Reproductive Health Advocates Call on the Next Administration to Protect Women's Health and Lives
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Statement of Reproductive Health and Rights Organizations
NEW YORK — As this contentious election drags on, a group of reproductive health and rights organizations take this opportunity to remind the American public of the importance of an administration that acts to protect women’s health and lives.
Women’s health and rights are not partisan issues. No matter who moves into the White House for the next four years, we need leadership that focuses on protecting women’s health and rights.
- Unrestricted access to birth control, comprehensive sex education for young people, and privacy in medical decisions, including about abortion, should top the next president’s list of domestic and international priorities.
No matter who wins the election, it is time for the United States to reclaim its place as a global leader on issues of sexual and reproductive health.
Worldwide:
- Every day, 1400 women die in pregnancy or childbirth. This adds up to an estimated 529,000 deaths each year from pregnancy-related causes.
- Worldwide, an estimated 6,000 youth become infected with HIV every day – one every 14 seconds.
- Approximately 68,000 women die each year from complications of unsafe abortion in developing countries.
In the United States:
- Each year more than 800,000 teenage women become pregnant; about 80 percent of these pregnancies are unintended.
- Each year, an estimated 9 million teenagers and young adults acquire a sexually transmitted infection, including HIV.
- In fact, every hour of every day an average of two young people become infected with HIV. 34.5 million women in the United States are in need of contraceptive services and supplies, half of whom need publicly supported contraceptive services.
- Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended, and half of those end in abortion.
Coalition members:
American Civil Liberties Union
Center for Reproductive Rights
Family Planning Advocates of NYS
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health®
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