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1994 - VOLUME 21, NUMBER 2

95.64.1 - English - Leslie George Demanding choice

Scientific and medical organizations in the United States are joining women's and reproductive rights groups in demanding access to RU-486, the "French abortion pill". US clinical trials should have been under way by now. Instead, they are caught in a tug-of-war between pro- and anti-choice groups and the drug's manufacturers. Meanwhile, researchers in the US are trying to come up with their own versions of the abortifacient pill. (UNITED STATES, RU-486, RIGHT TO LIFE MOVEMENT, ABORTION RIGHTS MOVEMENT)

1994 - VOLUME 21, NUMBER 3

95.64.2 - English - Elizabeth LEE and Patricia MADE Sex and the teenage girl

Pregnancy is physically demanding for women at any age. It poses special health risks for teenagers. Experts survey teen pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa and discover, in the words of one researcher, that "there is a programme for everything except a girl who gets pregnant". (AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, ADOLESCENT PREGNANCY)

95.64.3 - English - Don Hinrichsen Taking control

The Women of Capiz Province in the Philippines are taking control of their lives and their villages' economic future by setting up small-scale businesses. In consequence, economic activity and family savings are up and family size is down in this province of beleaguered fishing villages. Says one project leader: The women "needed basic development first, family planning later". (PHILIPPINES, WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT, FERTILITY DECLINE)

1994 - VOLUME 21, NUMBER 4

95.64.4 - English - Senthil Ratnasabapathy A grey matter

Europe's population is growing older, its workforce shrinking. Governments are in a quandary over how to cover increased spending on care for senior citizens and ensure sufficient labour supply. Should they keep people at work longer, or invite new migrants to take up jobs? (EUROPE, DEMOGRAPHIC AGEING, MANPOWER NEEDS, IMMIGRATION)

1994 - VOLUME 21, NUMBER 5

95.64.5 - English - Abid ASLAM [Brackets]

The third and final session of the Preparatory Committee for the International Conference on Population and Development was to have ended with consensus on the draft Programme of Action to be adopted at Cairo in September. But key terms and phrases - "reproductive health", "reproductive rights", and "family planning", for example - remain in brackets, signalling that some compromises have yet to be struck. (UN SYSTEM, CONFERENCES, TERMINOLOGY)

1994 - VOLUME 21, NUMBER 6

95.64.6 - English - Elizabeth Kadetsky Free trade, bonded labour

Factories owned by transnational corporations crowd the US-Mexico border, testament to the promise and failure of global trade relations. The factories provide half a million jobs and have produced 11 new billionaires. But the workers - 70 per cent of whom are women - have seen falling wages, human rights violations, environmental degradation, and failing health. Bosses have flouted local laws with impunity. Now, women workers are organizing and striving against great odds to hold their employers and local authorities accountable. (MEXICO, UNITED STATES, TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATIONS, PROLETARIAT)

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