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show first aired January 29, 2009
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1087
If there was ever a US regulation that qualified as a “political football” it’s the Mexico City Policy. It’s the rule that forbids international health organizations from even mentioning abortion as an option if they receive US government funding...and it’s been authorized and rescinded with each new administration in DC since Ronald Regan. On this week’s Health Show, reaction to the latest death of the policy. We’ll also hear about a very rare...and very unsettling condition: intersex - where a child is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male.
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YES YOU CAN - COUNCIL WOMEN ON ABORTION
In 1984, during a United Nations International Conference on Population in Mexico City, President Ronald Reagan announced an executive order that put a ban on U.S. government financial support for certain U.S. and foreign family planning agencies that were involved in any way with abortion in foreign countries. This ban totally removed all U.S. government funding from international agencies which not only provided abortions anywhere in the world, but that also provided abortion counseling or advocated for women's access to abortion anywhere in the world. Depending on your point of view this regulation has been called either the Mexico City Policy or the Global Gag Rule. The rule was reversed in 1993 by President Clinton...but reinstated by President Bush in 2001. Now, the policy has been repealed again. On January 23rd President Obama released this statement:
It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development. For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.
Dr Ana Langer is the president and CEO of Engender Health, an international reproductive health organization working to improve the quality of health care in the world’s poorest communities. She told Bob Barrett the regulation had a far reach.
Unsafe Crossings
It’s probably safe to say that the controversy surrounding abortion will never really be settled in the US...at least not in our lifetime. But for now, it is a safe, legal procedure for women wishing to end a pregnancy. That is not the case in all countries in our hemisphere. Kira Neel reports.
The Ins & Outs Of Intersex
After nine months your new baby finally arrives and now the big question: is it a boy or a girl? For a significant number of parents, there is no immediate answer. Here to talk about intersex is Katrina Karkazis PHD, a senior research scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford University...and is the author of Fixing Sex - Intersex, Medical Authority and Lived Experience. When someone is getting ready to welcome a new baby into their family they get ready for a lot...but this has to be really low on that list.
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