March 14, 2003
 Volume 6, Number 12

 IPPF Head Urges Nordic Countries to Attack US and Catholic Church 

         Citing a grave “moment of peril” posed by the United States and
 the Catholic Church, the International Planned Parenthood Federation
 (IPPF) Director-General Steven Sinding told a recent meeting of northern
 European government leaders that they must redouble their efforts to
 promote population control, the provision of reproductive services to
 children, and the worldwide legalization of abortion.

         Speaking at the Nordic Meeting on Sexual and Reproductive Health
 and Rights, Sinding claimed that “This is perhaps the most challenging
 time since the modern ‘population movement’ began in the 1960s with
 respect to reproductive health and rights.” Sinding blamed this situation
 on “The conservative backlash…one cannot ignore the assault on the Cairo
 Programme of Action mounted by the United States of America and its allies
 in the Vatican and a small handful of other countries with fundamentalist
 governments. These people believe that the Cairo Programme of Action is a
 radical feminist agenda and that it represents an assault on traditional
 family values and sexual mores.”

         According to Sinding, a number of other factors have contributed
 to this situation. For instance, Sinding mentioned “The perception that
 the ‘population crisis’ is over. The demographic fear that drove funding
 from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s is to all extents and purposes gone.”
 Without this demographic fear, Sinding worries that talk about
 reproductive rights is not “compelling” enough. Sinding also claimed that
 HIV/AIDS was siphoning attention away from reproductive services, and that
 governments possess too much authority in establishing their own nations’
 health needs, stating that “When primary responsibility is given over to
 host governments to define health priorities…services …at the centre of
 the SRHR [Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights] agenda often fall to
 so low a slot in the health agenda that they receive little or no funding
 at all.”

         Sinding urged Nordic government officials to respond with vigor to
 these challenges. He told his audience to “Engage the US and other
 critics…head on. It is essential to show the absurdity of their
 ‘abstinence only’ and anti-condom crusades. We must discredit their
 pseudo-science and unmask their ideological motives.” However, it now
 appears open to debate what parties are truly motivated by ideology.
 According to the UN Population Division, massive efforts by IPPF and the
 UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to promote condom use in Africa have failed,
 and according to a study published by the US Agency for International
 Development (USAID), the only successful AIDS-prevention program in Africa
 is in Uganda, where abstinence and fidelity have been heavily promoted for
 over a decade.
   
         Sinding also urged his audience to continue to push for population
 control, and to fight for reproductive services, especially for youth,
 even if it means going against the wishes of governments in the developing
 world, stating that “Africa simply cannot wait for good governance.” And
 Sinding’s “final priority” is the spread of abortion, “making abortion
 safe.” According to Sinding, “There are still far too many…unwanted
 pregnancies.”

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 granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

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