Discussion Leaders: The Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (Dianne Proctor, Chief Executive Officer, Rachel Ingwersen, Information and Publications Office, Jennifer Power, Education Officer)

NOTE: This is an archive of our 2002 website. For current information, please see our updated site for 2003.

This discussion will focus on the history of reproductive rights for women both in Australia and internationally. We will encourage people to contribute to the discussion in areas such as:

• The history of women's struggles to enhance and maintain their reproductive rights - including issues such as access to contraception, fighting for abortion rights and progress (or digression) in laws which govern reproductive health
• Women who have made a significant contribution to the struggle for reproductive rights
• The current situation internationally in regards to reproductive rights including the impact of George Bush's so called "global gag" rule
• The current situation in Australia regarding abortion law

• Australian Reproduction Health Alliance: A definition of "reproductive health" and a wide range of information on issues relevant to reproductive rights, sustainable development and population
• Reproductive Rights are Human Rights: The legal foundations for women's reproductive rights are built upon a variety of human rights recognized under international law. This pocket- size booklet delineates ten key human rights, cited from major international legal instruments, which encompass and set the basis for recognition of reproductive rights as human rights. (©2001)
• Reproductive Rights 2000: Moving Forward: "With the new millennium upon us, we should take this opportunity to consider how recent positive developments can be replicated elsewhere to shape a future in which reproductive rights are recognized worldwide as basic human rights. A woman's ability to plan her reproductive life depends upon her having access to the full range of contraceptive methods, provided in a setting in which she may make an informed choice. An estimated 350 million couples worldwide do not have access to the family planning services they need."
• Roe V. Wade and the Right to Privacy: Roe v. Wade remains a touchstone in the struggle for reproductive rights, yet many people know little about the decision aside from the fact that it "legalized abortion." For those who wish to understand the basis for the decision, the influence it has had on U.S. and international law, and where it fits into the history of women's reproductive rights, this small booklet is a perfect primer. (87 pp. copyright 2000)
• Testimony of Susana Galdos Silva: Movimiento Manuela Ramos, Lima, Peru - Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on International Operations and Terrorism, "I am here today in the United States to testify about the impact of the global gag rule. I come from Peru, a developing country, with the second highest maternal mortality rate in South America. I belong to Movimiento Manuela Ramos, a Peruvian non-governmental organization with more than twenty years of experience in advocating for women's rights and well being."
• Margaret Sanger and the 1920's Birth Control Movement: This website is a creation of 5 James Madison freshman (located at Michigan State University) and their research on Margaret Sanger regarding the birth control movement of the 1920's. Sanger revolutionized the conventional way of thinking throughout the 1920's and challenged the beliefs and ideas of society. We hope you find this site helpful in your quest of finding out more about this amazing woman.
• A history of reproduction, contraception and control: Women have always found ways of preventing unwanted babies. The 4,000-year-old Kahun Papyrus, the oldest written document on birth control, refers to vaginal pessaries made of crocodile dung and fermented dough.
• Taking Precautions: The Story of Contraception: Taking precautions: the story of contraception looked at the complex story of contraception and the role of birth control in Australian social history through a fascinating array of objects and pictures. For this web exhibition we have chosen a range of objects, from the ancient to the contemporary, to help trace the threads of the story of contraception. The story of contraception is a fascinating one. It is also long and complicated. Long, because people have always found ways to avoid having children or limit the number of children they have. Complicated, because it involves sex and romance, politics and religion, science and technology.
• McCormick Library: A library for reference and research in family planning, population, sexual health, and sexuality education.
• International Planned Parenthood Federation: Global reality of women's reproductive rights is uneven with wide gaps in laws and implementation. A Wall Chart of women's global reproductive rights launched by IPPF during the Beijing five-year review measures the progress of the implementation of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (The Convention) - the key human rights document for women. The wall chart illustrates that everywhere social, structural and economic realities limit women's choices and their reproductive rights.
• Centre for Reproductive Law and Policy: International News
• Reproductive Rights in the Refugee Context: Armed conflicts and civil wars targeting civilians have given rise to massive refugee flows worldwide. The most vulnerable refugee populations are women and children, who make up eighty percent of the world's refugees. Women refugees, particularly vulnerable to sexual coercion and gender violence, continue to be victims of human rights abuses during and after flight. Rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, sexually transmissible infections ("STIs"), unsafe abortions and unwanted pregnancies are high among refugee women. For example, it is estimated that 2,000 to 5,000 women and girls became pregnant from rape following the deliberate sexual violence of the 1994 genocidal campaigns in Rwanda.
• United Nations Population Fund: Rights, Empowerment and Development: United Nations Population Fund, State of the World Population 1997 Rights, Empowerment and Development. Reproductive and sexual health is a right for both men and women. Today, gaps and failures in reproductive health care, combined with women's long-established inequality and the pressures of society and family, keep people all over the world from exercising their sexual and reproductive rights. This massive denial of human rights causes the deaths of millions of people every year: many more are permanently injured or infected. Most of these people are women, and most are in developing countries.
• Global Reproductive Health Forum: Research Library
• Held to Ransom; the Global Gag Rule: On the 22 January 2001 President George W. Bush reinstated the Mexico City Policy. This is generally known as the "Global Gag Rule" for the restrictions it places on the way organizations outside the US use their own money, is an affront to the principle of free speech and will ultimately hurt those projects that, through providing contraception, reduce the demand for abortions worldwide.
• UNFPA Population issues briefing kit 2001: Empowering Women, Ending Violence: "Advancing gender equality and equity and the empowerment of women, and the elimination of all kinds of violence against women, and ensuring women's ability to control their own fertility are cornerstones of population and development-related programmes."
• Women's Human Rights Resources: The purpose of the Women's Human Rights Resources Web Site is to provide reliable and diverse information on international women's human rights via the Internet. This site contains an impressive range of articles, documents and links on a large range of topics including reproductive health rights.
• Population Action International - What You Need to Know About the Global Gag Rule Restrictions
• Family Planning and the Aid Program: A Comprehensive Guide: Australian Aid funds are restricted to exclude any activities that are associated with abortion provision or related services such as training and research. The above link spells out the policy of AUSAID on family planning aid. The abortion provisions are listed in the "note" on page 4, guiding principles. Note: This PDF document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• Global Reproductive Health Forum: The Global Reproductive Health Forum @ Harvard (GRHF) is an internet networking project that aims to encourage the proliferation of critical discussions about reproductive health and gender on the net. GRHF provides interactive electronic forums, global discussions, distributes reproductive health and rights materials from a variety of perspectives through our clearinghouse as well as maintains an extensive, up-to-date research library. Our goal is to reach out to, involve and meet the needs of under served groups globally, the reproductive health community worldwide, academics and people who are dedicated to women's rights and gender issues. GRHF is the premiere reproductive health-focused internet project which encourages global discussion. We hope to create on-going dialogues, partnerships and strategic planning sessions which take place via the web within countries and across continents.