines Regarding Induced Abortion for Non-Medical Reasons. It contains recommendations on women's right to safe abortion services,...

Abortion ban rejected in Irish referendum. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Ireland remains one of the most socially conservative countries in Europe. Divorce was only recently permitted under limited circumstances, while over-the-counter contraceptives were illegal until 10 years ago. On 6 March 2002, voters narrowly...

Abortion law clarified in Tasmania. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Uncertainty around the legality of abortion in Tasmania, Australia, resulted in doctors at Tasmania's two public hospitals refusing to perform abortions until the matter was cleared up. The confusion followed a complaint by a male medical...

UK women seeking abortions 'treated too slowly'. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The first national audit of abortion services in England and Wales in 2000 highlighted failings across both private services and the National Health Service. Guidelines of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) on the...

Switzerland makes abortion legal. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In March 2001 the federal parliament of Switzerland legalised abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy if the woman finds herself in a situation of distress and on medical grounds after that. Doctors must counsel and give women...

Turkish civil code reforms recognise women's equality and rights in marriage. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Following many years of lobbying by women's rights groups, the Turkish Parliament has accepted a reform of the civil code that establishes the equality of women and men in marriage. The new code also raises the legal age for marriage to 18 both...

Australia addresses female genital mutilation. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Australia has a relatively small yet substantial number of migrants from countries in Africa where female genital mutilation (FGM) is practised. In 1995, federal and state governments in Australia funded the National Programme on Female Genital...

Sexual exploitation of children unchecked. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A UNICEF report released at the end of 2001 in conjunction with the 2nd World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Yokohama, Japan, estimates that about one million children enter the sex trade each year. Five years...

Catholics for a Free Choice challenges Vatican condom ban. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... On World AIDS Day 2001 Catholics for a Free Choice launched a global campaign against the Catholic bishops' ban on condoms. The Condoms4life campaign includes advertising in the USA and other countries with a significant Catholic population and...

African women being condemned to death by stoning. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Abok Alfa Akok, an 18 year-old Sudanese Christian woman was sentenced to death by stoning, allegedly for adultery. The sentence was based on Sudan's 1991 Penal Code, the government's interpretation of the Shari'a Islamic law. Her lawyer argues...

Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy. (Round Up: Law and Policy).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... At the meeting of the Afghan Women's Summit for Democracy (AWSD) in December 2001, women demanded full participation in the current and future development of Afghanistan. Recommendations were made for action in all areas to meet immediate and...

Urgent need for standardised misoprostol regimens. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Despite the mounting evidence supporting the use of misoprostol for abortion induction, uterine evacuation, and labour and delivery, there are no standard or labelled regimens for its use for any of these indications. In order to document the...

Lessons in post-abortion care from Mexico. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Since the early 1990s, three major public sector institutions in Mexico have been dealing with abortion-related complications -- the fourth most frequent cause of maternal mortality in the country. Despite relatively conservative abortion...

Fistula prevention in Africa. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... UNFPA, together with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and Columbia University's Averting Maternal Death and Disability programme will lead an international campaign to prevent new cases of obstetric fistula. There are...

Trends in caesarean sections in Brazil, Hong Kong and West Africa. (Round Up: Service Delivery).
May 1, 2002... Brazil is often portrayed as a country where there is an unusually large demand for caesarean sections, especially among more affluent women. The rate of caesarean sections among private patients is extremely high and twice the rate as in the...

Contraceptive commodity shortfalls globally. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Although high quality contraceptives are integral to a well-functioning reproductive health system, recent projections and comparisons of global requirements and funding trends point to a substantial shortfall at present, and increasing...

Unmet condom need in Africa much higher than estimated. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Although a study by Shelton and Johnston estimated unmet need for condoms in sub-Saharan Africa to be around 1.9 billion, another study suggests that the number required is closer to 13 billion. According to the earlier survey, the number of...

Condom distribution may not translate into condom use among indian sex workers. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The efforts of the Indian government and NGOs to increase condom distribution among sex workers, a crucial component of national AIDS prevention strategies, may not translate into increased condom usage. Although most sex workers are aware of...

Bangladesh to move from community-based distribution of contraceptives to a clinic-based system. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A major change in the national health and population programme of Bangladesh is currently underway due to limited national resources, stagnation in donor support associated with reduced priorities, and the increased responsibility of national...

Middle East black market for the Pill. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... High demand for contraceptives by women in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia has created a black market, smuggling rackets and trafficking rings for contraceptive pills. With the exception of Egypt, where contraceptive pills are manufactured and...

Morning-after pill available free and over the counter, France. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Girls in France who are 18 and over are eligible for free morning-after pills from pharmacies without a prescription or parental authorisation. The government has decreed that before giving out the pills, pharmacists must brief young women to...

Frequent repeat use of emergency contraception, UK. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Contrary to earlier research suggesting that repeat use of emergency contraception (EC) is low or rare, a recent study in Devon in the UK found it to be frequent. High levels of repeat use were consistent across age groups as well. Although...

USA approves hormonal contraceptive patch. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The contraceptive patch, Ortho Eva, which slowly releases oestrogen and progestogen through the skin and into the bloodstream to prevent pregnancy, has been approved by US regulators. An alternative to oral contraception, the patch is designed...

Urgent action needed to address cervical cancer in East, Central and Southern Africa. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Although cervical cancer is preventable, it still remains a major burden on public health resources in East, Central and Southern Africa. 95% of institutions at all health care levels have the basic infrastructure to carry out cervical cytology...

Psychosexual impact of ovarian cancer and treatment ignored. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Women who have undergone treatment for ovarian cancer in Leeds, UK would have preferred to receive verbal or written information on the psychosexual impact of the cancer and its treatment. Women interviewed in a qualitative study said they were...

Network of shelters for battered women in Mexico. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Mexican NGO Alternativas Pacificas opened its first shelter for battered women in 1996. Since then it has created a programme to facilitate sharing of experiences with similar organisations throughout Mexico and set up an informal network of...

Latin American countries tackle gender-based violence. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... IPPF Western Hemisphere Region together with its associates in Dominican Republic, Peru and Venezuela are exploring the definition of success when assisting a woman who has experienced gender-based violence. At present, little evidence is...

Modest contribution made by programmes for violent men in UK. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... One of the oldest programmes for men who perpetrate violence against women in Europe, Ahimsa, based in Plymouth UK, has recognised the modest contribution made by such programmes in terms of reducing violent and abusive behaviour, albeit by...

Need to train health care professionals in USA to respond to domestic violence. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A recent survey of literature in English, primarily from the USA, has revealed that educational programmes for health care providers on domestic violence appear to be limited. Despite the widespread occurrence of domestic violence and the...

High incidence of back pain reported among Northern irish gynaecologists. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... According to a survey conducted in Northern Ireland, seven out of ten gynaecologists suffer from back pain caused by awkward postures adopted in the course of clinical practice. Between the 107 practitioners surveyed, three years' work had been...

Denial of pregnancy not so uncommon. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Cases where women who do not accept or realise that they are pregnant are more common than once believed, and doctors can do more to detect such unrecognised pregnancies. Research carried out in Berlin found 62 cases of women who denied being...

Getting a better picture of penis size for condom development, India. (Round Up: Service Delivery).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... In an attempt to address India's 15% failure rate in condom use, researchers at the Indian Council for Medical Research have initiated a project to measure the size and shape of penises of men throughout India. A hypothesis to be tested...

International Consortium for Medical Abortion. (Round up: Networks).
May 1, 2002... The International Consortium for Medical Abortion was formally established in a meeting in London in February 2002. Its mission is to promote access to medical abortion within the framework of support for safe abortion worldwide. Its objectives...

Using vacuum aspiration after medical abortion. (Round Up: Research).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Although medical abortion using mifepristone plus misoprostol has shown complete abortion rates of well over 90% in numerous settings, providers remain concerned about instances when subsequent surgical evacuation of the uterus may be...

Contraceptive counselling with abortion services in Turkey. (Round Up: Research).
May 1, 2002... In Turkey, the ratio of induced abortions is one to every five live births. Most procedures are performed in the private sector, with about a quarter taking place in public health facilities, such as family planning clinics attached to...

Breast cancer screening controversy. (Round Up: Research).
May 1, 2002... The latest study on breast cancer screening has found that screening does save lives after all. The news has been welcomed by screening advocates as an end to two years of heated controversy. Researchers from Umea University found that there...

South African Medical Association endorses HIV treatment for rape survivors. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The South African Medical Association (SAMA), representing 17,000 doctors, two-thirds of whom work in the public sector, has announced its support for physicians who prescribe post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) with antiretroviral treatment for...

HIV-positive women at higher risk of gynaecological lesions. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A study in New York City has found that HIV-positive women have a higher prevalence and incidence of pre-invasive vulvar, vaginal and peri-anal lesions associated with human papillomavirus. These findings suggest that HIV-positive women are at...

Formula feeding a safe alternative to breastfeeding. (Round-Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Mortality and morbidity rates in a study in Kenya were similar for breastfed and formula-fed children of HIV-positive mothers, indicating that formula feeding can be a safe alternative to breastfeeding in resource-poor settings, as long as...

Ugandan mothers choose to breastfeed. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A survey at Mulago Hospital in Kampala has found that most HIV-positive mothers prefer to breastfeed rather than use free formula milk, despite knowing the risks of transmitting the virus to their infants. 61% of HIV-positive mothers receiving...

Ugandan trial of neonatal HIV vaccine. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... Researchers at Makerere University in Uganda want to study a neonatal HIV vaccine as a potential strategy for protecting breastfeeding infants against infection, which would be used following antiretroviral drug therapy perinatally (1). If...

New network to tackle STIs in West Africa. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... The development of drug resistance to antibiotics such as penicillin, tetracycline and co-trimoxazole, commonly used for the treatment of STIs, has presented a major obstacle to the effective control of gonorrhoea and chancroid in Africa. To...

India shifts STI prevention focus to men. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... As part of its strategy to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Indian government has shifted its attention to men, recognising that STI prevalence is higher among men. It is now trying to get more men to visit health centres and health camps by...

Knowingly transmitting HIV a criminal offence in Scotland. (Round Up: HIV/AIDS).(Brief Article)
May 1, 2002... A court judgement in Scotland recently criminalised undeclared but not untested transmission of HIV. Due to the judgement, HIV counsellors in Scotland will need to explain to anyone seeking an HIV test the legal ramifications of the judgement....

Advocating for Abortion Access: Eleven Country Studies. (Round Up: Publications).(Book Review)
May 1, 2002... Barbara Kiugman, Debbie Budlender (editors), 2001 This book offers a comparative analysis of strategies in abortion advocacy based on the experiences of activists in 11 countries, using a shared policy analysis methodology. Advocacy...

Persecuted. Political Process and Abortion Legislation in El Salvador: A Human Rights Analysis. (Round Up: Publications).(Book Review)
May 1, 2002... 2001 Current abortion laws in El Salvador are among the most restrictive in the world. The new Penal Code which came into effect in April 1998 eliminated all legal grounds permitting abortion and penalised all forms of inducing abortion....

From Patna to Paris: Providing Safe and Humane Abortion. (Round Up: Publications).(Book Review)
May 1, 2002... Quality/Calidad/Qualite, No. 11, 2001 This publication describes what is required to provide an adequate level of quality in abortion care. Two programmes are looked at -- the Clinique d'Orthogenie, Broussais Hospital, in France and Parivar...