Year: 2011
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Jingle pills indeed
This post first appeared on the BMJ Group Blog, 12th December 2011 Many years ago now, when news of female sterilisation first came out, Catholic priests in Puerto Rico and other Catholic countries preached from their pulpits against women being sterilised. As a result many more women learned that sterilisation existed, and many went out…
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The cover that got covered
Guest blog by RHM digital editor Cassie Werber In May 2010, Reproductive Health Matters published a journal on the theme of Cosmetic surgery, body image and sexuality. Marge Berer, editor of the journal, proposed a cover featuring an artwork which consisted of the vulvas of women – who had volunteered for the project – cast…
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World’s 7 billionth baby causes journalistic storm
Last week, an opinion piece in the New York Times in response to the birth of the world’s seven billionth baby put forward family planning as the solution to the problem of the still rapidly rising population of the world. It took pot shots at UN demographers for not being able to predict precisely when…
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Independent abortion counselling? Whose problem?
Published on the BMJ guest blog, 1st September 2011 Nadine Dorries MP is a very skillful politician. She decides there is a problem, for which she has absolutely no evidence. She not only manages to get her problem onto the front pages of the newspapers but also onto the agenda of the House of Commons.…
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Why is abortion – and particularly repeat abortion – still perceived as a problem?
A study of repeat teenage pregnancies in women under 20 years old presenting for an abortion in England and Wales from 1991-2007 found that the number of women with recorded previous pregnancies had risen steadily from 1991 to 2007, both in absolute numbers and in proportion. The proportion of those who had a repeat abortion…
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“Human beings have only a 50-50 chance of surviving to the end of the 21st century”
On 25-26 May, I attended a conference in London, organised by University College London Centre for Global Health, called Population Footprints, on sustainability. The prediction that we humans have only a 50–50 chance of surviving to the end of the 21st century serves to focus the mind wonderfully. It is based on the seriousness of…
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Privatising the NHS can bring down a government
LETTER TO MPs, SENT 28th MAY 2011 – INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION FOR WOMEN’S HEALTH I am writing to urge you to call on the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Health to withdraw the NHS Bill, as recommended by the British Medical Association and many others with expertise in health care and…
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International Women’s Day: what happened
I want to acknowledge the many demonstrations that took place on International Women’s Day last week around the world, which were reported after my last blog. That includes: i) a brave women’s demonstration in Côte d’Ivoire commemorating the killing of seven people the week before by voted-down president Gbagbo’s troops. Those seven were themselves marching…