Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is a strong supporter of reproductive rights. She has drawn criticism from some in the reproductive health field for calling abortion "tragic" and emphasizing the need to make it "rare."
Clinton received 100 percent scores 2002-2006 from NARAL Pro-Choice America and submitted this statement on her commitment to reproductive health:
"I believe in the freedom of women to make their own decisions about the most personal and significant matters affecting their lives. That is why I strongly support Roe v. Wade. I also believe that abortion should be safe, legal and rare and that the government should do much more to support women so that the right guaranteed in our constitution is exercised in rare circumstances.
"Throughout my career, I have worked to increase access to the full range of reproductive health services for women at every income level; to increase access to international family planning; and to reduce teen pregnancy. In the Senate, I have championed the Prevention First Act and led a successful three year fight to secure over-the-counter access for Plan-B emergency contraception."
Clinton stated that "women's rights are human rights" at the United Nations Conference in Beijing in 1995 and has a significant record advocating for women's health around the world. She has spoken out strongly against sex trafficking, advocates for comprehensive sex education and supports expanding access to family planning services.
As First Lady, she helped to establish the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancies and helped to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act. In addition, Clinton led efforts to make adoptions easier and increase support for families in the foster care and adoption systems.
"If HIV/AIDS were the leading cause of death of white women between the ages of 25 and 34, there would be an outraged outcry in this country. So let me quickly say ... that yes, we have to do all of this, and I'm working on this. I'm working to get Medicaid to cover treatment. I'm working to raise the budget for Ryan White, which the Bush administration has kept flat, disgracefully so, because there are a lot of women, particularly, who are becoming infected in poor rural areas as well as underserved urban areas in states where, frankly, their state governments won't give them medical care.
"So this is a multiple dimension problem. But if we don't begin to take it seriously and address it the way we did back in the '90s, when it was primarily a gay men's disease, we will never get the services and the public education that we need."
Far too much is made of a mother's obligations to her children and far too little of a child's love for her mother. If fetuses could love, I think they would be as passionate in defense of their mothers as born children become.
The majority of women in prison are mothers of minor children, and women are the fastest-growing prison population in the country. We need to recognize and treat with compassion the humanity of these mothers.
Religious fundamentalists' fear isn't that feminism will lead all women to reject motherhood, but rather that in the capacity for choice, women challenge the notions that rationalize male domination embedded in traditional meanings of motherhood.
After more than a hundred years of legally allowing women access to a therapeutic abortion, in October 2006 the Nicaraguan National Assembly banned this procedure in all circumstances. Now women's health groups are working to mitigate the damage.
If we changed society's attitudes and policies around mothering and child care, we could give a gift not just to our own moms but to all mothers this Mother's Day.
In her new book, Opting In, feminist activist and author Amy Richards explores feminist mothering. Laura Barcella talked to her in San Francisco about her newest "baby."
Feel like you're not the man you thought you could be? Your local megachurch has a solution: every woman deprived of her reproductive rights, every gay person deprived of the right to marry suddenly makes you look manly by comparison.
In India, there are laws to prevent dowry, domestic violence, sexual harassment and child marriage. But in the country's social context, these laws aren't very effective.
Just thirty-five Senators in office are strongly pro-choice. But this November, when a third of the Senate seats will be up for grabs, voters have a chance to increase that score.
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.
RH Reality Check celebrates our second anniversary with a new look and new features to make the reader experience better. Thanks for helping create this fast growing online community devoted to global understanding of sexual and reproductive health issues.
