Giving Women The Power To Save Their Lives

Posted on | July 10, 2012 | 3 Comments

Mike Magee

Apparently Melinda Gates has had just about enough. Recently she stated, ““Somewhere along the way we got confused by our own conversation and we stopped trying to save these lives.”(1) Was she referring to some new radical idea or great scientific conundrum? Not at all. She was referring to contraception and the availability of basic birth control to women who chose to use it around the world.

The Gates Foundation is worked up by the recent findings of a Lancet study(2) they funded which showed that “fulfilling unmet contraception demand by women in developing countries could reduce global maternal mortality by nearly a third.” The study by researchers at Johns Hopkins University is part of the lead up to a major family planning summit to be held in London sponsored by the British Government and Bill and Melinda Gates.(3)

In 1995, 55% of international population assistance funds went to family planning. Today the percentage is only 6% in part because of necessary spending on HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. The impact can be viewed on both macro and micro levels. On the macro level, population growth in the poorest countries had been expected to flatten by now, but it continues to surge. 16% of the world’s families have more than 4 children on average. And in these areas, population is expected to triple over the next century. Compounding the problem is that most of these families live in areas where water scarcity and food shortages are prevalent.(1)

On a micro level, health risks decline with access to birth control. Why? Contraception delays first pregnancies (which carry a higher risk for young mothers), make unsafe abortions less likely (13% of all maternal deaths in developing countries), and limit the negative maternal impact of multiple pregnancies spaced closely together. The Hopkins study determined that 29% of the maternal deaths during the study period could have been avoided if women who wanted birth control had been able to receive it.(1)

US government funding has been a mainstay in the past. But as we recently witnessed with the dust-up between the Obama administration and the US Catholic Bishops Association, and with the war of words between the Susan B. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood, there’s a determined effort to obfuscate basic women’s services and contraception with abortions.(4,5) That might make good politics for some, but it spells a world of hurt for poor women.

So Melinda Gates is leading the charge in London to raise 4 billion to benefit 120 million women around the globe who need access to contraception, and she sounds pretty determined. In her words, ““We’re not talking about abortion. We’re not talking about population control. What I’m talking about is giving women the power to save their lives.”

For Health Commentary, I’m Mike Magee.

References:

1. Tavernise S. Maternal deaths have declined dramatically since 1990. NYT. July 9, 2012.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/10/health/meeting-contraception-needs-could-sink-maternal-death-rate.html?_r=1

2. Ahmed S et al. Maternal deaths averted by contraceptive use: an analysis of 172 countries. Lancet. July 10, 2012. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(12)60478-4/abstract1.

3. Wickham C. Gates Foundation to pledge funds for contraception.July 10, 2012. Reuters.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/10/us-contraception-gates-idUSBRE86917920120710

4. Susan G. Komen Foundation controversy continues. Washington Post. February 8, 2012.http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/susan-g-komen-foundation-controversy-continues/2012/02/08/gIQAuwrozQ_story.html

5. Goodstein L. Bishops reject White House’s new plan for contraception. NYT. February 11, 2012.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/catholic-bishops-criticize-new-contraception-proposal.html

Comments

3 Responses to “Giving Women The Power To Save Their Lives”

Denise Link
July 11th, 2012 @ 8:51 pm

thank you, Mike, for posting this brief but powerful commentary. I am the director of a small federally funded family planning clinic in central Phoenix Arizona that provides that access to basic family planning services that Gates refers to. Nearly all of the 1900 women we care for each year are below the federal poverty level (less than $22,000 per year income for a family of four). For every dollar we spend on family planning, four dollars are saved for taxpayers. We help families to choose when and if to conceive a child and in the process, PREVENT many abortions. Title X dollars have NEVER been permitted to be used for abortion, yet recently the program has become a political issue and linked to abortion services. It is interesting to me that the same faith based organizations that condemn contraception (and it is not just Catholic bishops) are the ones that send their clients to me from their primary care clinics for birth control. I hope that voters that value women’s rights and access to basic contraception if women want it will rise up in November and elect representatives that will preserve those rights that we fought so hard to get in the 1960’s. I am not talking about abortion rights, I am talking about the right to prescribe and use contraception.
mary
July 13th, 2012 @ 7:47 pm

I grew up being told it’s the churches responsibility to teach abstinence. It’s not working! The government has become the moderator of every tiny bit of our live here in the states; BAD! Government intervention would be a good thing in countries with an avalanche birth rate. Lets support money being spent where it’s most necessary.
Mike Magee
July 24th, 2012 @ 1:10 pm

Thank you, Denise, for your thoughtful analysis from the field. If “common sense dictates”, we should be able to all realize the enormous contribution programs like your’s make to the health of individuals, families and society overall. Mike