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The Other Meaning of “Reproductive Rights”
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by Dr. Angelita Miguel-Aguirre, M.D.
Pro-life Board of Consultors
To the uninitiated the term “reproductive rights: is a positive assertion of concern for women’s rights. Unknown to many in the developing world, especially in a country (like ours) where abortion is illegal, this term is actually inclusive of the so-called “right of women” not only to contraception and sterilization but also to have access to abortion on demand. Very few realize that when pro-choice groups advocate “family planning”, abortion is included in the package. This is where many well-meaning people have been misled. They thought and felt that with active contraception the systems stops there – because “effective contraception” prevents abortion. But this is far from the truth.
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The battlecry of pro-choice groups at the time their program was initiated was “better contraception than abortion”! Little did we know that it was actually a quicksand which led to a series of mythical propositions and slogans that actually prepare the mindset of people and groups to soften their stand on fighting the evils of abortion. They have effectively muddled the issue and downplayed abortion as an abominable crime that kills an innocent and defenseless human being! In 1983, no less than the Chief Executive Officer of Planned Parenthood in New York City, Alfred Moran wrote in New York times—”Until we reach the millenium when every pregnancy is planned and all the children are born wanted, Planned Parenthood will continue to provide not only sex education and contraception but also abortion.”
This statement is clearly elucidated by the current report and press releases (which started in November 1996) on a study done by the Population Institute at the University of the Philippines regarding a study (funded by Ford Foundation) entitled “Abortion: A Public Health Concern”> the study confirms that the demand for abortion increases or is more prevalent when contraception fails. The study therefore suggests that “more effective contraception” is needed in order to prevent women to resort to abortion. We know that this is a myth because all countries where there is widespread use of contraception, abortion is eventually legalized. Demand for abortion actually increases once contraceptive mentality is deeply entrenched in a given society. Because of high contraceptive failure which values from 2 to 30% or more (depending on which contraceptive is used) the demand for abortion becomes high as “effective back-up” to “eliminate unwanted pregnancy”.
This is attested by the fact that in developed countries where there is high contraceptive use such as in the United States, the demand for abortion progressively increased until a mindset was reached that facilitated the legalization of abortion through the “Roe v Wade” US Supreme Court decision. Currently, there are 1.5 million babies aborted in the US alone and another a million babies born illegitimate. This has contributed to the increase of the number of children living in the poverty line. According to studies done by researchers at Columbia University, New York in 1990, 25% of children under the age of six in America belong to this group as an offshoot of increasing number of teen-age pregnancies and single parenthood.
Dr. Aguirre is a member of Makati Medical Society and a faculty of the the UST College of Medicine. She is a member of the Board of Advisers of Pro-life Philippines.
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