Ensure Access to Voluntary Sterilization (US)

Sterilization abuse--involuntary sterilization--of the poor, people of color, and people with disabilities is a dirty open secret of US and global history that still hasn't gone away.

It is also a form of reproductive coercion to deny sterilization procedures to people who want them. I wonder how many undesired pregnancies and abortions arise from this. In the US, there are (at least) two, sometimes overlapping groups of women who face considerable barriers to voluntary sterilization:

• Women under 30, no matter how durable, carefully considered, and thoughtful their decisions to become sterilized. Physicians may refuse them the services they need, claiming that they are too young to make such permanent decisions--especially if they are white, healthy, and/or not poor. The same physicians may still be all too eager to sterilize younger women from the traditionally coerced groups instead of exploring with them the full range of contraceptive options...eugenics is still with us...

• Women who cannot afford sterilization, which out of pocket can cost thousands of dollars--and who has that sort of cash lying around? A majority of private health plans cover sterilization procedures, but what about women covered by the minority of plans that don't? What about uninsured women? What about poor women who rely on Title X and other public programs, who are constantly threatened by funding cuts and anti-contraceptive politics?
  
  If you are from the US, please contact your elected officials and urge that they remove these barriers to voluntary, fully informed sterilization. You can point out both that (1) voluntary sterilization is a human right and (2) it is an effective way to reduce abortions.

Expanded: Our Child Care Resources

We have just expanded our resources on Child Care (direct URL http://www.nonviolentchoice.info/employmentcaree.html#care.html)--also known as day care, childminding, or child creches--in the Employment/Career section (direct URL http://www.nonviolentchoice.info/employmentcareer.html)of our Help With Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond pages (direct URL http://www.nonviolentchoice.info/crisisand beyond.html). We also have a little material on child care for college and university students in the Education section (direct URL http://www.nonviolentchoice.info/education.html)of the Crisis Pregnancy & Beyond pages.(direct URL http://www.nonviolentchoice.info/crisisand beyond.html)

Before, we just had a few US child care resources, starting there because although we get an increasing number of visitors from all over the world, most are from our home country. Now we have resources from many more countries, although our listing is not yet complete, and for that we apologize and invite your input.

Throughout the world, safe, high-quality options in child care are increasingly a must for gender equality and for the economic survival of families. Whatever the legal status of abortion, the lack of good, free or affordable child care choices that fit the needs of various families is a contributing factor to its incidence. The shameful situation in the US is but a case in point.

Have recommendations for our Child Care resources? Please email them to editor@nonviolentchoice.info We are grateful for any help!

Ten Ways to Make a Real Difference for Ten US Dollars or Less

As an American who lives with her family on the economic edge, by US standards, I sometimes struggle, especially during the winter holidays with all their talk and customs of giving, to keep things in global perspective and remember that our economic constraint is unimaginable luxury for someone else. I have a computer, for one, and steady electricity and Internet access, and I sit before my screen fully and well nourished with an unleaky roof, sealed against the cold, over my head. I even have access, however battled-for, to the health care that keeps me alive. And so I am able to research this question that is no doubt close to many people's hearts, even in the wealthiest countries: how to make a difference when you're already squeezed financially?

I found at least 10 ways that people who can afford a ten-dollar bill or less can take part in charitable giving or social action(as the terms are generally understood).

--For $10.00, you can donate one print copy of the new, state-of-the-art Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers to a health care worker in the Two-Thirds World.

--For $10, you can give hundreds or even thousands of organic, open-pollinated seeds that will help empower people in poor countries to sustainably grow their own food security. If you have even a small garden space of your own, you can do this for practically free.

--For $6.00, you may be able to offset one metric half ton of carbon dioxide emissions.

--Check Alternative Gifts International to see the many ways that small US sums make big differences.

--$3.50 gains one months of Tibetan preschool education for a Tibetan refugee child in exile.

--For as little as $2.49 to $3.24 apiece, you can further reduce global warming by purchase of energy-saving Certified "CarbonfreeTM" Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs, which are manufactured through a carbon-neutral process.

--$1.00 can plant one tree to reforest the devastasted nation of Haiti.

--For free, you can learn and pass along these many ways an "ordinary" person can help to prevent and heal child abuse.

--For free, you can sign up and respond to action alert campaigns to save all life on Earth.

--For free, you can learn the whys and how of going veg, one of the most powerful ways you can serve life on Earth, from this Vegetarian Starter Kit.