Grantee & Partner News

December 12, 2011

Grantee News From Reproductive Health Technologies Project

Washington, DC – On December 7th,  Secretary Sebelius invoked her control through the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act to deny approval of Plan B® One-Step, a safe and effective emergency contraceptive product, overruling the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) and Commissioner Hamburg’s recommendation to approve the application.

“We are outraged that this Administration has let politics trump science. There is no rationale for this move. This is unprecedented as evidenced by the Commissioner’s own letter.  Unbelievable,” says Kirsten Moore, President and CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project.

Plan B One-Step is a single dose levonorgestrel emergency contraceptive product that women can take up to 72 hours after unprotected sex.  Emergency contraception is sometimes confused with the abortion pill. Plan B One-Step works to prevent pregnancy; it will not work if a woman is already pregnant. For more information on emergency contraception:http://www.rhtp.org/contraception/emergency/MediaPresskitPBOS.asp.

Contact: Lydia Stuckey, Senior Associate, Programs and Policy,

Reproductive Health Technologies Project

November 29, 2011

Grantee News from Catholics for Choice

In an open letter to President Obama published on today’s New York Times op-ed page, Catholics for Choice called on President Obama to stand up for what women and men want and ensure that family planning is included on the list of essential preventive services under the Affordable Care Act. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has been lobbying hard, calling for the president to include an expansive refusal clause that will ensure that millions of women and men are denied no-cost family planning coverage. Read more.

November 21, 2011

Grantee News From Reproductive Health Technologies Project

Yesterday (November 16th) a new study made headlines claiming that oral contraceptive use is associated with prostate cancer. Scary, right?  Not so fast.  Because it involves contraception — a subject that is great for making headlines — we have to take a step back and evaluate the claims.

The study found that countries where more women take birth control pills also have a greater incidence of prostate cancer.  At first this sounds scary, but cannot be used to draw any conclusions that there is a causal relationship between the two—a fact that the study authors acknowledge.  Unfortunately, that didn’t stop Fox, CBS, and other outlets from running with the story. More>

Kimberly Inez McGuire
Senior Associate, Programs & Policy
Reproductive Health Technologies Project

November 8, 2011

Grantee News From Catholics for Choice

CFC President Jon O’Brien’s recent testimony to Congress was cited in a New York Times editorial, “A New Battle Over Contraception,” drawing attention to the role that the US bishops are playing to deny family planning to all American women. Here is a link, and the text is reprinted below. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/opinion/sunday/a-new-battle-over-contraception.html We are delighted that the message about what the bishops are trying to do—and why it is wrong—is getting the high-profile coverage it deserves.  We have worked and continue to work to make sure that the voices of Catholics, especially Catholic women, are heard in these debates and that the bishops and their allies don’t get a free pass on such a critical issue.

The Times was quoting from Jon’s invited testimony before a Congressional Subcommittee on the question of whether the proposal to include family planning without cost-sharing as preventive healthcare for women would infringe upon conscience rights or decrease access to care.  You can watch a video of Jon’s testimony here:  www.CatholicsForChoice.org where he argues that the provisions expanding access to family planning do not infringe any one’s rights of conscience—unless refusal clauses are allowed to be included, in which case millions of women will be denied the right to make their own decisions about their health care.  Additionally, he explains that the provision for no cost-sharing means that more women, not fewer, will have access, a position that draws support from the Catholic social justice tradition.

Sara Morello, Executive Vice President

Catholics for Choice

November 3, 2011

Grantee News From Grace Communications Foundation

Now in its fifth year of publication, Freeing the Grid  shows that states nationwide are continuing to embrace best practices and drive further improvements in the core renewable energy policies of net metering and interconnection. In 2011, 17 states received top “A” grades for their net metering policies, up from 5 in 2007. The Vote Solar Initiative, Interstate Renewable Energy Council, The North Carolina Solar Center and the Network for New Energy Choices teamed up to produce the 2011 edition.

Freeing the Grid uses a scoring methodology that awards points for the use of the best practices in these two sets of policies. These scores are tallied and each state receives a letter grade.  The report’s methodology was recently adopted for use in the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative, which aims to reduce the cost of going solar by 75% before the end of the decade.

Vote Solar’s Adam Browning says, in an opening note to the 2011 edition, “This is what world-class net metering rules and interconnection programs do. They provide the smooth roads that transition us from dependence on centralized, dirty power generation to a system that embraces clean, distributed resources… as the price of renewables aligns with that of grid supply, good net metering and interconnection policies are going to be more important than ever.”

Experience has proven that the policies of net metering and interconnection are among the least cost, most effective renewable energy market-building tools available to state lawmakers, a particularly important consideration given the crippled economy and tight budgets facing state leaders. These state policies enable individuals, businesses and other energy consumers to invest in renewable energy today without waiting for utility or federal progress. There is a real, timely need to defend these policies in states nationwide, drive continued improvement, and reshape model policies to meet the evolving opportunities of the maturing renewable energy market.

Scott Cullen
631-238-5033
GRACE Communications Foundation
www.gracelinks.org

October 24, 2011

Grantee News from Advocates for Youth

Advocates for Youth has launched The Time Is NOW, an online campaign that provides a space for youth activists to explore and elevate the intersection of climate change and sexual and reproductive health and rights. To develop and launch the campaign, Advocates has worked with an advisory board of colleagues and youth activists.

Through the campaign, young people can learn more about the issues and sign a petition requesting that the UN prioritize the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the fight against climate change. Advocates is accelerating promotional efforts for the campaign prior to the 2011 Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa to deliver the campaign petition to the Executive Secretary of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change. Advocates will sponsor and support youth activists who will present information on the campaign during the pre-conference and with other young people, take leadership positions during the main conference by advocating with their country delegations about the importance of integrating sexual and reproductive health and rights programming into climate change strategies.

Visit the campaign website to learn more and lend your support:
www.amplifyyourvoice.org/thetimeisnow

October 17, 2011

Grantee News from International Rescue Committee

From the New York Times

In a column published yesterday in the New York Times, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Nicholas D. Kristof takes readers inside a rape treatment center the International Rescue Committee runs in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

“Sexual violence is a public health crisis in much of the world,” Kristof writes, “and women and girls ages 15 to 44 are more likely to be maimed or killed by men than by malaria, cancer, war or traffic accidents combined, according to a 2005 study.”

In the column, Kristof tells the stories of three-year-old Jessica and other staggeringly young patients the IRC treats in the Freetown center.

The piece can be distressing to read, but we wanted to share it with you as a reminder of how IRC supporters like you are helping women and girls through unimaginable circumstances in Sierra Leone and other countries where an epidemic of sexual violence continues even after civil war ends.

Read Nicholas D. Kristof’s New York Times column:

“In This Rape Center, the Patient Was 3”

Grantee News from Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)

Serra Sippel President, Center for Health and Gender Equity

It is timely that this week’s Diversity Women’s Business Leadership Conference followed the announcement of three women from West Africa and the Middle East being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Both events are reminders that women in positions of leadership are making a difference.  Leave a comment

October 7, 2011

Grantee News from Brennan Center for Justice

Publication By Wendy R. Weiser and Lawrence Norden

Ahead of the 2012 elections, a wave of legislation tightening restrictions on voting has suddenly swept across the country. More than five million Americans could be affected by the new rules already put in place this year — a number larger than the margin of victory in two of the last three presidential elections.

This report is the first full accounting and analysis of this year’s voting cutbacks. It details both the bills that have been proposed and the legislation that has been passed since the beginning of 2011.  View the Report

October 5, 2011

Grantee News from Population Action International

Weathering Change

Population Action International announces the release of its newest documentary that shows how women are coping with the effects of climate change in developing countries. Weathering Change follows women in Ethiopia, Nepal and Peru as they struggle to care for their families while enduring crop failures and water scarcity.

The film documents how family planning, girls’ education, sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation are part of the solution. As the world’s population hits 7 billion in 2011, PAI calls for expanding access to contraception and empowering women to help families and communities adapt to the effects of climate change.

PAI is also releasing an updated mapping website that contains interactive maps, graphs, and videos offering a closer look at population, gender, and climate change.

Watch Video