Saturday, March 26, 2005

It's a slow news day, which....

....makes for more interesting news.

In my favorite lefty paper, La Jornada, there's an interesting article about an NGO that works with Mexico City prostitutes, handing out condoms, giving them medical care.

[Really, I mainly read the Jornada because the other papers are mostly subscription only, making it difficult to write about their stories.]

Anyway, according to the article, the NGO was started by two students who wanted to study the sex industry and realized that the needed to do more. The article talks about how they initially sold condoms for $.50, but even that was too much for the women to pay. Now, they have special black & red condoms that sell for $.10, and some of the former prostitutes have opened their own condom stores.

Another article discusses (albiet briefly) abortion policy in Mexico. I didn't know this before, but apparently, Article 4 of the Constitution "reconoce el derecho de las personas a decidir de manera libre, responsable e informada sobre el número de hijos que desea."

From the UNAM website, Article 4 of the constitution, which was last amended in 2001:

ARTICULO 4o.- (SE DEROGO PARRAFO PRIMERO POR REFORMA DEL 14-08-01).

EL VARON Y LA MUJER SON IGUALES ANTE LA LEY. ESTA PROTEGERA LA ORGANIZACION Y EL DESARROLLO DE LA FAMILIA.

TODA PERSONA TIENE DERECHO A DECIDIR DE MANERA LIBRE, RESPONSABLE E INFORMADA SOBRE EL NUMERO Y EL ESPACIAMIENTO DE SUS HIJOS.

TODA PERSONA TIENE DERECHO A LA PROTECCION DE LA SALUD. LA LEY DEFINIRA LAS BASES Y MODALIDADES PARA EL ACCESO A LOS SERVICIOS DE SALUD Y ESTABLECERA LA CONCURRENCIA DE LA FEDERACION Y LAS ENTIDADES FEDERATIVAS EN MATERIA DE SALUBRIDAD GENERAL, CONFORME A LO QUE DISPONE LA FRACCION XVI DEL ARTICULO 73 DE ESTA CONSTITUCION.

TODA PERSONA TIENE DERECHO A UN MEDIO AMBIENTE ADECUADO PARA SU DESARROLLO Y BIENESTAR.

TODA FAMILIA TIENE DERECHO A DISFRUTAR DE VIVIENDA DIGNA Y DECOROSA. LA LEY ESTABLECERA LOS INSTRUMENTOS Y APOYOS NECESARIOS A FIN DE ALCANZAR TAL OBJETIVO.

LOS NIÑOS Y LAS NIÑAS TIENEN DERECHO A LA SATISFACCION DE SUS NECESIDADES DE ALIMENTACION, SALUD, EDUCACION Y SANO ESPARCIMIENTO PARA SU DESARROLLO INTEGRAL.

LOS ASCENDIENTES, TUTORES Y CUSTODIOS TIENEN EL DEBER DE PRESERVAR ESTOS DERECHOS. EL ESTADO PROVEERA LO NECESARIO PARA PROPICIAR EL RESPETO A LA DIGNIDAD DE LA NIÑEZ Y EL EJERCICIO PLENO DE SUS DERECHOS.

EL ESTADO OTORGARA FACILIDADES A LOS PARTICULARES PARA QUE COADYUVEN AL CUMPLIMIENTO DE LOS DERECHOS DE LA NIÑEZ.

Bad abortions are the third leading cause of maternal death in Mexico. Though abortion in case of rape is legal in all states, abortion under other circumstances is illegal.

Given the large Catholic population and the role of the Church, abortion is complicated in Latin America. One of my friends from grad school has written about abortion policy in the Southern Cone. Merike Blofield doesn't have a personal site that I can link to, and none of her papers show up in Google Scholar. We'll just have to remain in the dark until her book is published.

posted by Michelle @ 9:45 AM,

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