South Burlington, July 11, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On July 11th, 2018, concerned citizens and global advocates celebrated World Population Day, an annual event that emphasizes the urgency and importance of population issues. This year, the focus was “Family Planning is a Human Right.” Population Media Center (PMC), an international nonprofit dedicated to a sustainable planet with equal rights for all, encouraged increased awareness about the obstacles to reproductive self-determination with the #RidiculousRight campaign .
2018 marks not only the 20th anniversary of PMC, but also the 50th anniversary of the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights where family planning was declared a human right. Both PMC and the conference have promoted individual freedom to choose when and if to have children for decades. Now, instead of moving forward, we are going backwards. The US government will pay more for an erection than protection. Viagra shouldn’t be more important than birth control or condoms. #RidiculousRight?! And the Trump administration continues to oppose sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world with actions like reinstating and drastically expanding the Global Gag Rule , terminating all funding for the United Nation’s Population Fund, eliminating support for contraceptives in the United States, and many more policies that subvert the human right to family planning.
Ridiculous… right?!
#RidiculousRight was designed to make sure that the topic of Family Planning as a Human Right was stressed on World Population Day. PMC created a Social Media Toolkit to help people spread the word with the goal of exposing disparities and building momentum for meaningful change. There is no time for silence. It’s time to speak out. People deserve the ability to freely choose if and when they have children.
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ABOUT POPULATION MEDIA CENTER (PMC)
Population Media Center is a nonprofit leader in entertainment-education, dedicated to women’s rights and empowerment, population stabilization, and the environment. For the past two decades, PMC’s entertainment programming has promoted social and cultural change and has helped 500 million people in more than 50 countries. www.populationmedia.org
Attachments
Missie Thurston Population Media Center mthurston@populationmedia.org
