30/05/2014

Available for over a year

Twenty six women who say they are in love with Roman Catholic priests have written to Pope Francis urging him to make celibacy optional. The women described the "devastating suffering" caused by the church's ban on priests having sex and marrying. But could celibacy ever be optional in the Catholic Church? Last week, at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, governments reviewed the Every Newborn Action Plan. It's the first time there has been a global plan that targets the preventable deaths of newborn babies and mothers within a generation, and UNICEF and the World Health Organisation launch it in June. It advocates the care of every pregnant woman, a healthy start for every baby, and it set targets to improve care for babies and mothers. But are the targets achievable and how will they be funded? Jenni speaks to Dr Hannah Blencowe, one of the authors of a report that contributed evidence to the Every Newborn Action Plan, and to Professor Nynke van den Broek, Head of the Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Back in 1872 American women's rights campaigner Victoria Claflin was the first woman ever to run for President. She and her sister Tennie were also the first women in America to open a brokerage on Wall Street. They advocated "free love" and as a result were embroiled in one of America's biggest sex scandals of the day. A new book, The Scarlet Sisters: Sex, Suffrage and Scandal in the Gilded Age, charts Victoria and Tennie's lives. It's author Myra MacPherson shares their story of humble beginnings to eventually marrying two of the richest men in England.