Rights are minimum conditions/entitlements for the individual to live a life with dignity. Rights enable us to demand, if necessary, what is due without having to beg for benevolence or compassion. Rights are associated with human dignity and respect for each and every person. Rights based approach means holding people and institutions that are in power accountable for fulfilling their responsibilities towards those with less power. Rights based approach addresses violence and coercion and restriction of choices. It encourages people to demand their rights. It incorporates communication and behavior change interventions that encourage equitable partnerships. It could make programs accountable when rights are violated. Rights based approach begins when every SRH situation is seen in the context of human rights. This approach includes knowledge of rights and their sources, identifying gaps in fulfillments and violation, rights education and awareness and claiming of the rights.

Research Summary: To increase access to safe abortion in rural India, the feasibility and acceptability of mifepristone-misoprostol abortion was assessed in a typical government-run primary health center (PHC) in Nagpur district, Maharashtra State, which does not offer surgical abortion services and must refer off-site for emergency and backup services. Consenting pregnant women (n=149) with ≤56 days amenorrhea seeking terminations received 200mg mifepristone and returned 48h later for 400μg sublingual misoprostol and 12 days later for abortion confirmation. Surgical backup was conducted at a nearby community health center (CHC). Nearly all women (98.6%) with known outcomes had successful medical abortions, and those who did not were successfully referred to the CHC for surgical backup. Women reported the method's ease and simplicity as the best features. Medical abortion provision is feasible and acceptable in an Indian rural PHC that does not offer surgical abortion services. This study suggests that introduction of medical abortion at lower levels of the health care system could increase access to safe abortion in rural India. (Source: Increasing access to safe abortion services in rural India: experiences with medical abortion in a primary health center at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?tmpl=NoSidebarfile&db=PubMed&cmd=Retrieve&list_uids=17586140&dopt=AbstractPlus)

Resources: New IPPF/WHR website at www.ippfwhr.org provides a clearinghouse for resources, news, and stories from the field.

News: Photo share invites photos of programs in action and the people in the areas of family planning and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS etc. If you have an interesting photo, you have a chance to win cash $1,000 USD and much more. (Download entry form and details from:

http://www.photoshare.org/contest/2007/2007contestentryform.doc)