Women This Week: Food Scarcity Having Severe Impact on Children and Pregnant Women in Gaza

Urgent Humanitarian Assistance is Needed in the Gaza Strip 

Project Hope, a humanitarian organization operating in the Gaza Strip, is reporting widespread and severe health issues among women and children. One in five pregnant women treated in Project Hope’s Deir al Balah clinic is suffering from malnutrition. They are also seeing a rise in anemia among pregnant women, which leads to poor health outcomes for both the mother and child. One in ten children seen in the clinic in the three weeks prior to February 24 were malnourished, and two reportedly died from starvation and dehydration this week. Israel is imposing harsh restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza, and humanitarian needs are nowhere close to being met. “As infectious diseases spread in crammed areas and food becomes even scarcer, we will see more and more people going hungry – including the health workers trying to help. I worry every day that I won’t find anything to eat,” said Dr Maram, the lead physician for Project Hope. 

IVF Treatment Legislation Fails to Move Forward Senate 

Earlier this week, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA) attempted to force a vote on legislation to protect access to IVF treatment. The move came in response to a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that requires that frozen embryos be legally protected as children. This ruling has led to the shutdown of several fertility clinics in Alabama, leaving many families in limbo. Senator Cindy-Hyde-Smith (R-MS) objected to the motion to bring the bill to a vote, blocking it from moving forward. “I warned that red states would come for IVF, and now they have. But they aren’t going to just going to stop in Alabama,” Duckworth said. “Mark my words: If we don’t act now, it will only get worse.” The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday that would protect IVF service providers with immunity from civil and criminal prosecution. It will head to the Alabama Senate for the final vote.  

Afghanistan Opens Health Sector Opportunities to Women 

The Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan will reportedly allow female high school graduates to enroll and work in state-run medical institutes. This directive would give opportunities to girls who graduated before the Taliban took power to resume their education and seek employment in the health sector. Currently, girls are banned from continuing their education after the sixth grade and are barred from working in most public and private sector jobs. The Ministry has not provided any additional information on the directive. Human Rights Watch recently warned that the Taliban’s restrictions have “gravely impeded women and girls’ access to health services, while bans on education for women and girls have blocked almost all training of future female healthcare workers in the country.” 

Child Marriage Moves One Step Closer to a Ban in Washington State 

This week, Washington moved one step closer to becoming the 11th state to prohibit marriage involving a ban on children under the age of eighteen. House Bill 1455 was first introduced last year by Representative Monica Stonier. It unanimously passed in the House and received only one “no” vote in the Senate from Senator Jeff Joly. It is now heading to Governor Jay Inslee, who is expected to sign it. According to Unchained at Last, a nonprofit organization working to end child marriage, over five thousand minors have been married in the state since 2000. Current legislation allows those who are seventeen to marry with parental consent, and marriages involving younger minors can be approved by a judge. Kate Yang, a survivor of childhood marriage at the age of twelve, recalled being emotionally and physically abused, “The abuse got so bad where I knew that either I had to escape, or he was going to kill me,” Yang said.