Birthing Women in Gaza's Maternity Wards Lack Care

Fuel, power, and expert medical care are all in short supply in Gaza, reports Women's eNews, where Israeli air strikes and a ground incursion are putting pregnant and birthing women and newborn infants at risk:

On the ground, in Gaza, maternal health care and related medical support stand frozen until further notice. Nurses and doctors that normally work in the maternity wards have been redirected to overcrowded emergency rooms. Pregnant women told Women's eNews they are being turned away at the door...

"Our staff isn't able to work effectively under electricity power shortage," said Dr. Hasan Al Louh, chief of the maternity unit. "Most of Gaza's hospitals rely mainly on power generators. They are threatened with a complete collapse if problems arise with the generator machines, putting at risk our patients and these babies' lives."

Judging President Bush's Legacy on AIDS

The Washington Post offers an in-depth look into President Bush's international AIDS work, talking to both grateful grassroots activists abroad and critics at home and in the field. Some article highlights:

PEPFAR's biggest single success story is the fortyfold increase in the number of Africans receiving life-prolonging medication in the past five years...

There continue to be detractors who say the U.S. administration should have channeled the money through the U.N.; that it has placed too much emphasis on faith-based groups and abstinence; that it has trampled on women's health by shunning anything associated with abortions; that it has concentrated on AIDS treatment at the expense of prevention; and that it has diverted attention away from bigger killers like pneumonia and diarrhea." [...]

US Global AIDS Coordinator told the reporter, "Dybul also says it is unfair to accuse the U.S. of overemphasizing abstinence because PEPFAR is a major supplier of condoms to the targeted African countries. For instance, PEPFAR figures show 60 million condoms going to Zambia, 40 million to Rwanda, 145 million to Ethiopia in the past five years."  "Supporters and critics alike agree that prevention is the weakest link in global AIDS initiatives. When he launched PEPFAR, Bush said he wanted to prevent 7 million new infections but it is hard to tell whether that goal has been met."

Who Will Benefit from the Stimulus?

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says that "if construction jobs go mainly to white males who already dominate the construction trades, many people who need jobs the most -- women, minorities, and the poor and long-term unemployed -- will be shut out."  A "Green Jobs Corps" is needed, but "I'd suggest that all contracts entered into with stimulus funds require contractors to provide at least 20 percent of jobs to the long-term unemployed and to people withincomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. And at least 2 percent of project funds should be allocated to such training. In addition, advantage should be taken of buildings trades apprenticeships -- wich must be fully available to women and minorities."

Economic Downturn Limits Hopes for Growing Families

We're hearing this from more and more places - tough economic times are putting hopes of parenting on hold.  Now the Indianapolis Star reports on couples who want, but can't afford, to grow their families.  "A sour economy also has boosted the number of women seeking free contraceptives at area health clinics, and it has meant an increase in the number of pregnant women who are considering giving up children for adoption."  And increase in patient visits at family planning clinics is likely due to "an increase in women seeking to prevent pregnancies, and an uptick in the number of women who have lost their insurance coverage after losing their jobs."

Alaska Legislature to Consider Parental Consent Legislation

Not just parental notification but parental consent will be on the table in the Alaska state legislature's next legislative session, reports KTUU.com, and Gov. Sarah Palin is in favor:

"Certainly, if we are a society that mandates parental consent before our daughters get their ears pierced, or even take a Tylenol tablet at school, I would think that there would be support both for parents to have to give consent and be informed anyway before such an invasive procedure of an abortion would be performed on our underage daughters also," [Palin] said.

Evangelicals' Broadening Concerns

USA Today profiles the expanded concerns of the "pro-life" movement, looking in depth at anti-trafficking work among evangelicals.  "This younger wave will not stick to the narrow old script - abortion, gays, the erosion of Christian prerogatives in the public square - that has governed publicly applied evangelicalism since the '70s." 

On anti-trafficking work:

Still in its relatively infancy, the anti-trafficking movement is up against a slavery behemoth that has become the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world (behind only drugs and arms dealings). Advocacy groups estimate that about 27 million people are enslaved today in brothels, sweat-shop factories and private homes. The U.S. Justice Department reports that of the 800,000 humans trafficked across international borders each year, some 17,500 are sold into slavery in the USA. They work, mostly, in prostitution and domestic labor.

Will evangelicals' work on trafficking follow in the Rick Warren tradition -- promoting a religiously-based view of a human rights issue at the expense of those they wish to help?