PART I — The numbers speak for themselves. And so do women.
Sustain co-founder and Forbes Top 30 under 30 class member Meika Hollender writes for the International Rescue Committee on the importance of reproductive health — at home, and abroad.
Let’s talk about sex. Let’s talk about unplanned pregnancy. Let’s talk about reproductive rights.
Women’s health, and its future, is at the front and center of public discourse here in the United States. The debate is, in many ways, more heated than ever before. Over the past three years, I have been immersed in the world of sexual and reproductive health, working fiercely to build Sustain, a company that provides women with all natural sexual wellness products that put their bodies and needs first. Part of the reason I started Sustain was because I learned that there are over 20 million women in the US who lack access to reproductive healthcare services, and that half of the country’s pregnancies go unplanned — making the fight for quality and access to reproductive health services in the US a critical one.
As I’ve focused on reproductive healthcare here in the US, what I’ve started to think about more and more as we enter 2017 is that this fight is a universal one. There are 225 million women around the world with an unmet need for contraceptives who are asking for the chance to determine their own futures. 225 million women who want to decide if and when they have children. 225 million women who want to be able to protect themselves from disease and the sometimes tragic outcomes of unwanted advances.
Family planning prevents unintended pregnancies and the dangers of unsafe abortions. Family planning increases the economic and educational opportunities available to women and their children. Family planning helps create healthier families and more stable communities. Every $1 spent on family planning can save governments up to $6, as the cost of an unwanted pregnancy is not a small one. Everyone benefits when a woman is in control of her own body and her own future.
This reality applies for women everywhere — especially for the historic number of women and girls affected by humanitarian crisis. Women and girls — who make up 80% of the 65 million people currently displaced by conflict and instability worldwide — are among those at greatest risk of paying with their lives, health and well-being when their right to contraceptive access is not upheld. If all 225 million women around the world with an unmet need for contraceptives were able to use modern methods, 14 million unsafe abortions, 6 million miscarriages, 70,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 infant deaths would be prevented. The numbers speak for themselves. And so do women.
Women have told me, and organizations like the International Rescue Committee — which provides contraception often for the first time to thousands of women in 19 crisis-affected countries around the world, regardless of their religion, culture or context — that contraception is what they want, what they need, and what they really cannot prosper without. Whether in Syria or San Francisco, DRC or NYC, women face similar concerns: Am I healthy? Will I be able to take care of a child, provide them with healthy food and a place to live, a chance at a good education? What kind of future do I want — and what kind will I be able to provide for them?
Every woman and girl deserves the chance to determine her own future, to have the power to prevent and to choose, safeguard her health, learn better, work better, and live her desired life. Women have spoken — regardless of where they live — and they ask for the power, health, education, safety and economic well-being that comes with contraception. And until women and girls can enjoy the rights and access due to them, we will never realize the rights, desires and potential of half of the world’s population -to be equal participants in their economies and societies, and drivers of our common future. So speak up, give back, and take action where you can.
Meika Hollender
Check out Part II of the IRC’s two-part series, “The fight for contraceptive access is a universal one.”
