Editor's note.

THIS ISSUE OF CONSCIENCE FOCUSES ON THE ETHICS of development aid, specifically as it relates to sexual and reproductive health and rights. For the past eight years, development aid funded by the United States government has had a distinctively conservative imprint, with funds for prochoice causes curtailed and policies such as abstinence-only sexuality education promoted. This agenda is not mirrored around the world, with many other governments following distinctly different paths with the aid they give to countries from the global South.

However, some have made the argument that both approaches are problematic, that both are a form of tied aid, seeking to impose Western ideologies on recipient countries. We brought together some of the key leaders in the field, including the executive director of the United Nations Population Fund, Thoraya Obaid, Anders Nordstrom, the director general of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and Kavita Ramdas, the president of the Global Fund for Women. Joined by Lawrence Oteba from the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Kenya and Barbara Crane from Ipas and moderated by Mick Hume, the editor-at-large of spiked, the discussion pushed back at many of the taboos we often see in such ...