June 2012's Edition of
POPULATION ONLINE
Brings you stories on...

• Expectations are Low for Rio 20
  World leaders are preparing to meet in Rio de Janeiro for the long-awaited Rio 20 Conference on Sustainable Development, but the conference is not expected to produce any major, binding international agreements. The Conference, June 20-22, will likely focus on the "green economy" and the creation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that will complement, or substitute for, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), most of which are currently scheduled to expire in 2015. While the SDGs will almost certainly include a number of human development goals, similar to the MDGs, it's less clear what kind of goals will be established to ensure environmental and economic sustainability at the national and global levels. The Sustainable World Initiative (SWI), a project of the Population Institute, has called for the adoption of "resource sufficiency evaluations," a critical step towards achieving sustainability. Ed Barry, SWI's Director, will be attending the conference.
• Congressional Showdown over International Family Planning
  Battle lines have been drawn in the fight over 2013 funding for international family planning assistance. In early May, the House Appropriations Committee passed a funding bill that reduced this year's appropriations by $149 million and cut all funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In late May, however, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill that would increase funding by $134.5 million, including $44.5 million for UNFPA. While the Senate bill is a victory for supporters of international family planning, Population Institute President Robert Walker warned that, "Now is not that the time to be complacent. The differences between the Senate version of the bill and the House version of the bill are large. We anticipate that there will be a tough fight over this issue when House and Senate conferees eventually meet to hammer out an agreement on 2013 funding levels." It's anticipated that the House-Senate disagreements will not be fully resolved until late in 2012.
• Battle over Title X to Resume
  Last year, the House of Representatives launched a vigorous assault on Planned Parenthood. As part of that attack, the House voted to eliminate all funding for Title X, the federal program that helps low-income women obtain access to family planning clinics providing contraceptive services and screenings for breast and cervical cancer. While the Senate rejected the House action, last year's final budget agreement cut Title X funding by $5.5 million, to $293.9 million. The number of patients served by Title X continues to grow, but current funding is now about $24 million below the funding that was available two years ago. With the House and Senate Appropriations Committees expected to take action on the FY2013 Labor, HHS, Education Appropriations bills later this month, the battle is set to resume. At least one House Republican, Robert Dold, is valiantly trying to persuade his House colleagues to back off their campaign to abolish Title X. In his budget, President Obama has asked Congress to increase Title X funding to $296.8 million in FY2013, an increase of 1 percent.
• Kaiser Poll Reveals Women See Assault on Reproductive Health
  A new poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation has revealed that 31 percent of women believe that there is currently a "wide-scale effort to limit women's reproductive health choices and services, such as abortion, family planning, and contraception." Forty-five percent of female respondents stated that they believe that there are "some groups that would like to limit women's reproductive health choices and services, but it is not a wide-spread effort." Male respondents proved that they have been paying attention, too: 25 percent responded that they believe there is a "wide-spread effort" and 42 percent said there are some groups, but not a wide-spread effort. The impact of women’s health or other women’s issues on the upcoming presidential election appears limited, however; the vast majority (60 percent) of registered female voters said they'd like to hear more from the presidential candidates about the economy and jobs, while only five percent wanted to hear more about women's issues. When it comes to who they trust to do a better job of looking out for women's interests, the majority of respondents chose Barack Obama over Mitt Romney (59 percent versus 25 percent for women, and 51 percent versus 34 percent for men).
• Progress Seen in Maternal Mortality Numbers, But More to Do
  A recent report, Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2010, released by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank stated that since 1990, the number of mothers who die every year from pregnancy-related causes has fallen from more than 543,000 to 287,000 – a 47 percent drop. A significant achievement, to be sure, but a closer look at the data reveals that progress has been uneven. A woman in sub-Saharan Africa still faces a 1 in 39 lifetime risk of dying due to pregnancy or childbirth-related complications, while a woman in Southeast Asia faces a 1 in 290 lifetime risk. In developed countries, the risk is only 1 in 3,800. Speaking about the release of the report, Executive Director of UNFPA Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin said, "I am very pleased to see that the number of women dying in pregnancy and childbirth continues to decline. This shows that the enhanced effort of countries, supported by UNFPA and other development partners, is paying off. But we can't stop here. Our work must continue to make every pregnancy wanted and every childbirth safe."
• Commission on Population and Development Focuses on Youth
  The theme of this year's Commission on Population and Development (CPD) at the United Nations was "Adolescents and Youth." A large number of youth were in attendance at the five-day conference in New York City, though they were not part of any official delegation. Among the key points of the conference's final resolution were the right of young people to decide on all matters related to their sexuality; access to sexual and reproductive health services, including safe abortion where legal, that respect confidentiality and do not discriminate; the right of youth to comprehensive sexuality education; and protection and promotion of young people's right to control their sexuality free from violence, discrimination and coercion.