[Day 4] Reproductive Rights and Motherhood
One hundred and sixty one years ago, a group of women and men drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, stating that "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman..." Their immediate goal of equal voting rights for women in the United States has long since been met, but this statement still rings with a tragic amount of truth.
Three years ago, when rageprufrock first began the project that would grow into 14 valentines, she spoke about how women are praised and worshiped, torn down and degraded. We live in a world where our bodies are revered for the ability to give life and derided for leaving behind the appearance of adolescence, where we can rise to the highest offices of power in some countries and are deprived of basic rights in others.
We are told to be strong, to stand up for ourselves, told that we can do anything, be anything - but only to a point, always to a point.
Around the world, women die from lack of basic medical attention, from infanticide, from starvation beyond their control, from starvation inflicted upon themselves in a twisted attempt to be beautiful. We are beaten, raped, murdered, told in so many horrifying ways that we are lesser that we don't matter.
Forty years ago we declared that Sisterhood is Powerful, and it still is. We must remember that, must continue moving forward.
It's 2009 and we've come so far, but there is still more work to be done. We deserve better, and we can do more. We're strong. The next fourteen days is meant to remind us of that. It's our time to take back our bodies.
V can stand for vagina, like Eve Ensler's groundbreaking monologues. V can stand for violence, under whose auspices all women continue to make a home.
V can also stand for victory.
Motherhood and Reproductive Rights
At the heart of the reproductive rights issue is the decision to become a mother or not - the choice to become pregnant, the choice to carry to term or to not carry to term. While some people may see this as an ethical choice, or a matter of religion, for millions of women around the world, having a child is literally a matter of life or death.
Every minute, a woman dies of treatable complications to pregnancy or childbirth. For every woman who dies, as many as 20 other women are impacted by injuries related to childbearing.
The simple fact of the matter is that women who have access to reproductive health services and who can choose when and if to become pregnant, are healthier, live longer, and have a higher chance to pursue higher education and careers. Their children tend to survive infancy in larger numbers, and to be stronger and healthier over all.
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is an international development agency that aims to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. They work to make motherhood safer and to bring gender issues to wider attention, promoting legal and policy reforms and gender-sensitive data collection, and supporting projects that empower women economically.
To quote their website. "Simply staying informed about the issues and sharing what you learn with others makes a big difference. Increased public awareness of issues often leads to greater political support to address them." In January 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that the United States would again join in funding UNFPA, overturning a decision made by the previous administration to withhold some $34 million annually.