By Suzanne York. On this World Elephant Day, it’s well known to many people that elephants are on the path to extinction in the wild, if something isn’t done soon to change this narrative. Last year, the Great Elephant Census, based on aerial surveys, concluded there are just over 350,000 elephants in Africa. It is
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By Kimberly Absher, guest youth blogger, www.howmany.org. After looking at sexual education challenges in South Africa and in the U.K., it seems appropriate to examine our sexual education picture in the United States. Currently there are no national standards for sexual education. Instead, the width and breadth of what students learn is determined on a state
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By Kimberly Absher, guest youth blogger, www.howmany.org. My last post discussed sexual education in South Africa, and this week I am in the United Kingdom, where sexual education is a hot topic. I recently spoke with Simon Ross, Chief Executive of Population Matters, an organization promoting small family size and mindful consumption. They are part of
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org To show how far we have come as a civilized society, and how far we still have to go, the organization Engender Health recently released a video (see below) on past types of rather frightening forms of contraception in honor of World Contraception Day (September 26). While there are many ways to
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org In this increasingly polarized country with a deeply partisan Congress, a divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of corporate rights (aka corporate “personhood”) over a woman’s right to use the contraception of her choice. In the long-anticipated outcome of Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that family-owned
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The number of American teenagers getting pregnant is at an historic low.  While this is good news, the U.S. teen birth rate is still highest in the industrialized world. Rates of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion have declined dramatically in the United States since their peak in the early 1990s.  According
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org At the recent International Conference on Family Planning (ICFP), a big gathering of leaders and activists on family planning and reproductive health, there was a big effort to promote the role of men.  While it may seem obvious, men are sometimes missing from family planning. Certainly education and empowerment of women
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org Most Americans have heard about the glitches with the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. But apparently many women haven’t heard that birth control is essentially available for free under health insurance plans.  According to the Phoenix Marketing Company, which has been tracking this topic, this is
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org The 2013 International Conference on Family Planning is in full swing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, concentrated around the them of “Full Access, Full Choice.” The nearly 4,000 participants are energized around bringing family planning and reproductive rights to communities in need the world over.  Ethiopia, the second most-populous nation in Africa,
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By Suzanne York, www.howmany.org We live in interesting times, especially here in the United States.  ObamaCare is about to be implemented yet opponents continue to try and block it.  Contraceptive use and voluntary family planning services – something many take for granted – has become a point of contention too, and we are back to
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