With a very limited and negative view of sexuality, the Catholic Church's attention always seems inordinately focused on what it views as "unnatural sex acts" -- and it doesn't bother distinguishing between consensual acts and abuse.

PEPFAR's "anti-prostitution" pledge favors strategies that are penal in character over health-based interventions that reach out to educate sex workers.

In the Philippines as elsewhere, the stereotype of who usually undergoes abortion and why doesn't exactly fit the hard data.

Manila is now famous for its ban on perfectly safe, legal and much needed contraceptives. But other Filipino cities nearby are taking very different stands.

On January 29, 2008, a group of women, together with activist organizations and individuals working on women's reproductive rights in Manila, filed a case countering the seven-year de facto ban on contraceptives in city funded health facilities.

The media in the Philippines continue to portray abortion as a population control measure, not understanding that reproductive health care is a right. But U.S. policies like the global gag rule, which sensationalize abortion, aren't helping.

Despite the difficulties reproductive health advocates faced in the Philippines in 2007, engaging in the debates on RH remained important in continuing to secure "public spaces" for the reproductive health agenda.

Presidential politics in the Philippines means that reproductive health care in that country is up for debate.

Years ago my friend and I were estranged, in part because of our differences of opinion about a woman's right to choose an abortion. Recently, both acknowledging the complexity of the issue, we reconnected.