When we talk about 'reproductive rights' this is what we mean. It's the difference between people as objects, and people as agents: between regarding people as pawns on the policy chessboard and recognizing them as the players, the decision-makers, the drivers of policy; autonomous individuals intimately concerned with the direction of their own lives. Under these conditions women, especially, enjoy better health and live fuller lives.
Interpretation
Reproductive rights emphasize the autonomy and agency of individuals, particularly women, in making decisions about their lives and health.
This quote by Nafis Sadik highlights the fundamental distinction between viewing individuals as mere tools in a policy game versus recognizing them as active participants who shape their own destinies. It underscores the importance of reproductive rights in empowering people, particularly women, to make choices that affect their health and quality of life, ultimately leading to a more equitable society where individuals can thrive.
In practice
In a discussion about gender equality at a conference, you might emphasize this quote to highlight the importance of autonomy in women's health decisions.
However, if "free choice" means more than a small selection between pre-established necessities, and if the inclinations and impulses used in work are other than those preshaped by a repressive reality principle, then satisfaction in daily work is only a rare privilege.
Let each one of us say, 'I am an American. I intend to stay an American. I will do my best to wipe from my heart hate, rancor and political prejudice. I will sustain my government. And, through good days or bad, I will try to serve my country.'
Hold loosely to the things of this life, so that if God requires them of you, it will be easy to let them go.
Jews are frequently compared to the proverbial 'canary in the coal mine,' an enduring signal for when the world is failing to meet its obligations in tackling bigotry. It has never been clearer to me just how widely understood that truism is.
Implosion is no invention in the conventional sense, but rather the renaissance of ancient knowledge, lost over the course of time.
Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation.
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