Reproductive Health Bill Reaches Floor for Debate in Philippines House of Representatives
Recognizing the need to implement family planning measures to improve health, education and and other living standards in the Philippines, the country's House of Representatives has agreed to debate House Bill 5043 aimed at "providing reproductive health education and services." The bill focuses on providing more comprehensive sex education at schools and health clinics throughout the country and using public funds to subsidize birth control. The bill does not, however, legalize abortion. In the heavily Catholic Philippines, the capital city of which has banned the use of contraceptives in public health clinics for the last seven years, establishing family planning services has been historically difficult. This marks the first time in 14 years of efforts that a reproductive health bill will even receive open debate:
For 14 years, bills promoting the use of contraceptives have always been blocked in Congress. It is the first time that such a bill reaches the plenary for second reading.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, South Cotabao Rep. Arthur Pinggoy, and Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin were the first to deliver their speeches. Several more are expected to deliver speeches when session resumes on Monday.
“The RH bill could not have reached this stage of plenary consideration had it not been for the steadfast support and determination of RH advocacy groups… I am also deeply grateful to the 96 co-authors of HB 5043…These legislators, mostly Catholics, have braved the wrath of their bishops and certain sectors of the Catholic hierarchy,” Lagman said, reading a prepared speech.
“Finally, after the long wait, this controversial piece of legislation has reach the plenary deliberations,” said Ramon San Pascual, executive director of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc. (PLCPD), in a statement.
“We consider this day a victorious one for millions of men and women who have been denied access to reproductive health education and services. We are hopeful that this will turn out to be a productive deliberation that will end up in voting.” San Pascual added.
National Organization for Women Endorses Obama and Biden
America's largest women's rights organization, at 500,000 strong, endorsed Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden yesterday:
NOW's endorsement represented the first time in 24 years the group has endorsed a general election presidential candidate -- the last being Walter Mondale in 1984, who ran on the first ticket to feature a woman as a vice presidential running mate.
The largest organization for women's rights, NOW says it is stepping into the contest to educate women about Palin's positions and highlight Obama and Biden's long-time commitment to policies that support women personally and economically.
"For us its a red alert," said Gandy. "Palin is so out of touch with women. I don't think people fully understand her positions."
"They are stark differences between these two candidates," said Smeal. "John McCain has a 26 year record of voting against issues important to women."
Smeal cited McCain's opposition to a bill that would afford equal pay to women, his opposition to abortion funding and a vote he cast against breast cancer research.
The new Obama pay equity ad says that "women work to help support their families but are paid just 77 cents to a dollar a man makes. It's one more thing John McCain doesn't get about our economy. He opposed a law to guarantee women equal pay for equal work, calling it too great a burden on business.... A burden on business? How about the burden on our families."
The Story of Joe Biden and the Violence Against Women Act
The New Republic has an in-depth look at Joe Biden's central role in crafting, passing and defending the Violence Against Women Act. It was a decade long battle fought throughout the 1990's, and fought in every branch of federal government at some point in its road to law. Biden began to pursue the legislation after a rise in violence against women in the 1980's and his office began writing legislation after discovering a loophole in federal hate crimes legislation:
The late '80s, Biden noticed, showed a rise in violent crimes against young women. Then, in December 1989, a man walked into a university classroom in Montreal with a hunting rifle, divided the students by sex, yelled that the women were all "a bunch of feminists," and killed 14 of them. Biden's aide Ron Klain handed the Senator an article in the Los Angeles Times by a friend who had clerked with Klain the year before at the Supreme Court, Lisa Heinzerling (now professor of law at Georgetown). Heinzerling connected that murder of "feminists" to a gap in U.S. law. Federal law tracking hate crimes targeted only, she wrote, a "victim's race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation." Thus, she argued, "if a woman is beaten, raped or killed because she is a woman, this is not considered a crime of hate"--a legal loophole "welcome to no one but the misogynist."
Click over and give the rest of the article a read; it's a rather fascinating peek at how our laws are made.
Palin's Latest Defense on Troopergate: Monegan Was Fired for Going Above Palin to Secure Federal Funds to Fight Sexual Abuse
Talking Points Memo reports that Sarah Palin is refusing to cooperate with an investigation that she inappropriately fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The story has focused on allegations that Palin had pressured Monegan to fire a Trooper Wooten for personal reasons and that Monegan was fired for not succumbing to Palin's pressure. While Palin has refused to cooperate the McCain campaign has released documents (PDF) that they say prove that Palin fired Monegan for justifiable insubordination, namely for publicly stating his intentions to travel to Washington, D.C. to seek federal funds to fight sexual abuse in Alaska, where the incidence of rape is the highest of any state in the nation. Palin maintains that Monegan had not yet received permission to pursue his plan and that going public was insubordination. Though Palin did not say that she opposed the idea of securing federal funds to help fight sexual abuse in Alaska, she has not made it a priority in her two years as governor.
More Money Needed to Fight HIV/AIDS in Ohio and Througout US
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that HIV infection rates are rising in Cleveland while funds to combat the disease are diminishing:
Since 2000, federal money for Cleveland-area agencies has dropped by more than half, even though the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in the city has gone up 49 percent - from 2,412 reported cases to 3,601, according to the Cleveland Department of Public Health.
"The programs that desperately need funding aren't getting the necessary resources that they need," Earl Pike, executive director of the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland, said Tuesday.
...
The declining funding comes in the wake of an increase in the HIV rate in Cleveland, where almost 1 in 100 men live with the disease, according to the city health department.
Young people, especially young black men, account for many of the new cases diagnosed in Cleveland. Neighborhoods immediately west and east of downtown Cleveland and other areas with high black populations have the highest incidences of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in people ages 13-24.
For Pike, whose agency spent $4.2 million last year on programs, including housing and transportation and $500,000 in prevention programs, less money is a huge obstacle.
Considering that the lifetime medical costs alone for people with HIV are somewhere around $800,000, it makes sense to increase spending for prevention programs, Pike said.
Family Planning and Education Play Important Role in Sustainability
Salon has published a fascinating discussion on global population among three well known population experts. All three seem to agree that "widespread access to contraceptive services, family planning and access to safe abortion" and the education of the world's women have all helped make the world's population more sustainable:
Today, most women the world over are using contraception and family size has shrunk from five children to a little more than two and a half. That has been an incredible success story for the world. We'd have a much larger population, be much further along in global warming, lack of water supplies, the loss of nature and biodiversity, if this movement had not gotten going when it did.
