Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Santa Jerry Julian of Colorado Springs, Colorado hides in the grass following a ride on the Polar Express during a field trip from the Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School in Midland, Michigan, U.S. October 28, 2016. (Photo by Christinne Muschi/Reuters)

A female Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighter stands near a security position in Sinjar, March 13, 2015. Women fighters at a Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) base on Mount Sinjar in northwest Iraq, just like their male counterparts, have to be ready for action at any time. Smoke from the front line, marking their battle against Islamic State, which launched an assault on northern Iraq last summer, is visible from the base. Many of the women have cut links with their families back home; the fighters come from all corners of the Kurdish region. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih /Reuters)

Giant panda Ying Ying rests on a rock in its enclosure while a visitor takes a selfie at Ocean Park in Hong Kong, China, 24 September 2020. An An turned 35 in August. Giant pandas in the wild can live up to 20 years on average, while lifespans of those under human care can reach over 30 years. (Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA/EFE)

The Mexican singer Peso Pluma performs on his Éxodo Tour at the Intuit Dome in California, US on August 24, 2024. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard/Getty Images)

An Indian Hindu devotee pours milk on a snake as an offering during the annual Nag Panchami festival, dedicated to the worship of snakes outside the Nagvasuki temple, in Allahabad, on July 28, 2017. Officially the snake charmers' profession is banned in India, but many in the country offered prayers and milk blessings to cobras and other deadly serpents on July 28 in an annual tribute. The 800,000 charmers and their young apprentices come to the fore for the Nag Panchami festival which dates back several centuries. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)

A flood affected family moves on a banana raft past a fishing net in Morigaon district, east of Gauhati, northeastern Assam state, India, Sunday, July 31, 2016. A week of heavy rain has killed dozens of people and uprooted tens of thousands of others from their homes. Floods are an annual occurrence in Assam and many parts of India during the June-September monsoon season. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)

Italian singer Benjamin Mascolo and American actress and model Bella Thorne attends the Milano Pride Event in Sempione Square on June 26, 2021 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)