American policies on international health were condemned last week for being based on ideology rather than science; for rolling back progress achieved in protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights; for increasing the risk of unwanted pregnancies, HIV infection, and unsafe abortions; and for “condemning millions of women to die.”

Seven hundred participants from 109 countries gathered in London to review progress on the Cairo Consensus, a programme of action ratified by 179 nation states at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The programme, which was designed to achieve sexual and reproductive rights for all by 2015, is now at the halfway point of its 20 year task. It is credited with introducing a human rights …