Talk to a WC volunteer and chances are they'll tell you empowerment was a favorite part of camp. They'll also tell you how heart wrenching and challenging it is. It's the part of our curriculum that, perhaps, holds the most potential to create positive change. Because it’s where we really get into the gritty reality behind the HIV/AIDS crisis. In the general sense: power struggles, gender inequality, sexual relationships, decision making. In the more specific sense: pregnant girls who know nothing about the female reproductive system; boys who think that rape is the only way they'll ever have sex, as they believe girls don’t actually like sex; teenagers with raging hormones but various condom use barriers (no pun intended). All in country where 1 in 7 are HIV+.
Volunteers always want to know more about these issues. Six years later, I’m still learning about them myself. So we’ll try to revisit these on our blog from time to time. And what better way to start than with the recent Planned Parenthood debate in the House? A few weeks ago, in a 240 to 185 vote, the House voted on an amendment to Title X, preventing programs like Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.
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| Female Empowerment, Malawi Summer 2005 |
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| Female Empowerment, India 2008 |
This funding debacle reminds me of the questions I give the utmost importance to during empowerment, yet also fill me with dread: What is the morning after pill and can we get it? What can a girl do if she gets pregnant and wants to go to school? What do we do if the boy refuses to wear a condom, or if we don’t have a condom? What if girls never want to have sex with us? If a baby is made by two people, should the guy also have a say in abortion? I dread these questions because the answers I have often feel hollow. Even when the facts are good news, I wonder what realities actually play out.
Girl: What should a girl do if she is raped?
Me: The first thing she should do is tell someone. Rape is something that affects a woman physically, emotionally and mentally. It is very painful, and painful in many ways. So a girl needs help from someone she trusts. A police person, a teacher, her mother, her sister, a friend. If possible, a doctor should examine her to make sure her body did not suffer permanent damage and to get tested for STIs. If she is scared to be by herself or around the perpetrator, we, as her friends, should walk with her to school or home and make sure she is never alone.
Girl: Oh. What if no one believes her, or no one cares? What if she can’t see a doctor? What can she do then?
Like the Planned Parenthood dispute, these situations are harsh reminders of the world's general lack of support for women (and men for that matter), their reproductive health and their right to positive sexual experiences. All this got me thinking about a person’s right to his/her own body, and what role policy-making should have. When it comes to these, do policies in the U.S. and Malawi, differ that much? What about actual practices? Let's take a look. (We'll have to revisit and analyze in a subsequent blog post, just the facts for now.)
Access to Reproductive Health Care:
Community care clinics, various health insurance programs and non-profit organizations provide a vast majority of free or sliding-scale reproductive health care in the U.S.. Planned Parenthood is perhaps the largest of these programs. Currently, 20% of females in America seek/have sought services from Planned Parenthood at some point. Over 5 million males and females receive services each year. 90% of the organization’s care is preventative: contraceptives, STI testing/treatment, cervical cancer screening and sexual health education programs. 1.2 million people participate in these programs each year.
Malawi has few systems in place that provide as vast of care as organizations like Planned Parenthood. Much of the reproductive health education comes from international organizations (like World Camp, USAID, CARE, etc.), even though students technically receive health education in the latter part of their Standard 8 year.
Contraception (i.e. Birth Control):
Multiple kinds of birth control exist in the U.S.: combined and progestin only oral contraceptive pills, vaginal rings, injections, IUDs and the patch. Nearly 41% of women in the U.S. use contraception compared with about 15% of women in Malawi. In Malawi, direct support and supervision is required for those using birth control.
Emergency contraception, or the “morning after pill,” doesn’t end a pregnancy, but rather prevents a woman from ovulating and thickens her cervical mucus, thus reducing the chances an egg can join sperm if ovulation has already occurred. In Malawi, emergency contraception is available, but generally only provided at hospitals for rape victims (free of cost.) It is available in the U.S. without a prescription or parental consent to women 17 and older and usually costs around $40. No reason given or counseling is required.
Abortion:
In Malawi, abortion is illegal--in cases of rape, incest, economic/social resasons, to preserve physical/mental health, and foetal impairment. A person who performs an abortion can be sentenced to 14 years; a woman who seeks an abortion can serve 7. The "big" exception, however, is 'to save a woman's life.' Abortion is permitted if it is the only way to save the mother's life; those who seek and/or perform are not subject to imprisonment.
Roe vs. Wade (1973) legalized abortion throughout the U.S. However, to date, only 15 states permit women under the age of 18 to seek an abortion without some form of parental consent or notification. The Hyde Ammendment of 1976-7 ruled that no federal funding could be used to provide abortions, except in cases of rape or incest.
BLOG POST RESOURCES & FURTHER INFORMATION
Reproductive Health and Contraception:
http://info.k4health.org/pac/strategies/MOHMal_PAC_Strategy.pdfhttp://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/birth-control-methods.cfm#emeconAbortion in Malawi: Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (http://www.un.org/esa/population/)History of Abortion in the U.S.: http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.htmlHouse Debate on Title X: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-votes-strip-planned-parenthood-federal-funding/story?id=12951080http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/18/planned-parenthood-fundin_n_825258.htmlhttp://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02-24/news/chi-110224bauer_briefs_1_health-care-health-centers-family-planningMore on Title X:http://www.hhs.gov/opa/familyplanning/index.htmlParental Consent and Notifcation Laws: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/health-topics/abortion/parental-consent-notification-laws-25268.htm
Submitted by: Katy Lackey, WC Coordinator.
**If you'd like to submit a post concerning one of 3 Impact Areas-HIV/AIDS, Environmental Issues or Gender Equality-, please email info@worldcampforkids.org or katy@worldcampforkids. Excerpts from current undergrad and grad research papers, discussions from classes, thoughts on articles, etc. are encouraged!**
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