The Black Women Who Fought for Ohio's Historic Abortion Win

B. Godihal is one of the thousands of communities in Karnataka that have worked to hold clean elections, stirred by a confluence of awareness campaigns by nongovernmental organizations and rising public frustration with candidates’ broken promises.

In rural areas in India, lack of physicians is a big barrier to safe abortions, leading women to undergo deadly procedures. A proposed law by the Indian government would allow midwives and mid-level providers to perform abortions.

Big money has big lobbyists - but small lobbyists can also bring about big changes. Groups like Results and the Citizens Climate Lobby train ordinary people to approach and make arguments to politicians and journalists.

In Iowa, the “redistricting” of the state’s legislative and congressional boundaries is done by mapmakers who abide by nonpartisan metrics that all sides agree are fair — a seemingly revolutionary concept in the high-stakes decennial rite of redistricting.

Arab governments have expended a lot of energy keeping politics of any stripe out of the public sphere. With a few hundred volunteers and hardly any money, an upstart campaign called Beirut Madinati — “Beirut Is My City” — is challenging the status quo, displaying the kind of savvy civic politics promised by the Arab Spring.

The Center for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies provides a "blueprint" for peaceful and democratic revolution, busting myths about the process of nonviolent revolt and helping dissidents in countries around the world to accomplish political goals, such as fighting corruption or protecting the environment.

Due to patrilineality, sons are highly favored over daughters in many countries, with serious consequence. South Korea, the only country to have returned to normal sex ratios after having a highly abnormal ratio of boys:girls, has lessons for other countries.

Low voter turnouts, populists offering half-truths, corporate interests, and the blurring of facts in the media are signs that democracy around the world is in turmoil. Internationally, citizens have assembled different programs and initiatives that arm ordinary people with information about policy and their elected officials, as well as distinctive ways to reform the electoral system.

For the third election in a row, House Republicans got bonus seats in 2016, through gerrymandering. Thanks to a grassroots citizen movement and computer sleuthing, Florida admitted to breaking the law and has replaced state maps with more competitive, voter-friendly districts.

A Buffalo, New York clinic provides a space for both abortions and natural births. In looking at the experiences as a continuum, rather than as juxtiposing sides, the hope is to change how people think about the birth experiences.