Rape & safe birth-tsunami, women&children TRIGGER

for those of us looking for ways to wed our passion for women and children with tsunami relief, here's information from the International Planned Parenthood Federation at www.freechoicesaveslives.org

"Can you imagine how frightening it must be to go into labor in the tsunami-devastated areas of Indonesia or Sri Lanka right now?

According to the UN, roughly 50,000 of the 150,000 pregnant women in the tsunami-affected areas of Asia will go into labor in the next three months. Appalling conditions -- a lack of food, clean drinking water, and shelter, combined with the destruction of clinics and hospitals, and the injury and deaths of doctors, midwives, and other key staff make giving birth both dangerous and scary.

Please help our member groups in South Asia provide desperately-needed reproductive and maternal health care for these women by making a secure, tax-deductible online donation.* Click here to provide much-needed relief to women and girls in tsunami-affected regions.

100% of your donation will go directly to IPPF member groups in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, and the Maldives.

IPPF member associations in these countries have suffered destruction of clinics and loss of staff. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, two of our clinics were destroyed and all equipment and supplies were washed away. One of the ruined clinics was the only delivery center in the entire province! Some clinic staff and local volunteers are still missing and presumed dead.

IPPF staff in these areas are doing all they can to continue to care for women and girls in need (with a particular focus on the many pregnant women) but they need immediate assistance to provide emergency relief and health care services to women and girls in refugee camps, as well as to rebuild, restock, and staff their crucial work. Click here now to make a tax deductible donation.

In addition to the dangers posed by waterborne diseases, hunger, and exposure to the elements, media sources (see stories at end of message) are now reporting that women and girls are at high risk of violence, including rape and other forms of sexual abuse in the chaos that has followed the destruction.

Together with efforts to prevent such abuses, IPPF staff will be a key resource for counseling support and a provider of emergency contraception to prevent pregnancies that may result.

Please don't delay! Follow this link to make your secure online donation now.

https://secure.ga3.org/02/tsunami

You can find articles about the way the tsunami has affected women and children by following these links. PLEASE read these articles!

As Tsunami Recedes, Women's Risks Appear - 1/7/05
http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2137/context/archive

UNFPA Calls for Greater Security for Women Affected by Tsunami
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:MBi-yDX0rZoJ:www.planetwire.org/+toronto+star+tsunami+reproductive+rights&hl=en

The tsunami, women and girls
http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/Stories/0,1413,209%257E22484%257E2634273,00.html

something important to remember in regard to pregnant women affected by the tsunami is this. "Last July, the Bush administration decided to withhold all $34 million of congressionally approved funding for the United Nations Population Fund. 2004 was the third year in a row the administration blocked the funding." (from the top link)

The UN Population Fund site
www.unfpa.org
www.34millionfriends.org