The State Department's new Trafficking in Persons report suggests that the Obama administration will opt for evidence-based responses to trafficking over putting restrictions on women "for their own good."
Around the world, people turn to sex work in the hopes of earning a living wage - and maybe even to support their families. But misguided policies routinely deny them that right.
Add United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the list of people who understand that arresting and punishing sex workers is counter-productive in the battle against HIV/AIDS. And take the government of Cambodia off that list.
Congress is poised to re-authorize the federal law against human trafficking with new provisions that will both increase penalties for sex workers and effectively decrease our ability to aid genuine victims of trafficking.
Legislation and advocacy work have often blurred or denied any difference between trafficking and sex work. That has always made things worse rather than better for those involved.
An analysis of the criteria originally set out by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops as priorities for health reform finds that the Bishops have moved the goal posts on their original insistence that reform be "abortion-neutral."
Like bills now moving through Congress, health care reform in Massachusetts sought to reduce the number of uninsured. But recent research shows that many of those now "insured" still can't access care or afford essential prescriptions.
The old adage, think globally and act locally, is key to addressing climate change. Community-based, integrated approaches and solutions are essential to adaptation.
One unintended consequence of Massachusetts’ innovative 2007 reform legislation is reduced contraceptive access for low-income women. We can't repeat this mistake nationally.
The primary care physician leading the Montana "personhood" campaign is under multiple investigations for Medicaid fraud: She allegedly insisted that patients pray with her.
The misuse of bio-terrorism laws to prosecute an HIV positive man is but one example of how efforts to criminalize HIV stigmatize individuals and simultaneously threaten public health.
Integrating reproductive and sexual health services with HIV prevention is essential to ending the AIDS epidemic. Yet US policies continue to hamper effective strategies.
Telemundo 52 recently reported on Alma Minerva Chacon, a woman who was terrorized by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio by being forced to give birth in chains despite the pleading of nurses and other medical staff.
Known by most Americans for its gorgeous beaches and outstanding golf courses, South Carolina is unfortunately known to most public health professionals for its staggering rates of HIV and AIDS.
My son would have died under the Stupak Amendment. Help stop it from becoming law and ensure that you and I can make our own decisions about what is good for our families.
Just in case you had any doubt about the direct--and I mean direct--intervention of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in curtailing women's rights in US health reform legislation, here is the latest evidence of how some representatives are working at what appears to be the behest of the bishops. Ben Nelson is holding a Senate Stupak Amendment until the Bishops "have time to review it."
Today, the Senate passed the Mikulski Amendment ensuring that women's preventive health services like pelvic exams and STI testing are covered by all private insurers, at little or no additional costs to women.
Posing as a 34 year-old woman whose COBRA insurance was running out, this reporter went in search of an individual insurance plan that included maternity coverage in case of a future pregnancy and found not one, single plan in the entire state of Colorado that would cover maternity care.
