Standing up for Reproductive Rights in Developing Countries
January 15, 2010 3:09:53
By Frederick
Education and Outreach Staff and Web Correspondent
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
It has been fifteen years since the International conference on population and development was held in Cairo, Egypt. In 1994, member governments meeting in Cairo under the auspices of the United Nations Population Fund agreed to universal access to education, especially for girls, reductions in infant, child and maternal mortality, and universal access to reproductive health.
Last week, in commemoration of this landmark conference, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton rededicated the commitment of the Obama administration in promoting the rights of women to access reproductive health care and services, especially in developing countries where this rights are impeded by a host of factors ranging from poverty, civil strife, to lack of political will.
To hear Secretary Clinton say “Reproductive health care is critical to the health of the woman and that women’s health is essential to the prosperity, opportunity and stability of families and communities, and the sustainability and development of nations” was powerful.
The importance of access to family planning education and services especially in developing countries cannot be overemphasized. Women in particular need to have access to family planning education. It can be difference between life and death especially in countries were girls as young as nine years are forced to marry.
During my years working for the Cameroon Family Planning organization in the 1990s, I saw firsthand how a whole generation of young men and women were being affected by unsafe abortion and the lack of HIV/AIDS education. Condoms were a luxury and even where they were available, they were extremely expensive for an average citizen.
Meeting this goal by 2015 will require more that commemorative activities. There must be a concerted effort to engage governments of developing countries to commit to the protection of the reproductive rights of women. The ratification by all African countries of the Maputo Plan of Action that calls for the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of all Africans and having these countries commit to implement its recommendation will be a huge step towards achieving equal rights for women.
Nations can’t make any meaningful progress if women and girls are not given the needed opportunity to have an education. This anniversary should serve as an opportunity to refocus and reallocate necessary resources to achieve this goal and I am glad that the Obama administration is taking the lead.
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