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Highly restrictive abortion laws do not prevent abortion from occurring. Instead they force the practice underground and out of sight, in unsafe conditions without the proper equipment and skills. Some women even try to procure an abortion themselves with dire consequences.

A new Chair, Katrina Shanks MP, of the New Zealand Parliamentarians' Group on Population and Development has been elected following Dr. Jackie Blue stepping down from the role.

In April, NZPPD member Holly Walker represented NZPPD in Bangkok at the ICPD Parliamentarian Champions’ Meeting and the 73rd AFPPD Executive Committee Meeting. 

Again and again it seems that where there is political will to improve maternal health and where policies are centred on ensuring qualified midwifery assistance at each birth, huge strides are made in saving the lives of both mothers and their babies.

With funding from the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade FPI is undertaking a cost benefit analysis of family planning in Kiribati.

The Healthy Families project hosted a second advocacy meeting in Kiribati with church leaders representing all the major denominations.

Two members of the NZ Parliamentarians’ Group on Population and Development (NZPPD) to which FPI provides secretariat support, visited Solomon Islands in early March to launch NZPPD’s report, Pacific Youth: Their Rights, Our Future. 

This year’s Commission on the Status of Women that concluded in New York on 15 March and focussed on violence against women and girls, was another stark reminder for many that there are strong opposing forces to women being able to realise their rights.

Today, like every day, more than 25,000 girls around the world under the age of 18 will get married. Largely in low and middle income countries. Most likely against the girls’ will and most likely to someone much older.

FPI visited Solomon Islands in early February to share with key stakeholders the findings of FPI’s latest study on the costs and benefits of investing in family planning in Solomon Islands.