We are now looking to our new head of State, John Kerry, and the second term of the Obama administration to continue advocating for and implementing existing policies on these issues throughout U.S. foreign policy and foreign assistance.

To demonstrate mass public support for policies and programs that will allow women and girls to be healthy, empowered, educated and safe, IWHC joined a coalition of groups, including Half the Sky, Girls Not Brides and many others, to tell Sec. Kerry and other key decisionmakers that the work for women and girls is far from done.

Starting this week and through June, we’ll focus on eight different issues that impact the lives of women and girls—such as education, health, violence, early and forced marriage, human rights, and economic empowerment—as part of the 50 Days of Action for Women and Girls Campaign. Each week will focus on a different issue, and we’ll be hosting Twitter chats with experts in the field to answer your questions about what more can be done to advance this agenda.

Thanks to many of you who signed up for our Thunderclap, our #usa4women tweet will go out tomorrow at 12 PM EDT. Our next Thunderclap, with the #usa4girls hashtag, will go out on May 20; we’ll be mobilizing attention around the issue of ending early and forced marriage. Watch our Facebook page and Twitter feed to learn how you can help!

After two weeks of fierce negotiations at the United Nations’ annual Commission on the Status of Women, on March 15 more than 130 governments committed to ending violence against women and girls, and reached strong agreements to promote gender equality and ensure access to sexual and reproductive health services.

The International Women’s Health Coalition and our amazing partners from around the world came out in force to the UN for the negotiations. Our agenda was clear: push governments to commit to concrete strategies to empower women and girls and end gender-based violence.

We met with instant opposition from conservative governments. Countries such as Iran, Russia, Egypt, and Syria joined with the Vatican in what The New York Times called “an unholy alliance.” IWHC staff and our women’s rights caucus of more than 100 activists worked around the clock to support progressive delegations to stand strong and not to cave in to pressure. We would not let a small but vocal minority use culture and religion as excuses to deny women their rights.

Our efforts prevailed and consensus was finally reached to loud applause from supportive governments such as Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Mexico, Norway, the Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, United States, Uruguay, and even the small island of Tonga! As the “agreed conclusions” document was adopted, hundreds of women’s rights activists streamed into the negotiating room to join in the cheers.

For the first time at the UN, governments reached consensus that survivors of rape are entitled to emergency contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancy, and to timely and respectful forensic exams to support prosecution. They called for an end to child marriages. They agreed women’s right to control their sexuality is essential to preventing further violence. And they recognized the role that evidence-based sexuality education can play in reducing the harmful gender stereotypes that lead to violence.

In a sign of just how much was at stake, this year’s meeting received an unprecedented amount of media coverage after the Muslim Brotherhood condemned (and mischaracterized) the negotiations. IWHC featured prominently in many news articles, including in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Associated Press, ABC News, The Globe and Mail, Radio Free Europe, O Estado de S. Paulo, and Reuters.

Once again, we women have shown we’re an irresistible force. But our work is far from over. Now we must be vigilant to ensure that the agreements made at the UN are put into practice in local communities worldwide.

For that to happen, we must continue to support women’s groups to hold their own leaders to account.

Best regards,

The numbers are staggering. Every year, 10 million girls under the age of 18 enter early and forced marriages, usually to men much older than they are. By becoming a child bride, a girl gets nearly every odd stacked against her.

This epidemic received much-needed attention last month during the first-ever International Day of the Girl Child. At events worldwide, government leaders and influentials acknowledged that early and forced marriage is a grave violation of girls’ human rights. Indeed, these girls are powerless within their families and societies, and experience strong disadvantages to their education and health.

But to end child marriage, we need more than one day. We need real action both at the international policy level and at the local level where it affects girls the most. We must prioritize the promotion of girls’ empowerment to give them a chance to succeed. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said on the inaugural Day of the Girl Child, “we call on the international community to promise a different life to girls — a life of their choosing.”

Thankfully, local organizations around the world are working in developing communities to do just that.

One example of a community organization successfully working towards this goal is APAD – in English, the Association for the Promotion of the Independence and Rights of the Girl Child.

Led by survivors of child marriage, APAD works to make sure girls like them have a choice and a chance. APAD members are not only survivors; they are leaders in the fight for the elimination of early and forced marriage in the extreme north of Cameroun. By working within their own community, they have the unique knowledge and skills that enable them to effectively enact change. Learn more about the work of APAD by watching the video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Support grassroots groups working to end child marriage. Give to our partner APAD, directly through IWHC’s campaign on GlobalGiving.org – especially during the month of November, when APAD competes to win a featured spot on Nike’s Girl Effect campaign. Winners also receive a share of the Girl Effect Fund, which raised $375,000 last year.

To win, APAD needs as many people as possible to make donations this month. It’s not about how much you give, but about how many people give. Will you help support the fight against child marriage?

The fall is in full swing and so are we at the International Women’s Health Coalition!

We continue to push the U.S. Government to take greater, concerted, and strategic action to prevent the early and forced marriage of millions of girls in key countries and to support the more than 60 million girls who are already married. It goes without saying that global development goals will not be achieved without women and girls, and that women and girls cannot thrive when they are married off as children, against their will, and often to much older men. Yet in a number of countries around the globe today, more than 40% of girls are married before the age of 18. Our colleagues at the Ford Foundation put together a fascinating report on the situation around the world.

On October 11, 2012, the world marked the first International Day of the Girl with many events around the world, including Too Young to Wed, a haunting exhibition by photographer Stephanie Sinclair. IWHC, as co-chair of the U.S. chapter of Girls Not Brides: the Global Partnership to End Child Marriage, collaborated with organizations around the world to raise the profile of this issue.

A day before, on October 10, I participated in a small closed door meeting at the State Department in Washington, DC that included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of the Elders, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and Luis Ubiñas, President of the Ford Foundation. It was a special thrill to meet Tutu – such a humble and inspiring man! Shortly thereafter, Secretary Clinton announced some welcomed steps, such as a USAID-funded project to get girls into schools in Bangladesh and a one-year program to keep girls in schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Still, we had hoped for quicker and more decisive action from the U.S. Government – these girls should not and cannot wait! Other commitments were also announced on that day – $25 million from the Ford Foundation and $20 million from UNFPA to prevent child marriage, and $39 million from the MacArthur and Mastercard Foundation for girls’ education. There is still time for the U.S. government to do its part. We will keep pressing the Administration to provide the leadership and resources these girls needs to live healthy and just lives.

We’ve also received positive news from our partner and grantee MYSU – Mujer y Salud en Uruguay (Woman and Health in Uruguay). After a 12-year battle, the Uruguayan Congress passed a bill last week that will allow abortions on any ground in the first trimester of pregnancy, and President Mujica just signed it into law. True, the law continues to stigmatize abortion and contains odious provisions that will force women to “explain the circumstances that surrounded the conception…”(!) to their doctor, go before a hospital committee to hear about “alternatives to abortion,” and endure a five-day waiting period. Nevertheless, this is a very significant step in Latin America, where women still face severe legal restrictions to safe abortion except in Mexico City, Guyana, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. IWHC first gave a grant to MYSU for this work in 1999, and we have supported them steadfastly through the many twists and turns along the way. Two years ago, for example, a more liberal law passed the Uruguayan Senate, only to be vetoed at the last minute by then President Tabare. MYSU and their allies have their work cut out for them to make certain the new law is implemented in such a way that barriers to safe abortion are removed, not reinforced. Social and policy change does require patience and staying the course!

For more news, follow IWHC and me on Twitter at @IntlWomen and @francoisegirard, or go to our website www.iwhc.org

Best regards,

In February, I was honored to become the third president in the International Women’s Health Coalition’s 28-year history.  My first 100 days are soon coming up, and I am simply awed by the work of the Coalition and its courageous and visionary partners in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Let’s take, for example, our work to end early and forced marriage. This is one of the many battles we fight to support women’s and girls’ rights and health, often in the face of regressive forces aligned against women’s rights and health.

At the local level – In Cameroun, almost half of the girls under 18 are married off by their fathers, often against their will. These early marriages usually end girls’ education and put them at very high risk of complications and death in pregnancy and childbirth. IWHC supports APAD (Association for the Promotion of the Rights and Autonomy of Women and Girls), a local organization that educates communities about the intrinsic human rights of girls, including the right to choose when and whom to marry. Led by young women who escaped or avoided early and forced marriage, APAD empowers survivors and works to stop these marriages before they occur. They do this by building skills for young women, changing cultural values through collaboration with religious and traditional leaders, and educating parents.

In Washington, DC – As a leader of Girls Not Brides: The US Partnership to End Child Marriage, IWHC commends the United States Senate for passing the International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act, which is a rare victory for women and girls. This is a critical step in upholding the rights of adolescent girls around the world, and in shielding them from the harmful practice of child marriage, which often has devastating consequences for girls, their families and their communities. We now look to the Administration to ensure that sufficient attention and resources are directed to girls most in need to prevent more marriages from occurring and to support married adolescents. Ending early and forced marriage is key to ensuring the health and rights of girls and women and a higher standard of living for them, their families, and their country.

At the global level – With women and youth from around the world, IWHC is fighting to ensure that international agreements include funding for important programs that save women’s and girls’ lives and protect their rights and health. These include contraceptives; maternity care; access to HIV services; and age-appropriate sexuality education, which teaches gender equality and provides accurate health information to young people aged 10 to 24 who often have little, or no, understanding of their bodies.

Leading IWHC is a great responsibility and I am indebted to its former presidents, Joan Dunlop and Adrienne Germain, for their vision and dedication to women’s rights and health.  In the upcoming year, I look forward to building on their legacy and that of our partners.

Controlling one’s body and fertility is key to everything else in a woman’s life.  Please support us generously, so we can do even more.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Françoise Girard
President, International Women’s Health Coalition

Working on the funding bill for the State Department and U.S. foreign assistance programs, today the Senate Appropriations Committee repudiated the negative action recently taken in the House.  The overall funding levels in the Senate bill for family planning and reproductive health programs were set at $700 million (an increase of about $125 million from last year’s levels – in an attempt to make up for disproportionate cuts in the past).  And, rather than seeking to defund UNFPA, as the House bill does, the Senate committee included $44.5 million for reproductive health services in more than 140 countries.

In direct opposition to House action, the Senate Committee included a provision to prohibit a futurePresident from unilaterally imposing the Global Gag Rule. The amendment was offered by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) – a stalwart supporter of reproductive rights – and passed by a vote of 18-12. Committee Democrats (with the exception of Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), supported it and were joined by Republicans Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mark Kirk (by proxy, as he is absent from the Senate due to health issues). Please take a moment to call or email Senator Frank Lautenberg and thank him for his continued commitment to women and girls’ basic human right to access the information and services they need to promote their health and well-being.

Additional good news: the bill contains language to allow abortion services for Peace Corps volunteers in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment of the woman.  This is progress of sorts – and if enacted would give Peace Corps volunteers the same right federal employees already have in other federal programs.

Next step is action by the full Senate – and then the House and Senate will need to work out differences between the two versions of their bills before sending to the President for signature into law.

Leaving no stone unturned, women’s health opponents are working again to eliminate funding for international family planning and reproductive health programs, as well as funding to UNFPA, the global agency that supports a breadth of reproductive health services for women in extreme poverty in more than 140 countries.  The funding bill for the State Department and foreign assistance programs around the world brought before the House Appropriations Committee on May 17 includes provisions to reinstate the Global Gag Rule as well as defund UNFPA.  As expected, the committee rejected three amendments offered by women’s health supporters to try and fix these problems in the bill.

The one surprise was that the amendment to restore funding to UNFPA, offered by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), failed in a tie after four Republicans broke with their party line and supported the amendment.  (There are 29 Republicans on the committee and 21 Democrats.)  Her amendment was an attempt to gain support from Members that don’t support a breadth of reproductive health issues provided by UNFPA, and so would have targeted a $39 million U.S. contribution only for efforts to prevent and treat obstetric fistula, to promote the abandonment of female genital mutilation and other harmful traditional practices including child marriage, and to ensure safe childbirth and emergency obstetric care.  Who could object to meeting those health needs?  Evidently most every Republican on the committee, except for Representatives Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Charles Dent (R-PA) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).  The amendment failed on a tie vote of 24-24.  We applaud and value the principled position taken by these members – and if you have a chance, we encourage you to share the news about their strong positions in your networks or by giving their offices a call through the capitol switchboard (202-224-3121). (Emails are only accepted from their constituents.)

In another effort to directly target at U.S. contribution to UNFPA for specific activities only, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) offered an amendment stating that it would be directed to only family planning services and contraceptive supplies in low-income sub-Saharan African countries where USAID this type of assistance, specifically Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Sierra Leone, and Togo.  Again, the amendment was defeated – this time by a vote of 22 to 27.

And yet one more attempt to strengthen the bill for women’s health, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) offered an amendment striking the draft bill’s provision codifying the Global Gag Rule and prohibiting a U.S. contribution to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and replacing with language designating a $39 million contribution to UNFPA with the current restrictions on that contribution that are already in place to appease some member’s concerns about the fact that UNFPA works in China, even though its efforts there are to end coercive family planning practices.  Again, the amendment failed – this time on a vote of 23 to 27.  Thanks to the vocal support during consideration of the amendment from Reps. Jim Moran (D-VA), Sam Farr (D-CA), and Steven Rothman (D-NJ).

The base bill is problematic on the funding levels as well, including a $149 million cut to international family planning means about 8 million fewer women in developing countries would have access to contraceptives and other health needs.  This completely undermines the kinds of progress being made in reducing death from pregnancy and childbirth.

• Support UNFPA: The UN Population Fund is a global partner working with national governments to ensure access to essential reproductive health services including family planning, end harmful traditional practices against women and girls, and protect human rights. Yet, some in Congress have a long-standing opposition to UNFPA’s mission: empowering women and young people. They want to end UNFPA and what it stands for.
• Oppose the Global Gag Rule: Reinstating the policy blocks funds for organizations to provide family planning services if that organization also participates in public debate about or refers patients for abortion services. This policy harms women and lessens the positive impact of investments being made. Different Presidents have gone back and forth imposing and rescinding the policy – and now some in Congress want to put this misguided policy into law, which the Senate should block; and
• Support International Family Planning Funding: Times are tough and budget cuts need to be made – but not on the backs of the world’s poorest people, and not for basic health programs critically needed by women and young people. The House has made huge cuts to family planning programs (25% from FY2011) – disproportionate cuts compared to other global health programs (9% from FY2011).

EVERY VOICE AND VOTE COUNTS. Call the Capitol Switchboard today at 202-224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Senators. Urge them to support UNFPA, oppose the Gag Rule, and support robust funding for international family planning. Let them know you are proud to have the United States as a partner and leader of the global community to support the health and rights of women and young people around the world. Call even if you think they already share your views – they need to hear from you.

While US foreign assistance is, among other things, intended to promote democracy, the Global Gag Rule, a Reagan-era policy reinstated by both President Bushes runs counter to that goal – and also puts women’s health at risk.  The Global Gag Rule requires that in exchange for U.S. assistance to provide contraception and other family planning services, foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) must withhold information from women about legal abortion as an option and where to obtain safe abortion services – even though they are legal activities undertaken with their own non-US government funds.

This policy stifles free speech and prevents medical professionals from offering the full range of legal, medically acceptable options to women. It is contrary to U.S. law and would be held unconstitutional if imposed on U.S.-based organizations.  Additionally, the groups cannot engage in any public debate or disseminate any information regarding the health hazards of unsafe abortion, express support for any existing laws that support safe abortion, or provide legal abortion services with non-U.S. funding.

The Global Democracy Promotion Act is a legislative response to a policy decision that is undemocratic, un-American and easily reinstated with the stroke of a pen by a future president. It establishes a standard that the United States will not impose restrictions on organizations outside its borders that it would not be able to impose on organizations within our borders. The legislation would allow funding for organizations that use their own non-US government funding to provide safe abortion referral, information, and services that are legal in their own country and also legal in ours. The bill will end the punishment of health care providers that observe the same standards of medical ethics and seek the same freedom of speech that apply in the United States.

While the Global Gag Rule isn’t currently in effect (Obama overturned it when he first came into office), when it was in effect there were very real impacts, and the back and forth of it being in place and then not by changing Administrations is a poor foreign assistance strategy that leaves health care providers in a quandary.  One example of the negative impact was in Peru, the Movimenta Manuela Ramos agreed to the policy for a program they run called ReproSalud (Reproductive Health). The program is designed to engage local women from poor communities across the country to identify their most pressing reproductive health needs. Manuela Ramos convenes the discussions and then works with the Ministry of Health to develop specific responses to those needs. In many communities, women identify unsafe abortion as their most pressing problem. The gag rule, however, prohibits Manuela Ramos from engaging in discussions about ways to reduce illegal, unsafe abortion.

Some House members are dedicated to trying to do the opposite of what this bill is and write the global gag rule into law.  No doubt their efforts will continue – as will ours.  The principled position of those supporting the Global Democracy Promotion Act creates growing support by policy makers, the advocacy community and citizens across the globe.

The panel of experts for the IOM report reviewed evidence and heard testimony to develop the eight recommendations for no-cost preventive care to improve women’s health in the United States, including:

• screening for gestational diabetes
• HPV testing as part of cervical cancer screening for women over 30
• counseling on sexually transmitted infections
• counseling and screening for HIV
• contraceptive methods and counseling to prevent unintended pregnancies
• lactation counseling and equipment to promote breast-feeding
• screening and counseling to detect and prevent interpersonal and domestic violence
• yearly well-woman preventive care visits to obtain recommended preventive services

The next step in this process is to see if DHHS will include these services in its regulations to implement the Affordable Care Act.  If they do follow these reasoned and sensible recommendations, a big gap in ensuring women’s access to basic health care will be filled in the United States.  The regulations are expected to be released on August 2.

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