What’s The Connection Between Reproductive/Sexual Health and Peace/Peace-building? Lawrence Gelber of " IDWP" Responds.

Recently, I asked Lawrence Gelber a lawyer, and founder of I Declare World Peace (IDWP) (http://www.ideclareworldpeace.com) project about the connection between peace-building and reproductive/sexual health. His response is eloquently featured below.

"There is a strong connection. War, in general, happens when the accumulated stresses and tensions of a population can no longer be contained. Those stresses and tensions arise from a host of human problems and are often exacerbated by governments. Reproductive / sexual health is a human rights issue. The denial of access to proper health care, particularly when related to reproduction, causes a higher incidence of maternal and infant death and infant abnormalities. All denials of such care operate primarily to repress women, but that raises the stress levels in all of society. Individual stress, discomfort, disease (dis - ease) is the elemental source of societal stress, discomfort and disease, in the same way an atom is the elemental source of a physical object. More importantly, reproductive / sexual health issues affect far more many women than men. This is largely because women are treated unequally in society. As you can see from my article (http://www.redelephantfoundation.org/2013/11/the-urgent-need-to-equalize...), there is statistical evidence that such sex-based inequality reduces peace and increases violence. So the connection is quite direct".

In your opinion, what is the relationship between peace-building and reproductive/sexual health?

Looking forward to your responses!