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The new Amnesty International report on “The State of The World’s Human Rights” calls out the United States for abridging reproductive rights and harming reproductive health in 2017. The report sharply criticizes the Trump-Pence administration’s “broad and multifaceted” attacks on women and girls, and what it calls “particularly virulent” attacks and “extreme restrictions” on sexual and reproductive health care.  At the same time, Politico reported that State Department officials working on their annual global human rights report were ordered to strike many of its references to reproductive rights, including discussion of abortion rights or access to contraception.

A new study released by the Population Institute, its annual “50-State Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights” covering 2017, shows that such attacks amount to more than mere words. After the Administration’s first year, the report card finds they have already had a deleterious effect on Americans’ reproductive rights and health. 

The report card gave the U.S. as a whole a grade of “D-” for 2017. 18 states failed it. It presents evidence that reproductive health and rights are declining nationally, while disparities between states are growing.  The report card findings overall and for each of the 50 states are posted here.

“The Amnesty International report criticizes the Administration for seeking to defund Planned Parenthood, enabling employers to refuse to provide health insurance coverage for contraception, and other attacks on reproductive health and rights,” said Robert Walker, president of the Population Institute.  “The 2017 report card shows that these policies are contributing to an alarming, nationwide decline in reproductive health and rights.”

“Political assaults on reproductive health and rights are demonstrably threatening access to family planning services women want and need,” Walker said.  “In recent years, dozens of family planning clinics have been forced to shut down. There is every reason to believe these attacks on reproductive services will persist in 2018 and beyond. We have a lot of work to do if access to those services is to be preserved.”

Over the past 13 months, the Trump-Pence Administration tried by every means possible to restrict access to family planning and reproductive health services. 

In addition to its campaign to defund Planned Parenthood, the Administration last year proposed to eliminate all funding for international family planning assistance, which was the largest cut to international family planning ever proposed. This year, it proposed cutting it in half, the second largest cut ever proposed.

The Administration is also working to derail the application process for Title X grants, which support family planning clinics serving low-income families. By executive action, the Administration last year cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, while also renewing and expanding the “global gag rule,” which seeks to cut off all global health funding for overseas organizations that refuse to sign a pledge indicating that they will not refer patients for abortion services or advocate for abortion rights.

The Population Institute mourns the loss of David Poindexter. A former colleague, David championed the use of radio and television serial dramas to promote family planning, gender equity, and protection of the environment. He died February 8 at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, after suffering a stroke. He was 89.

David was Director of the Communication Center at the Population Institute from 1970 to 1985.  In that capacity, and in his later work, he promoted the use of radio and television entertainment programs to promote gender equality and use of family planning, employing a methodology originally designed by Miguel Sabido in Mexico during the 1970s.  Sabido, who was Vice President of Televisa oversaw the creation of a series of telenovelas, serial dramas, which were credited for boosting public acceptance of family planning in Mexico.  David was successful in introducing Sabido and his methodology to India, as as well as, other parts of Latin America.

At the Population Institute, and later as founder and President of Population Communications International (1985-1998), David was instrumental in the creation of social content serial dramas in numerous countries, including Brazil, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, St. Lucia, and Tanzania.  
Poindexter served as Honorary Chair of Population Media Center, where he helped establish new programs in Ethiopia and Nigeria. He continued in this role until his death, during which time Population Media Center implemented social change serial dramas in 54 countries.

David also chaired the U.S. NGO Committee for the UN Population Conference in 1974, held in Bucharest, Romania. He also served as Convener of the NGO Planning Committee for the 1984 Population Conference, held in Mexico City and as Convener of the NGO Planning Committee for the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo. The 1994 NGO Forum became the largest NGO forum in UN history.

Obituary

David Poindexter
(1929-2018)

David Oldham Poindexter, a Methodist minister who championed the use of radio and television serial dramas to promote family planning, gender equity, and protection of the environment, died February 8 at a hospital in Portland, Oregon. He died from the effects of a stroke. Poindexter, who also organized several non-governmental organization (NGO) forums at major UN conferences, was born in Hood River, Oregon in 1929.

After receiving a Bachelor’s of Art at Willamette University in 1951 and both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Theology at Boston University (where he became friends with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), David served as pastor of Parkrose Heights Methodist Church in Portland for eight years. He then moved to New York City to work with the National Council of Churches for five years as Director of Utilization of the NCC’s Broadcasting and Film Commission and then Director of Promotion Services, during which he established close ties with the Hollywood community.

At the request of his bishop, David became Director of the Communication Center of the Population Institute from 1970 to 1985. In the early1970s, he collaborated with John D. Rockefeller III to hold a meeting of the three network CEOs – a meeting also attended by then UN ambassador George H.W. Bush and Senator Robert Packwood – to discuss treatment of gender, reproductive health and family planning issues in television. He convinced the CEOs of the three major networks to host a large gathering in New York of key network entertainment producers and writers. Following that event, he organized annual awards ceremonies in collaboration with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences to recognize the best entertainment shows addressing those issues.

One of the outgrowths of Poindexter’s outreach to Hollywood leaders was a long-standing relationship with Norman Lear and his head of drama, Virginia Carter. At Poindexter’s suggestion, the character Maude, in the series by the same name, had a mid-life abortion – six months before the Roe vs. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. As Norman Lear later put it, “David got Maude pregnant.” Similarly, he suggested the vasectomy of Rob Reiner’s character, Michael, on All in the Family. During his work in Hollywood, Poindexter worked closely with Mary Tyler Moore, who was a great supporter of his work, which helped to bring about the discussion of sexism in the workplace on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

In the mid-1970s, Poindexter began working in Mexico, where he discovered and promoted the work of Miguel Sabido, a well-known Mexican playwright and television producer who became a pioneer in entertainment-education. As Vice President of Televisa, Sabido produced six telenovelas in the late 1970s and early 1980s, modeling family planning use for Mexican audiences. During that time, Mexico experienced the most rapid decline in fertility rate of any developing country in the 20th century up until that time. These programs had similar effects when they were broadcast in several in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. Thomas Donnelly, then with USAID in Mexico, wrote, “The Televisa family planning soap operas have made the single most powerful contribution to the Mexican population success story.”

In the early 1980s, Poindexter took Sabido to meet with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and following a training program they organized for Doordarshan (Indian Television), the country began broadcasting India’s first social content soap opera, Hum Log (“We People”) in July 1984. The program included promotion of family planning and elevation of the status of women through the words and actions of key characters. Research conducted by the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism of the University of Southern California, found dramatic impacts on audience attitudes about women’s rights and ideal family size. The program spurred over 400,000 people to write letters to the Indian Television Authority.

In 1986, Poindexter, with commercial sponsorship from India’s largest industrial conglomerate, helped to organize a second serial drama, which aired in January 1992. Produced by Roger Pereira, Humraahi (“Come Along With Me”) dealt with child marriage, age of first pregnancy, gender bias in childbearing and child rearing, equal educational opportunity, and the right of women to choose their own husbands. A Rockefeller Foundation-funded study showed that viewers, contrasted with non-viewers, changed significantly in their attitudes regarding the ideal age of marriage and the acceptability of women in the work place.

At the Population Institute, and later as founder and President of Population Communications International (1985-1998), Poindexter worked to bring about similar programs in numerous countries, including Brazil, China, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, St. Lucia, and Tanzania.

Following retirement in 1998, Poindexter served as Honorary Chair of Population Media Center, where he helped establish new programs in Ethiopia and Nigeria. He continued in this role until his death, during which time Population Media Center implemented social change serial dramas in 54 countries.

Poindexter chaired the U.S. NGO Committee for the UN Population Conference in 1974, held in Bucharest, Romania. He also served as Convener of the NGO Planning Committee for the 1984 Population Conference, held in Mexico City and as Convener of the NGO Planning Committee for the 1994 UN Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo. The 1994 NGO Forum became the largest NGO forum in UN history.

For over a decade, he was an officer of the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Status with the UN’s Economic and Social Division. He also served on the Executive Committee of the Conference of UN Representatives of the Council of Organizations of the United Nations Association-USA (UNA-USA). He was an Honorary Fellow of the Population Reference Bureau, and received the Ninoy Aquino Human Rights Award, an Alumni Citation from Willamette University, the Eleanor Schnurr Award of the UNA-USA, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Population Institute. He was an Honorary Life Board Member of the Council on International Non-Theatrical Events (CINE).

Poindexter’s life and work are captured in his autobiographical book, Out of the Darkness of Centuries, published in 2009.

David is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marian Sayer Poindexter, and his son, Jim.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, February 13, at the First United Methodist Church, at 1838 SW Jefferson Street, Portland, Oregon 97201 at 10:30 am.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Population Media Center, Suite 302, 30 Kimball Avenue, South Burlington, Vermont 05403.

Today the Trump administration announced a major roll back of the Affordable Care Act’s no co-pay birth control. The new rule, which goes into effect immediately, allows all employers, schools, and insurers to decide not to cover birth control for any moral or religious reason.

This change will have a major impact on women’s health and women’s ability to access effective and affordable birth control. The Obamacare mandate saved women $1.4 billion in out of pocket costs in the first year on birth control pills alone.

Robert Walker, President, Population Institute, commented on the roll back of birth control coverage:

“The Trump administration has escalated their war on birth control by allowing employers to stop covering birth control for any moral or religious reason. This will put basic health care out of the reach for many women, putting their health at risk. It is an outrageous attack on women’s health care and women’s ability to plan their families.

Earlier this week in releasing a special report, “Senseless: The War on Birth Control,” the Population Institute documented the escalating assault on birth control since 2011, including  attacks on Planned Parenthood, implementation of Trump’s expanded Global Gag Rule, and proposed elimination of funding for Title X and international family planning. This administration and its allies are conducting an all-out assault on women’s access to reproductive health care.”

President Trump released his first budget today giving us a better understanding of the Administration’s priorities. Unfortunately, the priorities are terrible for women in the United States and around the world.

Domestically the budget targets programs that disproportionately benefit low-income women such as Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare). The budget also eliminates funding for the Office of Adolescent Health’s Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program that uses evidence based programs to reduce teen pregnancy and prevent HIV and other STDs.

For the first time ever the President’s budget singles out a single organization—Planned Parenthood—from receiving any federal funding. If enacted the President’s Budget would mean that people on Medicaid would no longer be able to go to Planned Parenthood for providing any health care services, including cancer screenings or contraceptives. Such a step would do little to restrict abortion, but it would deny as many as 2.5 million women access to their preferred health care provider, and, in some cases, any provider. Planned Parenthood would also be banned from receive any funding under Title X.

In a stunning setback for women in the Global South, the Trump budget also eliminates all funding for international family planning. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the $607.5 million the United States invested in international family planning in the current fiscal year, FY2017 will:

·         Enable 26 million couples to received contraceptives services;

·         Prevent 8 million unintended pregnancies.

·         Prevent 3.3 million abortions, most of which would have been unsafe; and

·         Prevent 15,000 maternal deaths

Commenting on the release of the President’s budget, Robert Walker, president of the Population Institute, said:

If enacted this budget would be a devastating setback for women around the world. And it is not the first setback. The Trump Administration has already revived and dramatically expanded the Global Gag Rule, which, under the pretense of stopping abortions, will actually increase the number of abortions performed overseas, not reduce them. Today’s proposed budget, however, opens up a whole new front in the War on Women by seeking to defund international family planning. If approved by Congress, it would deny millions of women in the developing world the ability to space or limit pregnancies.  And that, unfortunately, will translate into more maternal deaths, more unplanned pregnancies, more abortions, and a major setback in the wars on hunger and poverty.

On March 30^th the Trump Administration announced that they will be defunding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).  UNFPA works in 150 countries providing a range of sexual and reproductive health services including: family planning, midwife training, prenatal care and safe childbirth, and programs to end child marriage and female genital cutting. The U.S. is the fourth largest donor to UNFPA and the loss of U.S. funding could mean the loss of services to 10.5 million women and girls.

Beyond these services UNFPA is on the frontlines in humanitarian crises and UNFPA’s work in humanitarian settings will be one of the areas hardest hit by the U.S. funding prohibition. Last year with U.S. funding UNFPA reached 9 million people in crisis settings with sexual and reproductive health care.  Losing U.S. funding will put the lives of women and girls around the world at risk.

Robert Walker, President, Population Institute, commented on the Trump Administration’s defunding of UNFPA saying:

“Defunding UNFPA is another attack on women and women’s health by this administration. We are not even 100 days into this administration and so far they have reinstated the Global Gag Rule, allowed states to block abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, from receiving Title X funding, and now they are defunding UNFPA. This is creating a clear pattern of attacking women’s health and rights, putting women’s lives at risk both at home and abroad. Because make no mistake women’s lives will be at risk due to defunding UNFPA.”   

As one of his first acts in office, President Trump has signed an Executive Order that massively expands the already harmful “Global Gag Rule” that bars federal funding of organizations working overseas that advocate for, or refer patients to, abortion services. Trump’s Global Gag Rule will force clinicians to withhold information about legal health services, and violates the trusted relationship between a woman and her healthcare provider—sometimes at the cost of her life.

Robert Walker, President, Population Institute, reacted strongly to the reinstatement and expansion of what is also known as the Global Gag Rule:

“President Trump wasted no time ignoring the millions of women around the world who protested on Saturday. Trump’s Global Gag Rule is a strike against women in developing countries who need access to health services, including contraception and abortion.

Make no mistake about it; evidence shows the Global Gag Rule increases, not decreases, the number of abortions. It will limit access to contraception and result in more unplanned pregnancies. The Global Gag Rule will boost the demand for abortion and increase the number of women who ultimately die from unsafe abortions.

Making matters worse, President Trump’s executive order expands the gag rule to all organizations receiving funds under the category of global health assistance. This expansion could restrict funding for organizations that provide maternal health care, HIV-related services, and women being counseled on Zika risks.

Today’s action, unfortunately, is part of a larger well-planned assault on reproductive health and rights, including attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. As outlined in our latest 50-State Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights, that assault is taking a toll. Twenty states now receive failing grades.  And, as exemplified by this action, the worst is yet to come.

Instituting the Global Gag Rule may be a victory for the insulated right-wing, but it is a devastating defeat for women in developing countries who need access to contraception.”