Euthanasia Bill in Puerto Rico
A bill introduced into the Senate of Puerto Rico by Senator Pena Clos, under Senate project No. 981, proposes to make euthanasia acceptable. An attempt has been made to disguise the intent of the bill by draping it in right-to-life language. The bill defines the use of artificial feeding as an extraordinary means of medical treatment, if there is no hope of “recovery.” The terms of the legislation are ambiguous and open to broad interpretation.
The bill proposes the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration as a grant of “human dignity.” It suggests that there could be no greater respect for the human person than to permit the individual to die without “artificial” means which would merely postpone the “arrival of death.”
Moving from the assumption that a patient would choose withdrawal of all medical or surgical care, it raises the “right of privacy” as the bulwark behind which the intent to dehydrate and starve a patient to death can pose as respecting the patients right to be free of all interference.
The Rector of a Cathedral in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Very Rev. Father Patricio Welch, states the case concisely: “Puerto Rico was used as a laboratory, and the Puerto Rican women as guinea pigs in the past by organizations such as Planned Parenthood, in order to test methods of sterilization and birth control. Now Puerto Rico has one of the highest percentage numbers of sterilized and abortions performed. Will this latest anti-life measure also further stain this land with more killing, all in the name of mercy?” (Press release related to Senate project No. 981, Padres Redentoristas, Catedral Dulce Nombre De Jesus, Caguas, Puerto Rico, April 2, 1991).
USA Birds of a Feather
During the month of May, the American Humanist Association celebrated its 50th anniversary in Chicago with a conference devoted to “The Environmental Crisis.” According to the registration blurb, the attendees would “learn how to take an active role in the effort to save the planet.” Among the honored guests were Worldwatch president Lester R. Brown and Population Institute president Werner Fornos. Both men received “Humanist of the Year Awards” for their roles in promoting worldwide population control as a means of solving the world’s alleged population and environmental problems.
The Humanist Association has long been a vociferous proponent of population control and abortion, often using the pages of its magazine The Humanist not only to promote those agendas, but also to mercilessly bash the Catholic Church for having the audacity to oppose such measures.
Controversial Drug to be Used on New Guinea Women
A controversial drug not officially approved for use as a contraceptive in Australia is to be the key element of a population control project in Papua, New Guinea.
The drug Depo-Provera, has been the subject of intense criticism from scientific and feminist quarters which have highlighted dangers and ill-effects associated with its use and potential for abuse involving poor women who lack the information or the power to reject the drug.
Details of the project, coordinated by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), reveal that UNFPA has set targets for the population’s acceptance of oral contraceptives, condoms and Depo-Provera from an estimated 6% in 1989 to 35% by 1995. Depo-Provera accounts for 63% of the total funds to be spent on contraceptive purchases for women by UNFPA. This would seem to indicate UNFPA has decided that approximately six out of every ten “targeted women” will use Depo-Provera.
Australian Senator Brian Harradine slammed the use of taxpayer’s money as an ill-conceived project promoted by UNFPA, which is no longer funded by the United States due to its support for China’s coercive population control program.
Australian International Development Assistance Bureau (AIDAB) asserts that the project will assist in preventing maternal deaths. Why then is AIDAB funding the project as part of its environmental assistance program in the name of “population stabilization,” and supporting the widespread use of Depo-Provera?
“By funding this population control project, therefore, the Australian government has left itself open to accusations of cultural colonialism and racism,” Senator Harradine said (Media Release, Senator Brian Harradine, Parliament House Canberra 2600, Australia, 15 May 1991).
Catholic Bishops Critical of Sterilization Requirement
The Catholic Bishops of Brazil have denounced a requirement by several major companies in the country that, potential female employees present a sterilization certificate before being hired.
In their statement, the Brazilian bishops’ conference termed the requirement “scandalous and unacceptable” and warned about the increasing drop in fertility in Brazil.
Many companies in Brazil impose the sterilization requirement in order to avoid having to grant maternity leave to the workers.
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics has said that only China has more sterilized women than Brazil. (The Catholic Advance, April 4, 1991).
U.S. Ectopic Pregnancies on the Rise
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) says that the incidence of ectopic pregnancy is on the rise, but fewer women are dying from them.
The disorder is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in the first trimester. CDC epidemiologist Audrey Saftlas is reported as saying that CDC officials believe the “lower death rate is the result of the earlier detection of ectopic pregnancies.” She did not venture an explanation for the increased incidence. A survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics said that from 1970-1985, the rate of ectopic pregnancies rose from 4.5 to 15.2 per 1,000 reported pregnancies, while the overall case-fatality rate decreased from 35 per 1,000 to 4.2 in 1,000 (Minneapolis Star and Tribune, Oct. 21, 1988).
UN Agencies Police the Womb in Nigeria
In 1985, the World Bank, the United Nations Fund for Population Activities and the United Nations Development Program all became sponsors of the World Health Organization’s special research unit called HRP, established in 1971-72 “to co-ordinate, promote, conduct and evaluate international research in human reproduction.”
In 1987, WHO gave $816,000 to the program and the World Bank gave one million dollars that same year. UNFPA contributed $3,000,000 and the UK donated $3,830,000. The combined Sweden/Denmark/Norway grant that year was $7,100,000. In 1989 Australia gave it 250,000 Australian dollars.
The HRP had been developing the abortion drug RU 486 and a new abortion producing vaccine called Anti-HCG. The Irish Times reported that RU 486 was to be used in France, China and in India in 1985, and concluded: “Its main target was to be the one billion women in Third World countries that should be using birth control.” Although the World Health Organization has previously claimed to be opposed to abortion as a family planning method, now, by promoting RU 486 and the vaccine HCG, WHO appears to have decided to force governments to accept it.
WHO, through HRP, has already “launched a major effort to export its products and its philosophy” to the developing nations. According to HRP’s 1986-87 Annual Report, out of a total budget of $22.7 million, $13 million went to “strengthening” institutions in developing countries and for training scientists from such countries “by those who have made it their business to police the womb, under the auspices of the UN agencies” (The Guardian, Nigeria, Nov. 6, 1990).
Once-a-Week Birth Control Pill in India
The Health Ministry has approved the drug Centchroman as safe and effective for usage but “not every one agrees.” Centchroman neither contains hormones nor inhibits ovulation. Instead, “it blocks the action of natural hormones and seems to prevent implantation of the fertilized egg in the lining of the uterus, or induces an abortion so soon after implantation the woman never knows that she was pregnant.”
In addition to only being taken once a week, “it also works as a morning-after pill if taken within 24 hours.”
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported that the drug has caused enlarged ovaries. Even when the dosage was cut in half, “some cases of enlarged ovaries were still reported.”
Centchroman’s effectiveness has been criticized because too many pregnancies were occurring among women taking the drug.
Approval of Centchroman, manufactured by Hindustan Latex Ltd., a company “whose chief merit is that a government agency controls it,” coincides with the release of census figures which show that India’s population is allegedly “still growing too fast.”
India’s Family Planning Foundation has suggested involving more “business and trade unions in birth control campaigns,” and the Health Ministry has launched a propaganda campaign for birth control on radio and television. “Almost every night film clips show people where to take their children for vaccinations, and then they show mothers leaving with gifts of contraceptive devices such as condoms” (India Weekly, by Prakash Chandra, South-North News Service).
Cancer Risk, Injectables
Dr. R. Herrero of the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, reported evidence of an association between the use of injectable contraceptives and invasive cervical cancer in several Latin American countries. Users for 5 or more years had a relative risk (RR) of 2.4. The RR became 3.4 for women reporting their first injection 10 or more years before the interview. The cancer risk was particularly high for women who reported never having had a Pap smear or having had one 2 or more years before the interview. (Report of VII International Meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Contraception, Nov., 1990; Dr. John Lim, Singapore).
Australian Anti Natalist Policies
Population policy in Australia over the past 20 years could perhaps be described as increasingly anti-natalist. Notable policy changes include the abolition of the maternity allowance and the introduction of means testing for family allowance. The result has been the economic deterioration of families with children in comparison with couples of the same income without children (Source: Dr. Christabel Young, A.N.U., BIR Bulletin, 2, August 1990, p.11.)
Cuban Birth Control Factory Funded by UNFPA
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has allocated $400,000 help finance a Cuban factory that will produce oral contraceptives. The plant is on the outskirts of Havana and was built with the assistance of a Mexican company (The Evening Sun, March 15, 1991, p. 8).
