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Bush Administration Policies Infringe on Reproductive Rights in Latin America, Caribbean, Reports Say
(Kaisernetwork) The Bush administration's opposition to abortion and the use of condoms among young people in Latin America and the Caribbean "infringe on reproductive rights" and are "out of step" with the region's opinions on the issue, according to two reports released this week in Puerto Rico at a meeting of the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean Committee on Population and Development, the Associated Press reports (Griffiths, Associated Press, 6/29).
The International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy on Monday released a report, titled "Global Implications of U.S. Domestic and International Policies on Sexuality," that identifies and examines the Bush administration's efforts related to sexuality in the United States and other countries, according to a IWGSSP release (IWGSSP release, 6/22).
The report says that the administration has launched a "sweeping, comprehensive attack on sexual rights," the Associated Press reports. The report also says that some of the Bush administration's policies such as the so-called "Mexico City" policy "penaliz[e] groups seeking to provide birth control options," including (Associated Press, 6/29).
The policy -- which was originally implemented by President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984, removed by President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush during the first days of his presidency -- bars U.S. money from international groups that support abortion through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities. Bush in September 2003 issued an executive order that prevents the State Department from giving family planning grants to international groups that provide abortion-related counseling, effectively extending the policy, which previously applied only to USAID (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 6/22).
Reaction
IWGSSP co-chair Richard Parker said, "There is the worry that if Bush is re-elected these policies will then be pursued even more violently, because politically there isn't anything to lose." A senior U.S. delegate to the ECLAC meeting, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the report is an "unfair attack" on the administration. He added that Bush "believes strongly that while he wants to support reproductive health ... abortion can play no part and ... abstinence is a key" to sexually transmitted disease prevention among young people, according to the Associated Press (Associated Press, 6/29).
The ECLAC meeting marks the 10th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, during which 179 countries approved a plan to enhance reproductive health and rights of women throughout the world (IWGSSP release, 6/22).
Both targets set at the Cairo conference and U.N. Millennium Development Goals set in 2000 aimed to provide family planning options and education to prevent unwanted pregnancies as a way to reduce world poverty and hunger and improve women's rights in developing countries (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/4).
Catholics for a Free Choice Report
Also at the conference, Catholics for a Free Choice released the results of polls taken in three Latin American countries that found most Catholics in the region support "a full range of contraceptive methods," the Associated Press reports (Associated Press, 6/29). With the release of the report, CFFC and Mexico-based Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir called for the Bush administration and the Vatican to "respect the views of the region's Catholics and reaffirm the Cairo consensus," according to a CFFC release. CFFC and Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir commissioned the surveys, which were conducted by local research firms in Mexico, Bolivia and Columbia in the second half of 2003. Catholics comprise a majority of the population in Latin America, including 87% of South America's population. The questionnaires and methods of comparisons for the surveys were designed by research and communications firm Belden Russonello & Stewart. The report, titled "Attitudes of Catholics on Reproductive Rights, Church-State and Related Issues: Three National Surveys in Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico," found that Catholics in the three countries "support a humanitarian and spiritual role for their church" and support "changes to liberalize" their church, including allowing the use of contraception and emergency contraception, according to the release.
EC, Condoms
The surveys also found that most Catholics in the three countries support the use of artificial contraception and say that public health facilities should provide contraception at no cost, according to the CFFC release. In addition, most Catholics in Bolivia, Columbia and Mexico want hospitals to provide EC to women who ask for it. Approximately 88% of Bolivian Catholics participants, 93% of Columbian Catholics and 85% of Mexican Catholics believe that the church should allow the use of condoms to help prevent HIV transmission, according to the release. Silvia Traslosheros, director of Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir, said, "Millions of Catholics respect the church and they want it to change and allow contraception, condom use, sexuality education and access to abortion in some or all cases," adding that the Bush administration "must not use these outdated and disproved notions of how Catholics feel as it imposes its own agenda on Latin America" (CFFC release, 6/28).
© 2004 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation
Source: Kaisernetwork
Publish Date: June 30, 2004
Online at: http://ifrl.org/IFRLDailyNews/040630/5
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