Abstract
According to the Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, sexual and reproductive health rights are the cornerstone of sustainable development. This is particularly true in the Americas and the Caribbean Region where, although birth rates have continued to fall since the 1960s, other metrics of gender equity, including access to safe reproductive and abortion care, remain severely limited or entirely out of reach. The COVID-19 pandemic has generated major setbacks toward Sustainable Development Goal 5: Achieving gender equity, particularly as poverty increases and healthcare resources are rationed. This chapter seeks to historicize, contextualize, and analyze continuing struggles over reproductive health rights, as a key component of sustainability in the Americas and Caribbean Region. Special attention is paid to the crucial role of social movements for reproductive health rights that employ novel strategies, including the use of telehealth and telemedicine to further gender equity goals in the region.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen GE (2013) “Culling the herd”: eugenics and the conservation movement in the United States, 1900–1940. J Hist Biol 46(1):31–72. Retrieved on December 31, 2021 from: https://springerlink.bibliotecabuap.elogim.com/article/10.1007/s10739-011-9317-1
Amnesty International (2021) Death penalty in 2020: facts and figures. Retrieved on December 16, 2021 from: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/04/death-penalty-in-2020-facts-and-figures/
Belluck P (2021) FDA will permanently allow abortion pills by mail, December 16. Retrieved on December 11, 2022 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/16/health/abortion-pills-fda.html
Besek JF, Greiner PT, Clark B (2021) WEB Du Bois and interdisciplinarity: a comprehensive picture of the scholar’s approach to natural science. J Class Sociol 21(2):144–164. Retrieved on January 8, 2022 from: https://www.patricktrentgreiner.com/files/DuBois_science.pdf
Bloch H, Sapsford D (2012) The Malthusian Paradox: declining food prices in the very long run. In: 2012 conference (56th), February 7–10, 2012, Fremantle, Australia 124240, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Retrieved on December 26, 2021 from: https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aare12/124240.html
Boas T (2021) Evangelicals in Latin American politics. XX(2), February 9. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/evangelicals-in-latin-american-politics/
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (2021) US Supreme Court says Texas abortion clinics can Sue Over Law, December 10. Retrieved on January 9, 2022 from: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59381081
Calkin S (2018) Towards a political geography of abortion. Polit Geogr 69:22–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2018.11.006
Commoner B (2020) The closing circle: nature, man, and technology. Courier Dover Publications, Mineola, New York
Compa L, Brooks T (2019) NAFTA and NAALC: Twenty-Five Years of North American Trade-Labour Linkage. Kluwer Law International BV
Daniels J (2021) El Salvador abortion laws on trial in case of woman jailed after miscarriage. The Guardian, March 12. Retrieved on September 15, 2021 from: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/12/el-salvador-abortion-laws-on-trial-in-case-of-woman-jailed-after-miscarriage
Davis M (2006) Planet of slums. Verso Books, London
Donovan M (2019) Improving access to abortion via telehealth. Guttmacher Policy Review. Retrieved on September 15, 2021 from: https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/article_files/gpr2202319.pdf
Du Bois WEB (William Edward Burghardt), 1868–1963. W. E. B. Du Bois Statement to the 1925 International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference, ca. February 14, 1925. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. Retrieved on January 7, 2022 from: https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/pageturn/mums312-b027-i239/#page/1/mode/1up
Eggleston J, Hays D (2019) Many U.S. households do not have biggest contributors to wealth: home equity and retirement accounts. Retrieved on December 26, 2021 from: https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2019/08/gaps-in-wealth-americans-by-household-type.html
Ehrlich PR (1968) The population bomb. New York. pp 72–80. Retrieved on December 27 from: https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DfLEt7HvbtYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA156&dq=paul+ehrlich+population+bomb&ots=NjAWQMUdfb&sig=CkiwfwSDgoDcIPjpSBu2ma0Rbc4#v=onepage&q=paul%20ehrlich%20population%20bomb&f=false
Einstein A (2009) Why socialism? Monthly Review. Retrieved on January 6 from: https://monthlyreview.org/2009/05/01/why-socialism/
Fisher M (2021) As abortion rights expand, the United States joins a group of telling exceptions. The New York Times, September 9. Retrieved on September 15, 2021 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/09/world/abortion-rights-us.html
Frankfurth Y (2017) Mothers, morality and abortion: the politics of reproduction in the formation of the German. Nation J Int Women’s Stud 18(3):51–65, Suppl. New Writings in Feminist Studies: Winning and Bridgewater. Retrieved on December 30, 2021 from https://www.proquest.com/docview/1878811850#
Green D (2020) Why abortion is becoming safer and available around the world. Oxfam, March 18. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://oxfamapps.org/fp2p/why-abortion-is-becoming-more-available-and-safer-around-the-world/
Guttmacher Institute (2018) Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/ib_aww-latin-america.pdf
Guttmacher Institute (2019) Improving Access to Abortion via Telehealth. Retrieved on November 14, 2022 from: https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2019/05/improving-access-abortion-telehealth
Guttmacher Institute (2021) “If the U.S. Supreme Court overturns or guts Roe v. Wade, 26 states are certain or likely to ban abortion”, Infographic. Guttmacher Institute, New York. https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/10/26-states-are-certain-or-likely-ban-abortion-without-roe-heres-which-ones-and-why
International Monetary Fund (IMF) (2022) The End of the Bretton Woods System (1972–81). Retrieved on November 14, 2022 from: https://www.imf.org/external/about/histend.htm
Kanem N (2022) Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: The Cornerstone of Sustainable Development. UN Chronicle. Retrieved on November 14, 2022 from: https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/sexual-and-reproductive-health-and-rights-cornerstone-sustainable-development
Kitroeff N, Lopez O (2021) Abortion is no longer a crime in Mexico. But will doctors object? The New York Times, October 6. Retrieved on January 9, 2022 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/13/world/americas/mexico-abortion-objectors.html
Liptak A (2021) Supreme court seems poised to uphold Mississippi’s abortion law. The New York Times, December 1. Retrieved on December 17, 2021 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/us/politics/supreme-court-mississippi-abortion-law.html
Luchsinger G (2021) No exceptions, no exclusions: realizing sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice for all. High Level Commission on the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 Follow-up. Retrieved on December 28, 2021 from: https://www.nairobisummiticpd.org/sites/default/files/NairobiHLC-ENGLISH_0.pdf
Malthus TR (1817) An essay on the principle of population: or, a view of its past and present effects on human happiness; with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions. United Kingdom: J Murray. Retrieved on December 31, 2021 from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/An_Essay_on_the_Principle_of_Population/4yseAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
McMichael P, Weber H (2020) Development and social change: a global perspective. SAGE Publications, USA. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Development_and_Social_Change/fnbqDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
Nash E, Dreweke J (2019) The U.S. abortion rate continues to drop: once again, state abortion restrictions are not the main driver. Guttmacher Institute. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2019/09/us-abortion-rate-continues-drop-once-again-state-abortion-restrictions-are-not-main
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) (2022) Our history. Retrieved on January 7, 2022 from: https://naacp.org/about/our-history
New England Journal of Medicine (2018) What is Telehealth? Retrieved on December 16, 2021 from: https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0268
NGO CSW65 Virtual Forum (2021) Connecting the dots for equality: abortion, empowerment and sustainable development. IPAS, March 16. Retrieved on January 9, 2022 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YSK7srd3Fc
Nielsen KS, Nicholas KA, Creutzig F, Dietz T, Stern PC (2021) The role of high-socioeconomic-status people in locking in or rapidly reducing energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions. Nat Energy 6(11):1011–1016. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-021-00900-y
Pullen JM (2008) Malthus, Thomas Robert (1766–1834). In The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan
Roseman MJ, Reichenbach L (2010) International conference on population and development at 15 years: achieving sexual and reproductive health and rights for all? Am J Public Health 100(3):403–406. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2009.177873
Rusterholz C (2020) Medicalizing birth control at the international conferences (1920–37). Women’s Medicine. Retrieved on January 8, 2022 from: https://www.manchesteropenhive.com/view/9781526149114/9781526149114.00010.xml
SDG Indicator Metadata (2022) United Nations statistics. Retrieved on November 14 from: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-05-06-02.pdf
Schickler R, Whittum M, Fanarjian N, Rapkin R, Nguyen BT (2021) The history of female surgical sterilization: a social and ethics perspective. J Gynecol Surg 37(6):465–469. Retrieved on December 31, 2021 from: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/gyn.2021.0102
Tikkanen R, Gunja M, FitzGerald M, Zephyrin L (2020) Maternal mortality and maternity care in the United States compared to 10 other developed countries. The Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved on January 9, 2022 from: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2020/nov/maternal-mortality-maternity-care-us-compared-10-countries
United Nations (2021) Goal 5: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Sustainable development goals. Retrieved on September 12, 2021 from: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/gender-equality/
United Nations General Assembly (2021) Right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, July. Retrieved on January 9, 2022 from: https://www.undocs.org/en/A/76/172
Valenza C (1985) Was Margaret Sanger a racist? Family planning. Perspective 17(1):44–46. PMID: 3884362. Retrieved on January 4, 2022 from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3884362/
Wilken M (2017) The Global Justice Center. “US aversion to international human rights treaties.” Retrieved on December 16, 2021 from: https://globaljusticecenter.net/blog/773-u-s-aversion-to-international-human-rights-treaties
World Health Organization (2018) Medical management of abortion. Retrieved on December 29, 2021 from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/278968/9789241550406-eng.pdf?ua=1
World Health Organization (2021a) Preventing unsafe abortion. Retrieved on September 12, 2021 from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/preventing-unsafe-abortion
World Health Organization (2020b) WHO recommendations on self-care interventions self-management of medical abortion. Retrieved on September 12, 2021 from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/332334/WHO-SRH-20.11-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
York R, Rosa EA, Dietz T (2003) STIRPAT, IPAT and ImPACT: analytic tools for unpacking the driving forces of environmental impacts. Ecol Econ 46(3):351–465
Yáñez, CF (2021) Abortion Rights in Latin America: An Unsettled Battle. German Institute for Global and Area Studies. Retrieved on November 14, 2022 from: https://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/73978/ssoar-2021-franco_yanezAbortion_Rights_in_Latin_America.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y&lnkname=ssoar-2021-franco_yanez-Abortion_Rights_in_Latin_America.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Shenkin, E.N. (2023). Gender Equity for Sustainable Development: Barriers and Telehealth Opportunities During the Pandemic. In: Aguilar-Rivera, N., Borsari, B., R. B. de Brito, P., Andrade Guerra, B. (eds) SDGs in the Americas and Caribbean Region. Implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals – Regional Perspectives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16017-2_38
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16017-2_38
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-16016-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-16017-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences