Call it a prudish society, call it convention, call it orthodoxy, call it shyness. But more importantly, call it dangerous. Unless Indian parents and teachers begin making a stronger effort to educate teens about safe sexual practices, young India will enter the 21st century with a debilitating lifestyle. Like these women, many know that family planning works. Family planning prevents unintended pregnancies and makes for healthier mothers and healthier children.
History has shown reproductive freedom is the key to women's empowerment.
This truth was acknowledged in 1994 when the nations of the world met in Cairo for the International Conference on Population and Development. The solution is affordable. U.S. support for international family planning assistance programs costs each of us less than three cents per week. Over one year, this amounts to less than the cost of one bag of popcorn at the movies to help tens of millions of couples in developing countries gain access to family planning. Congress has the power to improve the lives of countless women.