As the U.S. presidential election heats up, maternal health initiatives may fade into the background of daily news, but the need for something to be done still looms large over the poorest countries in the world.

We know abortion access isn’t a positive long-term solution for maternal deaths, and we know, pretty much for a fact, that it won’t empower the women living in these countries. Looking at the number of women in Africa living with HIV, we can begin to understand what choices those women do and don’t have when it comes to their sexual health.

In Southern Africa, the HIV statistics for young women are high. In Nomasonto’s village, over half the young women aged between 20 and 24 are living with HIV[…]

The most compelling risk factor is women’s lack of power to ensure they have safe sex. There is evidence that many women are unable to abstain from sex, guarantee that their partners will be faithful or insist on the use of condoms […]

In many African countries, particularly where people have been displaced by war, women are extremely vulnerable to sexual violence and “transactional sex”. Even in countries where there is no war there is a high level of coercive sex. In one survey, 40 per cent of young South African women reported being sexually abused before they reached the age of 19.

Pooling our resources into providing abortion access won’t elevate the status of women in these regions or keep them from contracting HIV. Giving women the resources and support they need to say “no” to sex really is a life or death situation. Let’s focus on that.

After a hard hour of googling, I’m still not entirely sure what the Motherhood Bill drafted in Tanzania will and won’t promise to deliver, but as soon as I know, I’ll let you in on it.

Dodoma — DOCTORS and nurses have hailed civil society organizations that drafted the Motherhood Bill, saying it will help improve maternal and reproductive health services. […]

The draft prepared by the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association in collaboration with Care International and White Ribbon Alliance, aims at addressing critical challenges facing mothers, newborn and teenagers among others in accessing reproductive health services. “There are several issues that will be solved with the Safe Motherhood Act in place, we will be assured of all necessary equipment for safe delivery and thus we will be able to reduce maternal and child mortality,” said the Regional Nursing Officer, Ms Anatolia Mkondo.

CPAC–that’s the Conservative Political Action Conference, happening down in Washington DC just now. Brian Lilley of Sun News is down there, reporting live, and posted Rick Santorum speaking to some young pro-life conferees on his blog. For those of you tracking with American politics.

This would be a great place for me to inject my opinion on the Republican race for presidential nominee, unfortunately, I haven’t been tracking with it as much as I could or possible should. I basically think that Mit Romney will win it and I will be disappointed with that. However, American politics are never boring, so there could be some sort of mixup. For example, he could choose Sarah Palin as his running mate. (Of course I’m kidding.)

Last night I watched a DVD. I got home from work early and plunked my stuffy, congested, headachy, whiny self on the sofa and stayed there. Amazing how heavenly it felt just to lie on the sofa, given how crappy I felt during the day. Perspective, people. On certain days, even lying down can be fun.

All this meandering preamble is unrelated to the point of the post, which is that prior to the actual movie coming on, I was forced to watch an ad. The ad shows a cowboy and features an electronic voice, “singing” in a monotone, robotic way. The words went like this:

You don’t always die from tobacco

Sometimes you just lose a lung

Oh you don’t always die from tobacco

Sometimes they just snip out your tongue

And you won’t sing worth a heck

with a big hole in your neck

Cuz you don’t always die from tobacco

The ad shows somewhat horrified onlookers listening. The cowboy has a hole in his neck, I gather, from smoking. This little ditty came courtesy of something called InfectTruth.com.

It got me thinking about how long big tobacco clung to outdated ideas on tobacco, and how smoking was even considered empowering (“You’ve come a long way, baby”). Then it got me thinking that you don’t always die from abortion. Sometimes you just get depressed. Or sometimes, you just lose your relationship. Or sometimes, you just get breast cancer. Then the movie started, and I stopped thinking. (Which is a blessing all round, many would argue. When Andrea stops thinking.)

We’ll see how much longer big abortion lasts.

Doctors have discovered that the accepted origins of ovarian cancer have been wrong. From CTV,

MONTREAL — Ovarian cancer is one of the most feared diseases, as it hard to detect and often leads to death.  […]

But a research team at McGill appears to have made a breakthrough by learning that the cancer actual begins in the fallopian tubes.

“We were barking the wrong tree. The name we got wrong, we got the origin of ovarian cancer wrong. We got the test that we should be using for this wrong,” said Dr. Lucy Gilbert, the MUHC oncologist who lead the research.

This is good news for all women, and should remind us that medicine, like every other science, is an evolving field. What we believe to be the case today could look very different from what we believe in the future. That gives me hope for the practice of abortion.

The FDA is looking into a vending machine dispensing Plan B on campus in Pennsylvania and whether or not that is fine with regards to prescription and ID requirements. A school spokesperson said “You cannot be a 13-year-old and walk in and get it” because the vending machine is on campus. (?)

I’m working out at one of Ottawa’s universities these days. Just before my swim time, there’s a class for small kids, in the university pool. The place is literally crawling with kids of all ages whenever I’m there. Just saying.

I’m against dispensing drugs in vending machines in general, and on campus in specific. And while I’m concerned about the wrong people getting access, I’m also generally concerned about a culture whereby we put condoms in washrooms and Plan B in vending machines. I don’t actually think you have to be particularly conservative to step back and think that sounds like a culture gone totally astray.

A cross-post from Véronique’s blog. It’s about the passing away of one Geordie Henry:

I’m sure that the medical staff had many discussions about Geordie’s prognosis for an acceptable quality of life. I’m sure that some even thought that he may be better off dead. But his story shows, as so many others do, that even lives of suffering have purpose. The purpose may not be to accomplish great things but to draw others to greatness. Too often the beauty and generosity lay dormant in people until something or someone stirs it up, a little like chocolate syrup at the bottom of a glass of milk. It takes people like Geordie to give purpose not only to their own lives but to so many others!

Thank you Geordie for a life well-lived.

From the National Post,

Four of Canada’s fastest growing cities are in the West, where Calgary and Edmonton have posted the highest percentage increases in population among the country’s 33 metropolitan areas.

Calgary grew by 12.6% between 2006 and 2011, Edmonton by 12.1%, Saskatoonby 11.4% and Kelowna, B.C., by 10.8%.

Now, I’m not saying that has anything to do with Ruth Lobo Shaw reinstating the pro-life group at Carleton University in 2006, but it IS a coincidence.

The man of the hour, using his time as an MP to do something meaningful, rather than vie for a cabinet position. (Incidentally, I think there are likely a whole lot of other MPs also doing meaningful things, and just because they are quiet about it, doesn’t diminish that. There’s a place for public positioning and there’s a place for strategy. Anyhoo.)

Read a little bit more about him in this light piece at the Post.

Naomi Lakritz also weighs in on our 400-year-old approach to when life begins, here. (It’s past 5 am, and there’s no water in my trough!)

Margaret Wente asks this question in her column today.

I’ll get the discussion started with a little debate statement.

BIRT it is okay to kill girls when a North American feminist advocates for this on the grounds of free choice but not okay when someone does so because of cultural dictates for son preference. Talk amongst yourselves.