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A FACT SHEET PREPARED BY THE MOBILIZING RESOURCES TASK FORCE
U.S. NGOs IN SUPPORT OF THE CAIRO CONSENSUS
Keeping
America
Promises
KEERING
AMERICA'S
PROMISES
U.S. Funding for Reproductiv
In 1994, at the
Health Care at Home and
International Conference
on Population and
Development held in
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
to counseling and condoms can also prevent
Cairo, Egypt, the United
NEEDS WORLDWIDE
new cases of HIV infection and other STDs.
However, funding for these efforts falls far
States agreed, together
Worldwide, poor reproductive health is
short of the needs. Despite the growing desire
with other nations, to
a serious problem-about 3.4 million
of couples everywhere to make their own de-
make basic reproductive
women and men die each year from re-
cisions about how many children to have and
health services available
productive health related and largely
when to have them, and the urgent need to
preventable causes. Because of early and
to all in need of them,
promote safer sex, contraceptive and sexual
frequent childbearing and poor access to health
health services are still-difficult to obtain,
and to this end, to
care and contraception, about 585,000 women
unaffordable, or of poor quality in many coun-
increase financial
die each year in pregnancy or childbirth, includ-
tries. Over 100 million women in developing
support to developing
ing an estimated 75,000 deaths from unsafe
countries who want to delay or avoid another
countries: As the fifth
abortion; almost all these deaths occur in devel-
pregnancy are not using contraception. As a
anniversary of the
oping countries. Worldwide, in 1997, some 30
result, couples in developing countries increas-
million people were living with HIV/AIDS and
conference approaches
ingly want smaller families, but often have
about 1.8 million adults died of the disease.
where does the United
more children than they would like.
With 5.8 million new infections in that year, the
States stand with
Large family size contributes to
future death toll from AIDS is expected to rise.
respect to these
continuing rapid population growth.
In addition, 330 million new cases of other
Social and economic changes, together with
commitments, both at
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) occur an-
improved availability of family planning, have
home and abroad?
nually worldwide, many of which undermine
resulted in dramatic declines in average
maternal and infant health. Meanwhile, the larg-
family size across the developing world. Still,
est group of adolescents in history is at risk of
population growth rates remain high in many
unwanted pregnancy, HIV and other STDs.
countries, especially where the low social
Better access to voluntary family plan-
status of women contributes to a continuing
ning and related health care would pre-
desire for large families. UN projections sug-
PLUS FIVE
vent many deaths from reproductive
gest world population could increase from
health related causes. Family planning saves
5.9 billion people today to 8.9 billion or
the lives of mothers and children by helping
more by the year 2050. Currently, the world
women avoid high risk pregnancies and increas-
is adding 78 million people a year, almost all
ing the time between births. Improved access
in developing countries.
U.S. NGOs IN SUPPORT OF THE CAIRO CONSENSUS
C/O 1120 19TH STREET, NW
SUITE 550
WASHINGTON, DC 20036
USA
SHARE OF U.S. BUDGET ALLOCATED'TO.
INTERNATIONAL POPULATION ASSISTANCE 1997
This rapid population growth
is outpacing the ability of gov-
Foreign Aid
0.9%
U.S. International
ernments to provide social ser-
Population and Family
vices and infrastructure, and
Planning Assistance
0.02%
undermining prospects for en-
vironmentally sustainable de-
velopment. For example, 24 per-
cent of the world lacks access to
clean water. Human activity is also
having a devastating impact on our
environment, threatening natural
resources and decimating other
Other Federal
species. Improved access to family
Government Spending
planning can accelerate the trend
towards smaller families, thereby
helping to alleviate the problems
associated with rapid population
growth while also enhancing repro-
Source: U.S
ductive health. For example, slower
population growth can help avoid
conflict over scarce water resources and thus
vide women with expanded choices by improv-
PD
promote global political stability. By making it
their access to education, health services and
possible for countries to invest more in educa-
employment opportunities, and involving them
for
tion and health, slower population growth
fully in policy and decision making. The confer-
rates contribute to increased productivity and
ence also emphasized the close links between
economic growth as well-and to expanded
population and development; issues relating to
of
trade and prosperity in both developed and
population, the environment and consumption
developing nations.
patterns; and the need for partnerships between
governments and private organizations.
as
THE CAIRO CONFERENCE:
At the ICPD, nations agreed on a plan to
MEETING THE NEEDS
a
improve individual reproductive health
ned
The International Conference on Popula-
and help slow world population growth.
tion and Development (ICPD) held in
The conference recommendations call for uni-
to
Cairo, Egypt, in 1994 revolutionized the
versal availability of family planning by 2015 as
tive
world's approach to population and de-
part of a broadened approach to reproductive
velopment issues. The conference, attended
health and rights that emphasizes meeting indi-
and
by 16,000 representatives of governments, inter-
vidual needs rather than demographic targets.
national and nongovernmental organizations, and
Other conference goals include further reduc-
the media, focused attention on the human and
tions in infant, child and maternal mortality.
environmental issues surrounding rapid popula-
Within the area of reproductive health, the ICPD
tion growth and poor.reproductive health. In
highlighted the need for: family planning; preven-
Cairo, 80 nations took part in negotiations to
tion of sexually transmitted diseases including
deve recommendations for global action in
HIV/AIDS: and basic reproductive health care,
the area of population and elopment over
including pre natal and post-natal care and safe
the 20 years
delivery The conference anticipated that address-
ing the totality of human reproductive health
A major achievement of the ICPD is the
needs in a comprehensive way would improve
recognition that empowering individual
health outcomes while also increasing demand
women also benefits society as a whole.
for family planning.
The conference recommendations, aim to pro
The Cairo conference identified the financial com-
portionately, declining by 35 percent. These cuts, together
mitments needed to implement this plan. The ICPD
with punitive delays and restrictions on the release of
is unique among other recent global conferences in reach-
population assistance funds imposed by family planning
ing agreement on the level of financial commitments, and
opponents, have created many problems for a successful
responsibility for these commitments, needed to fulfill key
foreign aid effort. The U.S. Congress has also eliminated all
goals. The conference estimated that making quality repro-
funding for UNFPA for 1999.
ductive health services available in developing countries to
The United States is the largest donor but con-
all in need of them would cost about $17 billion in the year
tributes too little relative to its size and wealth.
2000. The cost would rise to $22 billion in the year 2015, as
In 1996, the U.S. government spent $463 million for family
a result of both the growing number of women in their re-
planning and related health activities, and an additional
productive years and the rising demand for contraception
$175 million on maternal health and HIV/AIDS programs,
as couples increasingly desire smaller families. The confer-
for total expenditures of $638 million on population assis-
ence agreed donor countries would provide roughly one-
tance as defined by the ICPD. As the largest industrialized
third of these funds, while developing countries would
nation, the United States appropriately contributes the
provide the remaining two-thirds.
THE U.S. ROLE IN INTERNATIONAL
MAJOR DONOR COUNTRY CONTRIBUTIONS TO POPULATION
POPULATION ASSISTANCE
ASSISTANCE RELATIVE TO NATIONAL INCOME LEVELS
Popula tance Expenditures, Million U.S Dollars
Since the 1960s, the United States has been a
of Gross National Product (GNP)
400
leader in helping poor countries develop popula-
tion policies and implement family planning
350
programs. The United States helped establish the United
300
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the most important
250
international organization working in this area. The U.S. for-
eign aid program, working in close partnership with private
200
American organizations, leads the world in expertise in the
150
delivery of high quality, cost-effective family planning and
100
health services in developing country settings. More re-
cently, the United States has also emerged as a leader in
50
AIDS prevention efforts.
U.S. population assistance has been highly effec-
Denmark
Nonetherlands
Sweden
Finland
Kingdom
Australia.
States
Canada Germany.
Japan
France
tive. Countries receiving significant U.S. funds have experi-
United
UNEPA
enced remarkable increases in contraceptive use and de-
clines in birth rates. Tens of millions of couples use family
planning as a direct result of U.S. assistance; millions more
most to international population programs. However, in
have benefited indirectly from improvements in services
1996 it ranked eighth out of 20 major donors in its contri-
resulting from American advice and innovations. In the 28
bution relative to gross national product (GNP). In that
largest countries receiving U.S. funds, average family size
year, the U.S. contributed $84 in population assistance for
has fallen from about six children in the 1960s to roughly
every million dollars of GNP, while Denmark spent $371-
four today. In Colombia, Indonesia and Mexico, family size
almost five times the U.S. contribution. Denmark's contribu-
now close to three children while Taiwan and
tion represented for every. Danish citizen, while the
Thailand have reached a tworchild family and no longer
U.S.contribution represented only $2.36 for every Ameri
require U.S. assistance
can: The United States with declining overall foreign aid
Recently, however, the Congress has slashed funds
levels also ranks last-among 21 donor countries in devel
for international population assistance Beginning in
opment assistance as a-percentage of GNP.
994 President Clinton increased U.S. support for family
To pay-its fair share, the United States needs to
planning overseas significantly But in 1996,a new and con
triple its population and reproductive health assis
ser vative Congress development aid dramati-
tance by the year 2000. The U.S. share of the year 2000
cally funds for family planning assistance were cut dispro-
goal for donor assistance calculated in proportion to
respective share of total GNP for the rich industri
nations is $1 billion. Because the United States
and people of color are also dispropor tionately
is by far the largest and richest donor country, it is
affected by STDs; topic pregnancy a canse
unlikely the overall- CPD goa for donor assistance
quence of untreated STDs, is the leading cause
can be met without the full U.S. contribution.
of death in early pregnancy among African
Denmark the Nether and Norway have al
American women
ready exceeded their own. year 2000 goals sug
The poor, minorities, illegal immigrants
gesting that fulfilling these financial commitments
and adolescents in the United States
is largely a matter of political will A chieving the
have less than optimal access to repro-
U.S. share would cost an additional five dollars
ductive health care. Although most people
per year for every U.S. citizen- the equivalent
rely on private insurance to help.pay for their
of one fast food meal
reproductive health care, some 30 million
Keeping
Political attacks continue to undermine
Americans health insurance They must el
U.S. participation in the international ef
ther pay out of pocket or rely on-subsidized ser
America's
fort to reach a stable and healthy world
vices or even emergency room care to cover
population. Although the Congress has prohib
the costs of contraception STD treatment and
ited the use of U.S.-foreign aid funds to support
maternity care. Roughly half of the 33 million
Promises
abort since 1973 conservatives are seeking to
women nationwide in need of contraception
impose additional policy restrictions relating to
including million teens and almost, 12 million
The U. S.is the
abortion Current proposals would deny U.S. fam
low income women have a need for publicly
world's largest
ily planning assistance to private organizations
support services There IS also significant racial
overseas if the use other non-U.S. funds to pro
disparity in access to early prenatal car :in 1994
industrialized
vide legal abortion services or to participate in
83 percent of white women but only 68.per
country, but in
policy debates over abortion in their own coun-
cent of black women receivedisuch, care Age is
1996 it ranked
tries. This proposal, termed the "Global Gag
also a factor one third of pregnant teens did
Rule," is more sweeping than similar restrictions
not receive adequate prenatal care
eighth out of 20
in effect in the late 1980s and early 1990s in its
In addition, private insurance coverage of
donor countries
effort to curtail basic democratic principles and
family planning services is seriously inad-
free speech. These restrictions would also harm
equate. Although most private insurers cover
in population
women's health by limiting access to family plan-
prenatal care and STD treatment, the same can-
assistance relative
ning, increasing reliance on abortion and sup-
not be said for screening and contraceptive ser-
pressing public debate about unsafe abortion.
to GNP.
vices. Ironically, while most private plans cover
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
NEEDS IN THE UNITED STATES
DIMINISHING PURCHASING POWER OF
Although reproductive health status is
U.S. INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING ASSISTANCE
better in the United States than in devel-
600
oping countries, Americans have signifi-
cant unmet needs for reproductive health
500
care. Each year, more than 3 million unintended
Total Assistance
Assistance adjusted for Inflation and
pregnancies occur, 1.4 million of which end in
400
in number of women of childbea ring age
abortion. The U.S. teen pregnancy rate is far
higher than that of many other developed
countries-twice as high as England, France
MILLIONS OF U.S. DOLLARS
300
and Canada, and nine times as high as Japan
200
and the Netherlands. Almost one million teen
pregnancies occur each year in the United States,
100
of which 4 out of 5 are unplanned. Moreover,
of 12 million new STD infections nationwide
each year, fully 3 million are in teens. Women
1965
1975
1997
4
the surgical procedures of sterilization and
Title X. Moreover, about two-thirds of women
abortion, fully half of large insurance plans
receiving subsidized family planning are served
cover no method of prescription contraception.
by clinics funded through Title X, For many family
Less than 20 percent of these plans and less
planning patients, a Title X-funded clinic may be
than 40 percent of managed care programs
the only access they have to health care at all.
cover all five major reversible contraceptive
Federal family planning funds support a
methods. As a result, women of reproductive
broad range of reproductive health care,
age in the United States pay 68 percent more
but may not be used to pay for abortion.
in out-of-pocket health care costs than men
Clinics funded by Title X support the full range
of the same age.
of contraceptive information and services, rou-
PUBLIC FUNDING FOR
tine gynecological care, pregnancy testing and
other basic reproductive health services. They
DOMESTIC REPRODUCTIVE
may also choose to provide prenatal care in
HEALTH CARE
some instances. In addition, family planning clinics
The U.S. government provides funding
are playing an increased role in STD care; in 1993
Keeping
for reproductive health care for unin-
STD and AIDS screening, counseling and treat-
sured individuals through a variety of
ment accounted for roughly one-quarter of the
America's
programs. In the United States, low income
budgets of clinics offering such services. Maternal
women and others can obtain subsidized family
and child health clinics and community health
planning and prenatal services, and
Promises
STD screening and treatment,
DIMINISHING PURCHASING POWER OF FUNDS FOR THE TITLE X
through a patchwork of clinic based
DOMESTIC FAMILY PLANNING PROGRAM, 1971 TO 1997
United
services funded through several
States must
public health and insurance pro-
250
grams. Clinics serving these popula-
increase unding
tions often receive government
200
to bramate
funds from several sources, including
the federal Medicaid and Title X
universal access
(ten) programs, state government
150
contributions and federal block
to basic
grants to the states. While the Med-
reproductive
icaid program is the largest funding
source for family planning, providing
MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
100
CURRENT DOLLARS
health care
almost half of all public spending, it
$50
both at home
does not directly fund clinics or pro-
ADJUSTED FOR INFLATION
and abroad.
vide services. Title X is the only fed-
0
eral program dedicated solely to the
1971
1976
1981
1986
1991
1996
provision of family planning services
and related reproductive health care
through a national network of clinics and federal
centers may also provide family planning services,
regulations and guidelines,
and STD clinics (which traditionally serve more
Public funding, especially through the
men than women) usually refer patients for other
Title X family planning program, re-
reproductive health services.
mains important in the United States,
Without question, the provision of pub-
serving an estimated 6.6 million women
licly funded reproductive health services
and teens each year. Over half (57 percent)
is highly cost effective. Each year publicly
of individuals receiving publicly funded family
funded contraceptive services help American
planning services have incomes below the fed-
wamen avoid 1-3 million unintended pregnancies
poverty level, Almost 60 percent of some
more than 600,000 of which would have ended
100 U.S clinic sites providing subsidi family
in abortion Studies show that for every dollar
(planning vices are funded at least in part by
spent OR publicly funded family planning services
over $3.00 is saved impregnancy related costs in
5
the short term. In addition, for each dollar spent
organize family planning and health services to
to provide prenatal care to low income women,
meet a broad range of reproductive health
more than $3.30 can be saved in health care
needs. To mark the fifth anniversary of the ICPD,
costs. Treatment of the consequences of chlamy-
the United Nations is planning a series of meet-
dia, the most common curable STD in the United
ings to assess progress to date, identify remaining
States, is estimated to be 12 times greater than
challenges and recommend future actions. These
the cost of screening and treatment. Expenditures
meetings will also-call on governments to recom-
on preventive care can also avoid the need for
mit themselves to the goals agreed on at Cairo
billions of dollars in expenditures on social and
Both developing and donor nations are
health services and temporary welfare payments
far from achieving the ICPD financial
as well.
goals; in many poor countries a shortage
Federal funding for reproductive health
of funds is impeding efforts to implement
care has fallen in real terms and is inad-
the conference recommendations.
equate to meet current needs. Between
According to the United Nations, governments,
1980 and 1994, total U.S. public expenditures
private organizations and households in develop-
for family planning fell by 27 percent in constant
ing countries spent just under $8 billion on re-
K
dollars, while funding for the Title X program de-
productive health in 1996. This represents about
clined by over 65 percent. If Title X funding had
80 percent of total spending from all sources-
merely kept up with inflation, it would be funded
and 70 percent of the contribution required
at nearly $500 million today, rather than the $200
from developing countries in the year 2000.
million level where it is currently stagnating. Fed-
However, a few developing countries account
eral maternal and child health and STD programs
for most of this spending; the poorest countries,
have also experienced cuts in real terms, with
which tend to have the worst reproductive
funding remaining largely level. Thus, as health care
health status and highest population growth
costs have soared and the number of potential
rates, spend much less. Meanwhile in 1996, the
clients has increased, the ability of these programs
donor community spent two billion dollars, or
to provide services has been significantly under-
just over 35 percent of the year 2000 goal for
mined. Some clinics have reduced hours of opera-
donor contributions. Thus, the industrialized
tion and placed patients on waiting lists for effec-
nations are currently paying only one-fifth of
tive long-term family planning methods. A lack of
the costs of the global effort, rather than the
funds is also limiting the role of family planning
one-third agreed on in Cairo.
clinics in screening and treatment of STDs. Mean-
The United States must stand by the
while, over the last three years, Congress has at-
commitments it made in Cairo. For many
tempted to eliminate funding for the Title X pro-
years, the United States set an example to other
gram in its entirety, to shift family planning dollars
governments in its efforts to expand worldwide
to other programs, and to impose restrictions
access to family planning and support family
that would severely limit the ability of. teens to
planning servicès for poor Americans. But U.S.
receive services-efforts that have been largely
leadership has been undermined by budget
unsuccessful thus far.
cuts-or in the case of domestic budgets, de-
CAIRO+5: ASSESSING
clines in real terms-and by crippling restrictions
on both international and domestic family plan
U.S.
PROGRESS SINCE ICPD
SUP
ning funding which can only lead to moreiun,
CAH
The Cairo conference has had a profound
wanted pregnancies and abortions. The United
NO
o
impact on government policies and pro
States must up to the responsibility that
1120
sun
grams as well as the lives of millions of
comes with its wealth and role as a world eader
WAS
men and women around the world. Since
and increase funding to promote universal access
2003
Cairo, many countries have undertaken a broad
to basic reproducti health care both at home
range of act to simplement the CPD ap
and abroad. Better reproductive health and
proach including changes population and devel
slower population growth will yield benefits
opment policies; and constitutional reforms
to the global economy and environment, and
PRIN
REC'
to better protect women's rights and promote
improve the quality of life for Americans and
WIT
gender equality and efforts to rengthen and all people.
1998
(airo
CAIRO PLUS FIVE
TOP TEN Q&A
Through July of 1999, a process referred to as "Cairo Plus Five" or "ICPD+5" will increasingly involve
the international development community - including the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the
United States and other governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the media and the
general public. The process involves a global review of population-related developments in the five
years since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) was held in Cairo,
Egypt, in 1994.
This brief, produced by U.S. NGOs in Support of the Cairo Consensus, provides answers to ten of the
most commonly asked questions about the process.
Q. What is "Cairo Plus Five?"
A. In September 1994, the United States and delegations from 179 nations and thousands of NGO
representatives met in Cairo to discuss ways to address world population growth and promote global
economic and human development. The ICPD reached consensus on a historic shift in policies to
address rapid population growth: to move away from demographic targets to a 20-year goal of meeting
individuals' reproductive health and development needs.
This visionary approach is reflected in the final conference document, a 16-chapter Programme of Action
that offers concrete actions for improving the quality of life for all people. Key recommendations
include: empowering women in the economic, political and social arenas; removing gender disparities
in education; integrating family planning with related efforts to improve maternal and child health and
prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); increasing financial
and human resources commitments; and strengthening cooperation between the public and private sectors
in implementing these goals.
Nations and NGOs involved in population and development issues will now meet in a series of high-
level meetings to assess the progress made in the five years since Cairo. These meetings, and their
preparatory regional and technical conferences, will identify successful programs and strategies and
share lessons learned. They will also review the status of commitments made at the ICPD and identify
key actions needed to move the Cairo agenda forward.
Q. What is at stake during this review process?
A. Life itself is at stake for millions of mothers and their children who die each year from the
complications of pregnancy and childbirth, including unsafe abortion. Action is urgently needed to
prevent these deaths, as well as to reduce unintended pregnancy, abortion, and to stem the spread of
HIV/AIDS and other STDs.
Although family planning services are more widely available than ever, more than 100 million women
in the developing world want to space or limit their childbearing, but are not using modern contracep-
tion. And that number is growing. At the turn of the millennium, nearly 1 billion of the Earth's 6 billion
people will be teenagers. Now entering their reproductive years, these young people have an enormous
unmet need for reproductive health information, education and services — in addition to jobs, educa-
tion, housing and health care.
The planet's demographic future is also at stake. World population today stands at 5.9 billion, and is
expected to reach 6 billion in late 1999. About 78 million people are added to the world's population each
year, 95 percent of them in developing nations. Depending on how successful the world is in implement-
ing the ICPD Programme of Action, the latest U.N. projections show that by the year 2050 (in our children's
lifetime), the world's population could be as low as 7.3 billion people or as high as 10.7 billion.
In many countries, rapid population growth is straining the ability of governments to provide social
services and jobs, and undermining prospects for environmentally sustainable development. If fully
implemented, the ICPD Programme of Action would enable individuals, communities and governments to
cope better with these and other challenges and decrease political friction over scarce resources, including
natural resources such as fresh water and arable land. By making greater investments in social services
possible, slower population growth rates can help foster economic development and political stability -
above and beyond the benefits of such social investments to individuals and families.
Q. Is Cairo working?
A. Cairo, as represented in the Programme of Action, is an ambitious document with a 20-year timetable.
Although early in the process, there is evidence that the new approach to population and development
that is at the heart of the document is working. The U.N. is conducting a global review, and independent
case studies are underway in at least 16 countries. Early findings indicate broadening commitments to
women's advancement (such as girls' education and legal rights); increasing integration of family plan-
ning with other basic health services; new ways to provide family planning to adolescents, rural residents
and other under-served people; and expanding public-private partnerships among governments, NGOs
and other sectors of civil society such as religious and business leaders.
Progress among countries is uneven, however. Huge disparities remain in women's status, family size,
child health, and educational opportunities for boys and girls. Millions of couples still don't have
access to basic reproductive health services, including family planning. Many donor countries are not
living up to their share of the funding goals agreed to at the ICPD.
Just as with the 1994 Cairo conference, NGOs hope that the Cairo Plus Five process, by requiring each
nation to assess its progress and participate in global consensus-building, will help strengthen and
affirm commitments made at Cairo and move implementation forward.
Q. Why are women a central focus of the Programme of Action?
A. In much of the world, women's low status means they have little control over their reproductive
lives, including pregnancy and childbirth, whether contraception of any sort is used, whether to marry
or even whether to have sex. Teenage women have the least freedom and are most vulnerable in these
areas, including young women in the United States.
In many developing countries, women often see few options for their lives beyond childbearing. Edu-
cation and broader social, political and credit opportunities for women, however, have been proven to
raise most indicators of economic wellbeing as women postpone marriage and children. Even short
periods of education for women on nutrition, health care, sanitation and environmental stewardship -
areas where women tend to have primary responsibility - tend to boost family health and resource
conservation, and improve economic wellbeing.
Q. Are we forcing this program on poor women and on poor nations?
A. No. Women surveyed worldwide have expressed a consistent demand for family planning services,
saying they wanted fewer children than they now have. Fertility rates were falling worldwide before
Cairo, and the reasons are generally acknowledged: increasing educational achievement for girls,
declining infant mortality rates, growing rights for women, the move of people from rural to urban
areas, better health care, and especially the availability of quality family planning services. To ensure
2
that these trends continue, developing nations have embraced the ICPD Programme of Action as central to
their hopes for sustainable social and economic development. Overall, developing countries shoulder
three-quarters of the cost of meeting the demand for family planning and other reproductive health
services. For the poorest countries, however, assistance from international agencies and donor countries is
crucial and the help currently forthcoming from the donor community falls far short of what is needed.
Q. Isn't the Vatican opposed to the ICPD recommendations on birth control and family planning?
A. While opposed to the use of contraception, other than natural family planning, the Vatican sup-
ported ICPD recommendations for empowerment and education of women and for economic, political
and social development. The ICPD Programme responded to the broad and urgent demand for effective
family planning services across the spectrum of world religions and cultures, recognizing that opinion
and practice would differ. No ICPD recommendation seeks to promote abortion but rather to reduce
the demand for abortion by ensuring access to safe, effective and affordable methods of contraception.
But it also states that there should be treatment for women suffering from the complications of unsafe
abortion, and that where abortion is legal, it should be safe.
Despite highly visible opposition from the Vatican, most Protestant and Jewish denominations in the
United States have positions supporting contraception and a woman's right to choose abortion.
Q. What is the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in dealing with these issues?
A. NGOs provided much of the field knowledge and program experience that guided drafting of the
ICPD Programme of Action, and were especially influential in pressing for action on women's needs. NGOs
continue to hold governments accountable for promises made in Cairo, to monitor progress and to gener-
ate additional support for ICPD implementation, as well as to discover and test new techniques and
approaches to service delivery. NGOs also play a key role in educating and informing policy makers, the
media and the general public of current issues in the field and in providing the individual stories of
human success and challenge that make those issues real to the world audience.
Q. How has the United States done on its ICPD commitments? Hasn't Congress cut funding?
A. The United States played a leadership role in Cairo, strongly stating its commitment to ICPD goals
and incorporating them into key policies. Programs to implement ICPD goals are in place at the U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID), the State Department, the Department of Health and
Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, Labor, and the Census Bureau, among other
agencies.
Beginning in 1994, President Clinton increased U.S. funding for population programs overseas. But in
1996, a new and conservative Congress cut overseas development aid dramatically; funds for USAID
family planning assistance were cut disproportionately, declining by 35 percent. These cuts, together
with punitive delays and restrictions on the release of population assistance funds imposed by family
planning opponents, threaten to cripple U.S. assistance to the foreign NGOs that deliver international
family planning services to much of the world.
Based upon its share of overall wealth and the year 2000 goal for donor assistance contained in the
ICPD Programme of Action the United States' "fair share" is $1.9 billion. Because the United States is by
far the richest donor country, it is unlikely that overall ICPD goals for donor assistance can be met
without the full U.S. contribution. Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have already exceeded their
year 2000 "fair share" of donor assistance. Achieving the U.S. share would cost an additional $5 per
year for every U.S. citizen - the cost of one fast food meal.
Q. Why should the average American citizen care about Cairo Plus Five?
A. The world is increasingly interconnected. Threats to the environment, basic human rights and public
health in any nation now cross international borders. Such threats are made more serious by rapid
3
population growth. Indeed, the prospects for peace and economic development in the 21st century will
depend, among other things, on meeting human needs and slowing population growth.
The promise of Cairo also affects Americans more directly. Here in the United States, high teenage
pregnancy rates have begun to drop, as have rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion, partially due
to improving sexuality education programs that have led to fewer teens having sex and more teens
using contraceptives. New programs have been instituted to build self-esteem among young women
and to involve young men in responsible family planning, and others seek to improve women's access
to credit, family planning and legal services.
Q. How fast is population growing in the U.S. and other industrialized nations?
A. The United States is the world's third largest nation, with 274 million people. Americans are having
babies at a rate slightly higher than most industrialized nations, 2.1 children per woman. This fact,
combined with relatively high levels of teenage pregnancy and immigration, means that the U.S.
population is growing at 0.8 percent per year. At this rate, U.S. population is expected to increase by at
least 50 percent by the year 2050.
Italy has the world's lowest child-bearing levels at 1.2 children per woman, with Japan, Spain and a
number of other European countries not far behind. Some pundits have argued that these trends and
the social factors that caused them will inevitably continue and spread without further effort on our
part, leading in 40 years or less to depopulated nations, a huge dependent elderly population and
widespread loneliness.
Such notions ignore the reality of inevitable population growth generated by the large numbers of
young people just entering their childbearing years. They also ignore very different conditions in
poorer parts of the world where health care is challenged by poverty and widespread resurgent dis-
ease, where women's rights are often circumscribed, and where much of the population remains with-
out access to reliable and affordable contraception. In 40 African nations, for example, fertility remains
at six children per woman.
In addition, the rising number of people over age 65 is likely to prove a benefit rather than a burden, as
medical and nutritional advances are boosting their vitality and productivity.
In environmental terms, the impact of each American on the planet is much greater than their sheer num-
bers indicate. Americans, with 5 percent of the Earth's people, generate 25 percent of its waste and pollution.
Cairo Plus Five At a Glance:
A three-day Special Session of the U.N. General Assembly (30 June-2 July, 1999) will mark the formal culmination of
the five-year review of the ICPD. Events leading up to the Special Session began in April and include the following:
Roundtables focusing on key themes of the ICPD Programme of Action:
Adolescent sexual and reproductive health (April 1998); Reproductive rights and reproductive health programs
(June 1998); Participation of civil society in ICPD implementation (July 1998); Population and macro-economic
linkages (November 1998).
The Hague Forum on ICPD implementation (8-12 February 1999, The Hague), organized by the United Nations
Population Fund (UNFPA), will bring together national delegations, U.N. organizations and NGOs. Events
preceding the Forum include a forum for NGOs, including youth (6-7 February 1999, The Hague), and a meeting
of parliamentarians (4-6 February 1999). See page 4.
The 32nd Session of the Commission on Population and Development (22-30 March 1999, New York) will
serve as the preparatory committee (PrepCom) for the U.N. Special Session scheduled for 30 June-2 July 1999.
Here in the United States, an informal network of NGOs is involved in activities as part of the Cairo Plus Five
process. U.S. NGOs in Support of the Cairo Consensus currently comprises four task forces working to build
public awareness of and support for ICPD implementation. See http://www.cedpa.org/cairo.
PRODUCED BY U.S. NGOS IN SUPPORT OF THE CAIRO CONSENSUS, IN CARE OF
1120 19TH STREET NW, SUITE 550, WASHINGTON. DC 20036 USA 202-659-1833
Focus on Population
And Development
The U.S. and the UN International
Conference on Population and Development
World leaders gathered in Cairo,
have improved the lives of millions
groups and the citizens of developing
Egypt, in September 1994 to address
of people, but they have periodically
countries. It also is a product of
crucial problems facing humanity at
drawn criticism for narrowly focusing
improved understanding of the com-
the third decennial UN conference on
on lowering birthrates and insuffi-
plex context in which decisions about
population. The International Confer-
ciently addressing human rights,
childbearing are made. There is now
ence on Population and Development
women's health, and cultural differ-
broad agreement that development and
(ICPD) presented a critical oppor-
ences. Previous UN conferences on
family planning can work separately to
tunity to develop a program of action
population were marked by heated
slow population growth but that they
to address problems that cause immea-
debates on how to address population
work most effectively when pursued
surable human suffering in all parts of
growth and, indeed, whether popula-
together. There also is increasing
the world.
tion growth is a problem at all.
recognition that population growth is
Delegates to the ICPD agreed on a
At the World Population Confer-
part of a constellation of factors that
Program of Action that will help guide
ence in Bucharest in 1974, the U.S. and
can cause environmental degradation.
the population programs of the United
other industrialized countries advo-
And it is widely acknowledged that
Nations and national governments into
cated programs to slow growth rates,
family planning should be provided as
the next century. The Program of
while the developing countries coun-
part of broader primary and reproduc-
Action is not a binding treaty, but it
tered that "development is the best
tive health initiatives, that population
will serve as a benchmark and standard
contraceptive." By 1984, when the
policy should encompass economic
toward which governments and
UN held its second conference on
opportunity for women, and that legal
agencies should strive.
population in Mexico City, many
and social barriers to gender equality
The U.S. Government fully partici-
positions were reversed. The develop-
should be eliminated.
pated in both the preparations for
ing countries acknowledged the need
The preparatory process for the
Cairo and the conference itself-and in
for population programs, but the U.S.
Cairo conference also benefited from a
articulating a new approach to popula-
delegation pronounced population a
high level of citizen participation. More
tion policy. The new approach enjoys
"neutral factor" and scaled back family
than 1,200 representatives of citizens'
the support of a majority of the world's
planning efforts worldwide. During the
groups attended the last preparatory
nations. Grounded in a commitment to
1992 earth summit in Rio de Janeiro,
meeting in New York and more than
health, development, and empower-
delegates vigorously debated the role
2,000 attended the conference. They
ment, the new approach strengthens
of population in sustainable develop-
played an important role in drafting
families and communities, promotes
ment.
conference documents. Many of the
economic and social development, and
In welcome contrast, the Cairo
representatives were women from
affirms, in the words of the UN
conference was characterized by an
diverse backgrounds and all regions of
Charter, "the dignity and the worth of
extraordinary degree of international
the world. The U.S. delegation in-
the human person."
agreement. The new consensus
cluded 15 citizen representatives,
reflects, in part, the degree to which
including women's health experts,
An Emerging Consensus
population professionals have re-
environmentalists, and population
The new international consensus on
sponded to concerns voiced by women's
experts.
population policy is a recent develop-
The Administration actively sought
ment, but it has been decades in the
the input of citizens and organizations
To obtain a copy of the Program
making. Since they were implemented
in the development of its new policies.
of Action, call the UN Interna-
on a broad scale in the 1960s, popula-
State Department representatives
tional Conference on Population
tion and family planning programs have
participated in town meetings from
and Development on (212) 297-
enabled millions of men and women
coast to coast and conducted meetings
5222 or write to the following
to plan the size and spacing of their
encouraging participation in document
address: ICPD, 22nd Floor, 220
families. In large part, these services
drafting. Continuous outreach for
East 42nd St., New York, NY
input has been at the crux of U.S.
10017.
preparations. The increased interna-
U.S. Department of State
September 1994
Bureau of Public Affairs
Office of Public Communication
tional involvement of citizen groups
The theme of the Cairo conference,
and extended families caring for the
signals an important shift-from top-
"Choices and Responsibilities," encap-
elderly. Improved health care and
down imposition of "population control"
sulated the new approach to population
greater economic security, which are
measures to community-based pro-
issues. This emphasis reinforced the
discussed in detail, are recommended
grams that are crafted to respond to
U.S. conviction that the decision to
to bolster the capacity of family
the needs of individuals and families.
bear a child is a profoundly personal
members to sustain and care for each
one and that men and women have the
other. The Program of Action asks
North-South Agreement
right to decide freely the number and
governments to ensure that men
spacing of their children. With choice,
shoulder their full share of responsibil-
At previous UN population confer-
however, comes responsibility. The
ity as parents, for example, through the
ences, the fault lines of debate tended
Cairo conference underscored the
enforcement of child support laws.
to separate industrialized and develop-
responsibilities of parents to their
Governments are urged to help
ing countries. The Cairo process, in
children, of men and women to each
increase the earning power of poor
contrast, has prompted far more
other, of governments to their citizens,
women, especially those with children,
cooperation between North and South.
of caregivers to their clients, and of
through training and self-help pro-
This may imply a greater understand-
current to future generations.
grams. The Program of Action also
ing that political boundaries are
calls for measures that enable parents
porous-that modern-day plagues of
A Program of Action
to combine family responsibilities and
environmental devastation and disease
labor-force participation. An example
do not respect national borders and
Following is a broad outline of the
of such policies is the Family and
that increasing globalization has drawn
Program of Action which was approved
Medical Leave Act, signed into law by
more tightly the bonds that connect
by consensus in Cairo. The U.S.
President Clinton in 1993, which
us. The problems facing the human
Government supports the programs
guarantees that no worker will have to
community-although they differ
and policies embodied in this document.
choose between keeping his or her job
greatly in magnitude-are the same
Therefore, the following also is a
and caring for a new child or sick family
the world over. We all aspire to have
statement of U.S. population policy.
member.
strong families, secure livelihoods,
U.S. domestic policies in this area are
Elderly men and women are valued
high-quality health care, and a healthy
identical to those it supports interna-
members of the family. In the devel-
environment. We share a concern
tionally.
about the world that our children will
oped countries, falling birth rates and
inherit and struggle to maintain our
Principles. The Program of Action
medical advances have created a sharp
moral compass in a world that is
is guided by a set of principles agreed
increase in the number of elderly men
rapidly changing.
to by 180 countries. These call for full
and women: By the year 2025, people
respect for religious diversity, critical
over 60 years of age are expected to
These shared concerns are each, in
some way, enmeshed with the issue of
values, and cultural backgrounds;
comprise nearly one-fourth of the
international human rights standards;
population. Sadly, the erosion of
population growth. The size and rate
and national laws when implementing
extended family networks has left
of growth of the human population
certainly affects the quality of public
population and development programs.
many older men and women without
health, opportunities for employment,
They are based on the interrelationship
adequate care and support. The Cairo
and the ability of families and societies
between population and sustainable
Program of Action seeks to repair
to provide for their members. But
development.
frayed support networks by promoting
there are other, equally important
The Family. Families are the basic
the strengthening of social security
factors: the way resources are used
unit of society. They are the nurturers,
systems and enhancing the ability of
and distributed and the economic,
caregivers, role models, and teachers
families to care for elderly members.
who instill shared societal values.
Sustainable Development.
political, and social factors that moder-
ate access to opportunity. Participants
Around the world, they also are
Despite the great technological ad-
in the Cairo conference addressed
challenged as never before. The num-
vances of the last half-century, a global
population growth not simply as a
ber of single-parent homes has soared
chasm of inequity still separates rich
to as many as one in three worldwide.
and poor. While a billion of the world's
problem of numbers but as one of many
factors that shape the human prospect.
Families are sundered for many
people live in relative affluence, an-
The conference's guiding vision was
reasons-divorce, death, war, or
other billion exist on the knife-edge of
migration in search of economic
survival; one person in five does not
stabilized population growth and
sustainable development to meet the
opportunity. But the result is often
have enough to eat. Despite decades of
needs of current generations without
the same: Most single-parent families
development efforts, the gap between
are headed by women, many are
rich and poor nations-and inequalities
compromising the ability of future
desperately poor, and children are
within nations-remains wide.
generations to meet their needs.
Successfully realized, this goal will
denied the benefits of an intact family.
In much of the developing world,
assure broad-based economic growth;
The Cairo Program of Action seeks
poverty is both a cause and effect of
protect the environment; and enhance
to preserve the integrity of families
population growth. Mortality rates
human rights, health, and potential.
and help those that face special chal-
have fallen steeply due to public health
lenges, such as single-parent families
advances, but fertility remains high, in
2
part, because poor families rely on
world's income. This inequity exacts
Maternal and child mortality is
children for social and economic
another toll in women's lives, health,
closely associated with insufficient
security. A destructive synergism
and potential and is closely associated
family planning services and reproduc-
takes hold: Rapid population growth
with high fertility. Where they are
tive health care. At least 100 million
perpetuates poverty by straining the
denied education, secure livelihoods,
women in the developing world-one
ability of families and societies to
and the full legal and social rights of
in six married women outside China-
support their members, and economic
citizenship, women depend on children
wish to avoid or postpone pregnancy
uncertainty, in turn, fosters rapid
as their only means of attaining status
but lack access to modern contracep-
population growth.
and security. Efforts to increase
tion. And even where family planning
Among the greatest challenges we
women's self-determination have been
and reproductive health services are
face as a global community is that of
shown to improve the health and well-
available in developing countries, the
assuring secure livelihoods for the
being of women and their children and
quality of care is often poor. When
world's people. This problem is acute
to slow the pace of population growth.
couples lack the ability to plan and
in the developing countries, where the
For example, women with even a
space their pregnancies, high fertility
UN estimates that a half-billion people
primary school education have fewer,
takes a great toll on women's lives and
currently are unemployed or underem-
healthier, and better-educated children
health. The leading causes of maternal
ployed. To accommodate their growing
and are far less likely to die in child-
deaths are postpartum hemorrhage—
populations, those countries must
birth than their uneducated peers.
which is most common among poor
create 30 million new jobs each year to
Improving the status of women
women who have had several closely
maintain current employment levels.
is a core objective of the Program of
spaced pregnancies-and unsafe abor-
Few consider it likely that the strained
Action, which urges governments to
tion. Between 50 and 60 million abor-
governments of the developing world
close the gender gap in education and
tions are performed each year, nearly
can generate increases of that magni-
political life and to eliminate all forms
half of which are illegal and often
tude.
of institutionalized discrimination
unsafe.
At the UN Conference on Environ-
against women, for example, in hiring
High fertility takes a toll in
ment and Development (UNCED)
practices, access to credit, and prop-
children's lives as well. A child born
in Rio in 1992, world governments
erty-ownership laws. It condemns the
less than two years after a previous
agreed to "Agenda 21"-a worldwide
preferential treatment of boys and
birth is more likely to die before his or
blueprint for sustainable development.
encourages affirmative measures to
her fifth birthday. Child mortality and
The ICPD Program of Action rein-
improve the health, nutritional status,
high fertility form another destructive
forces many of the UNCED objectives,
and self-esteem of girls.
synergism: Where infant and child
without rewriting Agenda 21. The
Health. In the past 50 years, global
mortality rates are high, parents tend
Program of Action recommends steps
life expectancy has increased by nearly
to have more children in the hope that
to both stabilize population growth and
20 years, and the risk of dying in the
some will survive, yet high fertility
foster broad-based economic develop-
first year of life has fallen by almost
results in an even greater number of
ment. It asks the international commu-
two-thirds. While these gains are
infant and child deaths in the absence
nity to rethink trade policies to maxi-
significant and encouraging, they
of necessary health services.
mize job creation in the industrial,
mask persistent disparities between
The ominous advance of AIDS and
agricultural, and service sectors; to
rich and poor. Poor people world-
other sexually transmitted diseases
seek methods of reducing the debt
wide-particularly women and chil-
(STDs) poses another threat to global
burden on developing countries; and to
dren-sicken and die by the thousands
health. The World Health Organization
promote development strategies that
from health problems that are readily
estimates that, in 1994 alone, approxi-
enhance the personal and economic
preventable and curable.
mately 2 million people will become
potential of the world's poorest citizens
Every year, 500,000 women die of
infected with HIV, the virus that
through health care, education, and
pregnancy-related causes. The vast
causes AIDS. Women are the fastest-
training. For their part, developing
majority of those deaths take place in
growing population of persons living
country governments are urged to
the developing world. An African
with AIDS and HIV infection. In some
create and sustain democratic institu-
woman, for example, is 200 times more
U.S. cities, AIDS already has become
tions, curtail corruption, and redirect
likely than a European woman to die in
the leading cause of death among
domestic budget priorities to human
childbirth. The infant mortality rate in
vulnerable groups of women, especially
resource development.
the developing countries is six times
those between the ages of 15 and 45.
Gender Equity. Another inequi-
higher and the child mortality rate is
The Cairo Program of Action
table divide separates boys and girls,
seven times higher than in developed
recommends several measures to halt
men and women. In many parts of
countries. Disparities exist within
these pandemics of disease and death.
the world, girls are fed less, given
countries as well. In the U.S., infant
It calls for extending integrated
less medical care, withdrawn from
mortality among whites is at 8 per
primary, maternal, and child health
school earlier, and forced into hard
1,000 births, while African-American
services to all, and ensuring universal
labor sooner than boys. Women,
infant mortality is at 18 per 1,000-
access to prenatal care, immunization
who perform an estimated 60% of
a rate higher than that in Cuba or
coverage, and programs to combat
the world's work, own only 1% of the
Poland.
malnutrition. Such programs are urged
world's land and earn just 10% of the
to pay particular attention to the most
3
vulnerable and under-served groups in
are marrying later in many parts of the
children about moral and responsible
the population and to remove barriers
world, adolescent marriages are still
behavior and recommends programs
to access. The Program of Action asks
common in some areas. In Mali, for
that support and strengthen that role.
governments to develop multisectoral
example, the average age for marriage
The Environment. Our planet's
strategies to combat AIDS and other
is 16. And in the U.S., one in five 15-
thin layer of life is threatened as never
STDs, particularly through early
year-old girls has had sex at least once;
before. Ozone depletion, climate
diagnosis and treatment and public
the comparable figure for boys is two
change, and species loss are all red
education campaigns stressing the
in five. Many adolescents lack the
alerts that we have strained the
importance of safe and responsible
emotional and cognitive maturity to
regenerative capacity of ecological
sexual behavior.
enter into responsible sexual relation-
systems. These problems have deeply
Improved family planning and
ships.
disturbing implications for future
reproductive health services are a
Whether it takes place within or
generations. As the U.S. National
cornerstone of the Program of Action's
outside marriage, early sexual activity
Academy of Sciences and the Royal
recommendations to improve health.
risks the lives and well-being of young
Society of London warned in 1992, "If
The Program of Action asks govern-
women and their children. Adolescent
current predictions of population
ments to assess the extent of unmet
mothers are twice as likely to die in
growth prove accurate and patterns of
need for family planning services and
childbirth as mothers aged 20-24, and
human activity on the planet remain
to provide universal access to the
their babies are more than twice as
unchanged, science and technology may
full range of safe contraception and
likely to die in their first year of life.
not be able to prevent either irrevers-
reproductive health services. It rejects
Moreover, adolescent motherhood—
ible degradation of the environment or
the use of incentives, such as cash gifts
particularly among the unmarried-can
continued poverty for much of the
to those who agree to use contracep-
sharply limit a young woman's educa-
world."
tion, as well as disincentives, such as
tion and earning potential, as well as
Population growth per se is not a
policies that punish families for having
her children's horizons. And sexually
direct cause of environmental prob-
more than a certain number of children.
active adolescents risk exposure to
lems; the effect of any given population
The Program of Action does not
deadly STDs, including increased
on the environment can be magnified or
promote abortion, but it does recognize
incidence of AIDS among teenagers.
mitigated by patterns of resource
the need to address unsafe abortions as
Among unmarried teens, STDs and
consumption and technology. The
a critical public health concern. This
unplanned pregnancies may reflect
industrialized world has the most
issue also generated controversy at the
their lack of access to family planning
environmentally damaging habits and
conference, because although abortion
and reproductive health services, which
technology, and, therefore, contributes
is permitted under some circumstances
are often limited to married couples.
the lion's share to trends attributed to
in 173 of 190 countries, national laws on
These problems are expected to
global environmental degradation.
abortion vary. The Program of Action
grow along with the burgeoning world
Estimates show that, with only 22%
will be implemented by each country in
population of adolescents which, by
of the world's population, the devel-
accordance with national law and
the year 2000, is expected to number
oped countries use two-thirds of all
international human rights standards.
1 billion. Accordingly, the Program of
resources consumed and generate 75%
Nearly all countries at the conference
Action offers several strategies to
of all pollutants and wastes. Many
agreed on reducing the need for
address sexual activity and fertility.
analysts believe that the earth cannot
abortion through the provision of safe
It asks governments to enforce laws
support all of its current-much less
and effective family planning services.
governing the minimum age of consent
future-inhabitants at contemporary
The Program of Action urges govern-
and age at marriage. The Program of
developed-country levels of consump-
ments to consider including a commit-
Action also recommends programs to
tion. A central challenge for the
ment to women's health and well-being
curtail adolescent pregnancy by
international community is, therefore,
in their policies. It supports women's
encouraging young teens to delay the
to craft a paradigm of development
access to quality health care services,
initiation of sexual activity. In addition
that meets human needs at lower
including reliable information, counsel-
to emphasizing the importance of
environmental cost.
ing, and medical care to enable them to
interpersonal relationships and respon-
The Program of Action emphasizes
terminate their pregnancies in those
sibilities of sexuality, the Program of
the role of unsustainable resource use
cases allowed by law, as well as access
Action advocates measures to ensure
as a cause of environmental problems
to services to provide for the manage-
that adolescent girls have alternatives
and urges the development and sharing
ment of complications of unsafe
to early childbearing, such as educa-
of environmentally sustainable tech-
abortions.
tional and employment opportunities.
nologies and practices. It also calls for
Adolescents. Adolescent sexual
Governments are asked to ensure that
the integration of population dynamics
activity and fertility pose a special set
those teens who are sexually active
into planning for sustainable develop-
of problems and challenges. Adoles-
have access to appropriate counseling,
ment and asks governments to inte-
cents often are directly or indirectly
family planning, and reproductive
grate women into matters of natural
coerced into early sexual activity,
health services. The Program of Action
resource protection and management.
either through forced marriage or the
recognizes that parents have a central
Urbanization-Migration. Whe-
seemingly inexorable forces of peer
role in teaching their adolescent
ther from country to city or from one
pressure. Although men and women
country to another, many people have
4
traditionally moved in search of
particularly irregular migration, which
increase its current contribution, after
improved opportunities-a better job;
can destabilize both sending and
doubling its investment over the past
better surroundings; a better quality of
receiving countries.
four years, and the European Union
life. In recent decades, millions have
The Cairo Program of Action
announced recently that its contribu-
sought better lives by moving to urban
reflects a growing awareness that more
tions will increase tenfold to $350 mil-
areas, and cities have mushroomed.
must be done to address the root
lion by the year 2000. Australia and
The number of cities with populations
causes of irregular migration. Stepped-
the United Kingdom also are reported
of more than 1 million rose from 111
up border control measures, while
to be planning significant increases.
in 1960 to 288 in 1990, more than two-
necessary, will not be sufficient to cope
Developing countries, which provide at
thirds of which are in the developing
with illegal immigration; nations need
least two-thirds of the financing for
world. Building capacity to provide
to address the panoply of social and
population programs, will foster local
housing, employment, and sanitation
environmental problems that impel
partnerships with non-governmental
for growing urban populations is a
people to leave their homes. Govern-
organizations to make optimal use of
major challenge for many countries.
ments are asked to take measures to
those resources.
To meet that challenge, the Program
improve the quality of life in migrant-
of Action promotes urban development
sending countries by, for example,
Conclusion
that is both participatory and environ-
fostering employment, opening mar-
The International Conference on
mentally sustainable. It also urges
kets, promoting good governance, and
governments to provide services for
preventing land degradation. The
Population and Development is a
migrants from rural areas, in order to
Program of Action also urges govern-
crucial milestone on our long journey
improve their health and earning
ments to adopt effective sanctions
toward population stabilization and
potential.
against those who profit from smug-
sustainable development. The chal-
Other migrants seek better lives
gling aliens and to safeguard the
lenges before the global community are
across national boundaries. Interna-
human rights of undocumented mi-
great, but we are compelled to act by
tional migration encompasses two
grants. The international community is
moral imperatives to alleviate human
distinct phenomena: the voluntary
asked to continue to protect refugees
suffering and to safeguard our collec-
movements of people which are
tive future.
and asylees, to seek to reduce the
beneficial to both migrants and host
pressures that fuel refugee movements,
There are many sound reasons for
countries, such as family reunification
and to support international refugee
hope. For all the difficulties we face,
and legal labor-migration; and what has
assistance.
we can still say that in the last 50 years
been called "irregular" migration-
Investments. The Cairo Program
we have made more progress in
those flows which are involuntary
of Action represents more than agree-
alleviating human misery than in the
(refugees) or illegal (undocumented
ment in principle. Both developed and
previous two millennia. Life expect-
labor migration). While reliable global
developing countries have renewed
ancy in the developing countries grew
statistics are hard to come by, it is safe
their commitment to provide resources
by one-third, death rates for infants
to say that international migration is
for family planning, health, and human
and children were cut in half, and real
increasing. Refugee flows, which take
development programs. In the U.S.,
incomes more than doubled. If we
place mostly within and between
the President's budget request for
could do all that while burdened with
developing countries, also have esca-
family planning and reproductive
the political and economic costs of the
lated in size and volatility in recent
health programs for fiscal year 1995
Cold War, how much greater should be
years. Data linking population growth
is $585 million, an $83-million increase
the goals we set for ourselves now?
to migration outflows are inconclusive
over the previous year. Additional
The Cairo conference provided an
because it is difficult to isolate the role
resources also are needed for child
unparalleled opportunity to define
of population growth from other
health, education, and development
those goals, and the Program of Action
variables influencing migration. But it
programs. Japan has agreed to spend
approved at the conference provides a
is clear that the combined effects of
$3 billion over seven years on a broad
firm basis for action in support of those
rapid population growth, poverty,
package that includes family planning,
goals. The Clinton Administration
resource depletion, and human rights
reproductive health, AIDS prevention,
intends to carry on the leadership role
violations can fuel political unrest and
maternal and child health, and basic
evidenced in Cairo in support of the
drive population growth movements,
education-a tenfold increase over
programs and policies of the Program
current spending. Germany has
of Action.
indicated that it will significantly
5
1999
Summary of the Programme of Action
Forum
International Conference on Population & Development (ICPD)
DAY OF OBILLION
Cairo, 5-13 September, 1994
The Cairo
A
fter vigorous debate, more than 180 countries agreed to adopt the 16-chapter
population
ICPD Programme of Action. The 115-page document outlines a 20-year plan
to promote sustainable, human-centered development and a stable population,
the facts
framing the issues with broad principles and specific actions. Some 20 delegations
expressed reservations about specific parts of the text.
of life
Chapters I & II: The Preamble and the Principles set out the development and
human rights context of the Programme.
The Preamble places the ICPD in global context, noting the interdependence of
population and development; recent rapid population growth; the need to mobilize
partnerships and international resources; and the links to agreements from other
major world conferences and universal standards of human rights.
The set of 15 Principles states positions on basic issues discussed in the rest of the
document. These include: the universal equality and rights of all as set forth in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights; people-centered sustainable development;
gender equity; the context of population programmes; the relationship of population,
resources, the environment and development; the eradication of poverty; the rights
to education and to physical and mental health; support for the family; the health and
development of children; the treatment of documented migrants; the right to asylum;
the rights of indigenous people; and sustained economic growth that benefits a
broad social base.
Each subsequent chapter contains Bases for Action, Objectives, and Actions.
Chapter III: Interrelationships Among Population, Sustained Economic Growth
and Sustainable Development: Outlines links between the needs and acts of growing
numbers of people and the finite "carrying capacity" of natural resources.
Action recommendations include: integrating population, production and
consumption dynamics into sustainable development policies; investing in human
resources, including education, employment and health services, particularly in needs
of women and the poor; promoting socially responsive economies; and taking extra
measures to end poverty in ecologically vulnerable areas.
Chapter IV: Gender Equality, Equity and Empowerment of Women: Addresses
imbalances between women and men and the need to empower women, protect the
girl child, and achieve gender equity.
Action recommendations include: policies and programs to empower women;
promoting equal treatment and preventing the neglect and abuse of girl children; and
promoting equal responsibility of men in family life, in health, communication and
economics.
2
Chapter V: The Family, Its Roles, Rights, Composition and Structure: Recognizes that the family,
in all its forms, is the basic unit of society and that population and development policies should
promote the family in all its diversity.
Action recommendations include: promoting the earning power of poorer families and greater
compatibility between work and parental duties; and developing innovative policies to assist families
with health, social and/or political disadvantages.
Chapter VI: Population Growth and Structure: States that countries where demographic growth
outstrips economic growth face special challenges in ensuring a quality of life based on human rights
and sustainable development.
Action recommendations include: integrating demographic trends with social and economic
development; reducing high maternal and child mortality levels that often lead to high fertility rates;
meeting the health, education, social, training and employment needs of children and youth;
enhancing equity, self-reliance and support systems for elderly people, particularly women; and
recognizing the perspectives of indigenous cultures and persons with disabilities and developing
responsive policies and programs.
Chapter VII: Reproductive Rights and Reproductive Health: States that all couples and individuals
have the right to attain the highest standard of sexual and reproductive health.
Action recommendations include: providing universal reproductive health services by 2015,
including participatory programs for adolescents, men, migrants and displaced persons; seeking
universal access to safe, appropriate and adequately-funded family planning programs by 2015, based
in the principles of voluntary and informed choice and quality of care; helping women avoid
abortion; promoting the prevention, detection and treatment of sexually-transmitted diseases,
including HIV/AIDS; developing policies and programs that support comprehensive sexual
education and services based on an improved understanding of the need for responsibility, the
realities of current behavior, and the prevention of abuse, including female genital mutilation; and
ensuring access to appropriate and supportive reproductive health programs and services for
adolescents.
Chapter VIII: Health, Morbidity and Mortality: Focuses on international and national level
commitments to increasing health and life span and improving the quality of life of all people.
Action recommendations include: promoting strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality, to
recognize the custodial role of women in health, and to reduce local and large-scale environmental
health hazards; reducing high infant and child mortality rates to 35 and 45 per 1,000, respectively,
and maternal mortality by half by 2015; and mobilizing to prevent and assess the impact of
HIV/AIDS, protecting the rights of all those affected.
Chapter IX: Population Distribution, Urbanization and Internal Migration: In the context of
human rights, outlines the need for countries to foster balanced and sustainable patterns of
population distribution through sustainable development and the reduction of "push factors" related
to migration, including ending all forced migration and "ethnic cleansing."
3
Action recommendations include: keeping population distribution policies consistent with other
development goals, policies and human rights; encouraging the growth of small to medium urban
centers; reducing urban bias through rural development incentives, conservation and infrastructure;
promoting urban development responsive to growth; maintaining consistency with the Fourth
Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949); improving
conditions for the urban poor, especially women and street children; and providing displaced
persons with basic social services, including health, education, and employment opportunities.
Chapter X: International Migration: Considers documented and undocumented migrants, refugees,
asylum-seekers and displaced persons, emphasizing the need to address the root causes of migration
and vulnerabilities of the displaced.
Action recommendations include: addressing economic imbalances between developed and
developing countries; addressing circumstances of environmental refugees; gathering sound data on
migration factors; addressing discriminatory attitudes and practices; promoting integration and re-
integration of the displaced; adopting sanctions for international trafficking, especially against
exploitation, prostitution and coercive adoption; enhancing mechanisms for cross-border
responsibility; and respecting the principle of non-refoulement, the non-forcible return of persons
whose freedom is threatened.
Chapter XI: Population, Development and Education: Focuses on the need for universal access to
quality education, the relationship between population and sustainable development, and the need to
enhance people's ability to "exercise their basic right to decide freely and responsibly on the number
and spacing of their children."
Action recommendations include: achieving universal access to quality education; promoting job
training, non-formal education and literacy programs; integrating reproductive health, gender
sensitivity, demographic, health and environmental perspectives into existing programs as
appropriate; using the media to expand culturally-appropriate knowledge and motivation in
population, health and development; disseminating information on the relationships between
population, consumption, production and sustainable development through databases and networks;
and strengthening research about population and development issues.
Chapter XII: Technology, Research and Development: Outlines the need to collect, analyze and
disseminate population, socio-economic, and reproductive health-related data.
Action recommendations include: encouraging collection and use of data; setting up databases to
link categories such as population, education, environment, health, poverty, family well-being,
migration and development issues, including consumption and women's role in economic
development; implementing appropriate training programs; refining research on reproductive and
sexual health at social, medical and technical levels; improving program recognition of social,
cultural and economic differences; applying operations research to evaluations; and investigating
gender discrepancies revealed in research.
Chapter XIII: National Action: States that each country should incorporate population concerns
into national development strategies, involve all sectors of society in development decisions, and
mobilize and allocate resources.
4
Action recommendations include: working with partners to promote awareness of population and
development strategies, plans, policies and programs; developing human resources, especially
women as leaders; promoting experience-sharing and database networking; developing
client-centered information systems; mobilizing resources through cost-recovery measures, including
more involvement of the private sector, to ensure "universal availability of and access to high-quality
reproductive health and family planning services"; and increasing public and development assistance
spending in social sectors, including developing reliable cost estimates.
Chapter XIV: International Cooperation: States the need for the international community to create
an enabling economic environment for implementing the Programme, to develop "people-centered"
population and development strategies, and to make a strong commitment to funding
population and development programs.
Action recommendations include: offering technical assistance and appropriate technology transfer
to reinforce national capacity-building; promoting economic policy favoring sustained economic
growth; strengthening cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations;
striving to fulfill the consensus target of .7% of GNP for overall official population and
development assistance; coordinating financing and planning based on evaluation, needs assessment,
and complementary programs; exploring innovative financing mechanisms and direct South-South
funding; and expanding financial aid in population, reproductive, sexual health, and family planning.
Chapter XV: Partnership with the Non-Governmental Sector: Calls for greater cooperation and
partnerships among all levels of government and the full range of NGOs and the private sector in
program design, implementation, coordination, and evaluation.
For governments, action recommendations include: promoting partnerships with NGOs, especially
women's groups, through dialogue, decisionmaking, program planning, training, outreach and other
activities; and promoting partnerships with the private sector and NGOs. For NGOs, action
recommendations include: strengthening interaction with communities while joining national,
regional and international debates on population and development. For the private sector, action
recommendations include: channeling financial and other appropriate support to non-profit NGOs
and meeting their employees' needs for information, education and reproductive health services.
Chapter XVI: Follow-up to the Conference: Calls for creation of national, subregional, regional and
international follow-up mechanisms to promote implementation of the Programme of Action
through appropriate, coordinated and specific policies and programs.
Action recommendations include: prioritizing political leadership and commitment, dissemination,
spending levels, accountability, multi-disciplinary expertise and evaluation, and increasing efficiency
in U.N. and aid groups. The ICPD made a global commitment to mobilize $17 billion annually by
the year 2000 and over $21 billion by 2015 for population and reproductive health programs. So far
less than $10 billion per year is being directed to these programs, four-fifths of it from developing
countries. International assistance remains well below the $5.7 billion per year that the ICPD agreed
would be required by 2000.
Sources: Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development; Document/Conference Summary,
Population Communications International; Chapter Summaries, International Women's Health Coalition; State of World Population
1998, United Nations Population Fund.
December 1998
1999
The Human Population:
rorum
Six Billion and Growing
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
O
ctober 12, 1999 marks the day the Earth's population reaches 6 billion. Over
one billion will be adolescents, just entering their reproductive years.
population
In 1804: world population reached 1 billion
the facts
1927: 2 billion (123 years later)
1960: 3 billion (33 years)
of life
1974: 4 billion (13 years)
1987: 5 billion (12 years)
1999: 6 billion (12 years)
The fact that the fifth and sixth billion both took 12 years is a sign that at last the
rate of increase has begun to slow. (1) But humanity's numbers continue to rise. The
seventh and eighth billion will probably take another 14 to 15 years each, but that
rate is not guaranteed.
The current pace is adding about 78 million more people every year - the population
of France, Greece and Sweden combined, or a city the size of San Francisco every
three days. Nearly all the increase occurs in the less-developed countries of Africa,
Asia and Latin America, where women continue to have four to seven children each
over their lifetimes. Early in the next century, nearly all the net annual gain in global
population will come in developing countries, as fertility rates in the industrialized
nations stabilize at or slightly below 2.1 children per woman. (1) Birth rates are
falling worldwide, and death rates are falling even faster.
The ultimate peak global population size will depend on the availability of
information, access to family planning services and the individual decisions of every
person on earth. Those choices will depend in part on whether nations fulfill their
commitments to the International Conference on Population and Development
(ICPD) Programme of Action.
The United Nations projects high, medium and low population-growth scenarios for
the next half-century. The ICPD Programme of Action is dedicated to achieving the
"medium" scenario or better:
The "high" scenario assumes that the slowing of fertility rates continues at its
current pace, so that today's global 1.33% annual population growth rate declines
to 0.86%, with 10.7 billion people on earth by 2050.
The "medium" calculation, regarded as most likely, assumes fertility rates fall still
faster worldwide, so that growth slows to 0.34% per year by 2050, bringing the
population to 8.9 billion.
The "low" projection of 7.3 billion would require an average annual net loss in
population of -0.23% by 2050. That means women would be bearing fewer than
two children each worldwide over their lifetimes. This is considered unlikely. (1)
ICPD participants generally agreed with world demographic researchers on the chief
causes of continued population growth:
Population momentum from the global postwar baby boom, with the planet's
unprecedented 1 billion teenagers just entering their reproductive years;
Unwanted and unplanned pregnancies, where an estimated 350 million couples
lack access to the full range of contraception and other reproductive health
services. (2)
A demand for large families where, for example, childhood death rates are high,
or where poverty reduces people's options.
The ICPD and researchers also generally agreed on the reasons fertility rates decline:
Broader horizons for girls and women in education, rights and health care,
including reproductive health care; and in opportunities for work, credit, training,
and political and economic activity, which lead them to postpone childbearing;
Availability of better quality health care and affordable family planning services
and technology that allow women and men to make their own choices; and
Urbanization, which tends to reduce family size.
Modern medical knowledge and better living conditions have dramatically lowered
the global death rate, especially for infants and children but also for women of
childbearing age and for the elderly. The result: with continued commitment of
resources to expanded primary and reproductive health care, the world population
profile is beginning to shift from a short pyramid toward becoming a taller pillar,
where the number of people over 65 will begin to approach the number of children.
In 1950, average life expectancy in the developing world was just under 40 years.
Today it is 61, although AIDS and other factors are expected to bring it down
once more in some nations, mostly in Africa. At the same time, life expectancy in
the industrialized nations rose from 66 to 75 years. (3)
In about 71 nations and territories in Africa, Asia, the Mideast and Latin
America, more than 40% of the population is under 15.
In the 46 nations with fertility levels below the replacement level of 2.1 children
per woman, mostly in Europe and the industrialized world, people older than 65
are an unprecedented 10 to 15% of the population today and are expected to
reach 20 to 30% by 2050. (4)
The number of older people is increasing so fast worldwide that for the first
time, the UN this year lists separate categories for people aged 80 to 90 (58.6
million), 90 to 100 (7.3 million) and over 100 (100,000). In 2050, these numbers
are expected to be 11.1 million, 56.9 million and 2.2 million, respectively - more
than a sixfold increase. (1)
Sources: (1) United Nations Population Division, "1998 Revision, World Population Estimates and Projections"
(New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Nov. 28, 1998). (2) UNFPA, Advocating Change (New
York: 1998). (3) Population Reference Bureau, 1998 World Population Data Sheet (Washington DC: PRB 1998).
(4) UNFPA, "The State of World Population 1998" (New York: UNFPA 1998)
December 1998
1999
The Myth of Shrinking Population
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo
W
omen worldwide are having half the number of children that their mothers
population
did in the 1950s. Lifetimes are lengthening and child survival rates are
improving in most of the world, while opportunities and education for women and
the facts
men are generally on the rise. In 61 nations, women's fertility rates have fallen below
the "replacement level" of 2.1 children per woman. (1) However, world population
of life
continues to rise by 78 million people per year.
The reasons for falling fertility are many: broadened horizons for girls and women,
who respond by delaying childbearing; health care advances that keep babies alive,
reducing the demand for more; broad availability of reliable and inexpensive family
planning services; and urbanization.
In short, the planet seems to have averted--at least for now - the threat of a
population bomb. However, environmental security and sustainability require
continued effort. We have come perhaps half the distance to population stability.
The danger now is that we will declare victory and go home.
Some vocal contrarians are recommending just that. They argue that the trends
leading to our current progress are irreversible and could lead to depopulated
nations of a few lonely young people struggling to support vast numbers of
dependent senior citizens. They oppose further work to curb population growth.
They are wrong. The trends are not irreversible. The need instead is for renewed
commitment to the steps outlined at the 1994 International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD).
Of the world's 6 billion people, more than 1 billion are teenagers, the largest
"youthquake" ever. (2) Now just entering their reproductive years, their sheer
numbers guarantee an enormous "momentum" of population growth through
2050 and an urgent global need for reproductive health information and
services, even with a continued decline in fertility rates.
More than 95% of those teens live in less-developed nations (2) where many
governments are already struggling to meet current needs for social and
infrastructure services, education, jobs, family planning information, and
reproductive and other health care.
While 44% of the world's people (2.6 billion) live in the 61 nations where
women have fewer than 2.1 children each, these "total fertility rates" don't give
the full picture. A country's population growth rate includes migration and
longevity. Among those 61 nations, for example, 31 will experience population
declines by 2050, but population will rise in the other half, because of their
young population structures and migration patterns. (1)
Just to stay even with current living conditions, the world must somehow
provide for 78 million more people every year--another Great Britain plus New
York City--for another generation.
More than 840 million people, one in 7, do not have enough to eat. (3) Mostly,
they are too poor to pay for food, even with historically low prices. Clearly, the
"Green Revolution" has not reached many poor farmers, and in 75 nations, per
capita food production has declined over the last 15 years. (3)
Opportunities for women, key to lowering fertility rates, are being circumscribed
rather than expanded in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Health care advances have not reached millions of people where resurgent
disease is challenging impoverished medical systems, especially in the developing
world.
Rising urbanization has led to declining fertility, chiefly because of urban
prosperity. But nothing guarantees that prosperity will continue to rise as
population does. And, most people in poor nations still live in rural areas where
birth rates remain high.
Developing nations pay 80 % of the costs of family planning services
themselves, relying on industrialized nations for help with the rest. But that help
has not always been forthcoming. U.S. aid has been cut severely in recent years.
Any projection of depopulation in some countries ignores the likely migration
from crowded places. The world may change its appearance but it is in no
danger of being depopulated.
The keys to further progress are obvious: the roles of women, whose options and
opportunities in every sphere of life must continue to expand; and the education
and participation of young people, women and men alike, in the changes necessary
to construct a workable future. Their demand for reliable and inexpensive family
planning services, currently unmet in many crucial places, must be satisfied on a
continuing basis well into the next century.
Sources: (1) United Nations Population Division, "1998 Revision, World Population Estimates and
Projections" (New York: Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Nov. 28, 1998); (2) UNFPA, The State
of World Population 1998 (New York, 1998); (3) UN Development Programme, Human Development Report
1998 (New York: 1998)
December 1998
1999
AIDS/HIV: The New Trends
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo
A
IDS/HIV is reversing decades of progress in improving the quality of life in
developing countries. It has slashed life expectancies and forces choices between
health and dozens of other investments vital for development. If AIDS affects 5% of
population
the population, for example, total national spending on health will increase by 40%. (1)
the facts
Affected governments need to place AIDS at the center of their development
of life
priorities, not just on the health agenda, to ensure that the crisis is addressed in
every policymaking arena. They need to lead in creating a helpful legal environment
and programs for education and counseling so as to raise awareness of the disease
and to promote behavioral changes, safe sex practices, the use of condoms and
treatments for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Partnerships are vital - among
governments and NGOs, churches and the private sector.
Prevention education works. In several southern African factories, the rate of new
infections was reduced by over a third at the cost of only $6 per employee through
peer education, condom distribution, voluntary testing and counseling, and job-
sponsored health benefits and disability packets.
AIDS is the Number One Killer
Worldwide, 33.4 million people are infected with AIDS/HIV, including 1.3 million
children. The incurable disease has claimed 13.9 million lives since the epidemic began,
3.2 million of them children. In 1998, 2.5 million people died of AIDS. Fully 30% of all
tuberculosis deaths are due to HIV/AIDS infections, and if those deaths are counted,
AIDS in 2020 will be the single largest cause of adult death from infectious diseases (2).
AIDS is Spreading Fastest in the Developing World
By 1990, AIDS had already caused more adult deaths than malaria in the developing
world. By 2020, it will cause 37% of adult deaths due to infectious disease in those
nations.
New infection rates are slowing in most of the industrialized world, but 5.8 million
infections still occurred in 1998, 70% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 21.5
million adults are infected there and 75% of all adult deaths result from AIDS or AIDS-
related diseases. The vast majority are age 20-50, the most productive years (2).
In Botswana, 25% of all adults are HIV-positive. In Zimbabwe and Namibia the
rate is 20%; Zambia 19% ; Swaziland 18% and in several other African countries,
10% or more.
In Botswana, where relatively few HIV cases have progressed to AIDS, the virus in
1997 cost companies 0.7% of their wage bill. In 2002, an expected sevenfold rise in
HIV infections will bring health-related costs to nearly 12% of the wage bill.
Women, the most important agents of development, are especially vulnerable because of social and
economic inequality. In Africa, women under 25 have the fastest-rising infection rate.
In South and Southeast Asia, 6.4 million people now live with HIV/AIDS, while another 1.7
million became infected in 1997.
The latest UN report described an "explosion" of the disease in cities of India, evidently because of
migrant workers and truckers. The epidemic in Asia could be bigger than the one in Africa.
The HIV infection rate is not expected to level off in Africa until the next decade, and in Asia not
until after 2010.
AIDS has slashed life expectancies in many developing nations. Average life expectancies increased
from 39 years to 55 years by 1990 in most of the developing world. But AIDS has wiped out 2/3 of this
advance in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire.
Botswana's 1990 life expectancy of 61 years has dropped to 47 years.
In Zimbabwe, life expectancy was on course to reach 66 years by 2005, but because of AIDS,
children born today can expect to live only 35 years. The population is expected to stop growing
because of AIDS and by 2015 will be 19% smaller.
AIDS Orphans are a Growing Tragedy
More than 8 million children have lost one or both parents to AIDS since the epidemic began. In 23
countries studied by UNFPA, the number of these "AIDS orphans" is expected to double by 2000, and
the total in the worst-hit 19 African nations will be 40 million by 2010. AIDS orphans typically suffer
from malnutrition and are more likely to stop going to school, to have to support themselves and take
on adult responsibilities in the home, and to leave home or lose their homes. Often they become street
children. Girls may feel increased pressure to marry. In Uganda, where HIV infection rates have fallen
from 35 to 30% and apparently leveled off, AIDS orphans are estimated to number 1.7 million.
Signs of Hope
Concerted government-led programs involving health education, promoting condom use and
discouraging sexual promiscuity have slowed HIV infection rates in some poor nations including
Thailand, Uganda and Brazil.
In Thailand, a vigorous campaign involving brothels raised condom use to over 90%. The number
of patients with STDs other than AIDS has dropped dramatically, and the HIV infection rate
among army conscripts has dropped from 4% to less than 2%.
In Nairobi, Kenya, a programme that treated STDs of 500 prostitutes raised their condom use to
80% and is estimated to have prevented 10,000 infections per year among their clients, clients' wives
and other partners.
In Brazil, condom sales rose from 406,000 in 1991 to nearly 27 million in 1996.
Sources: (1). Except where noted, all figures in this paper are taken from UNFPA, State of the World Population 1998 (New York: 1998)
and from UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Population Estimates and Projections, 1998 Revision
(New York: October 1998); (2) Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS and World Health Organization, AIDS Epidemic Update: Decmeber 1998,
(New York: Dec 1998), www.unaids.org/highband/document/epidenio/wadr98e.pdf
December 1998
1999
Equality, Equity and
Forum
The Empowerment of Women
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo
D
espite many international agreements affirming women's human rights, girls
and women are still much more likely than men to be poor, malnourished
population
and illiterate, and to have less access than men to medical care, property ownership,
credit, training and employment. They are far less likely than men to be politically
the facts
active and far more likely to be victims of domestic violence.
of life
Where women are poor, uneducated and have little participation in the wider
society, family size tends to be large and the population growth rate high.
Population and development programs are more effective when they center on
improving the education, rights and status of women.
Childbearing has been women's chief source of security and status for centuries.
This is still the case, especially where women are denied education, reproductive
health care, secure livelihoods and full equal rights. Successful population and
development programs must offer women options for their lives beyond
childbearing.
Women in developing nations are usually in charge of securing water, food and
fuel and of overseeing family health and diet. Therefore they tend to put into
immediate practice whatever they learn about nutrition, preserving the
environment and natural resources, and improving sanitation and health care.
Of the 960 million illiterate adults in the world, two-thirds are female. Higher
levels of women's education are strongly associated with both lower infant
mortality and lower fertility. In poor countries, every additional year of a
woman's schooling is associated with a 5 to 10% decline in child deaths. (1)
Children born to mothers below age 18 are 1.5 times more likely to die before
age 5 than those born to mothers age 20-34. Yet three of every four teenage
girls in Africa are mothers, and 40 percent of births there are to women under
17. (2)
Programs that offer girls alternative life choices can help them stay in school
and, consequently, delay childbearing. This lengthens the time span between
generations. Such women tend also to have fewer children - three or four
rather than six or more. (3)
Laws and customs often deny women the right to own land, inherit property,
establish credit, receive training or move up in their field of work. Laws against
domestic violence are often not enforced on behalf of women. Achieving
gender equality in these areas will require the support of men who exercise most
of the power in these spheres of life.
The involvement of men is critical to women's rights and to population policy
success. In Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal, for example, men want
between two and four more children than their wives do; in Cameroon, Mali
and Senegal, fewer than half of men approve of family planning. Birthrates in
those West African nations are higher than in most of East Africa, where with
the exception of Tanzania, more than 90% of both men and women favor
family planning. (4)
The roles that men and women play in society are not biologically determined -
they are socially determined. Often justified as required by culture or religion,
they still vary widely by locality and change constantly; they are not immutable.
Slavery, torture and racial and ethnic prejudice are also centuries-old practices
now rightly condemned worldwide when they involve people of color, political
dissidents, Jews or other ethnic groups. Violations of women's human rights
must receive the same international censure.
Because roles are deeply embedded social practices, programs are needed that
work with young people to orient them toward gender equality.
The ICPD Programme of Action commits nations to:
Close the gender gap in education and political life; eliminate illiteracy and legal
political and social barriers to women; and ensure equal representation of
women in aid programs.
Combat violence against women and girls, including sexual violence.
Ratify all agreements that further women's rights.
Design programs for the aging that address the special needs of elderly women.
Urge employers to help workers manage their family and work responsibilities
through flexible hours, parental leave, daycare facilities and so on.
Involve men in family planning and responsibilities and in the prevention of
sexually transmitted diseases.
Ensure that children receive appropriate financial support by enforcing child
support laws, among other things.
Enforce laws on minimum age of consent and marriage.
Eliminate female genital mutilation.
Provide adolescents not only with information and services, but also education
and life choices.
Sources: (1) UNFPA, "Population Issues Briefing Kit 1998," (New York: 1998); (2) Alan Guttmacher Institute,
"Issues in Brief: Family Planning Improves Child Survival and Health" (Washington DC: Alan Guttmacher
Institute, 1997). and Nafis Sadik, "Investing in Women: The Focus of the '90s," in Laurie Ann Mazur (ed.),
Beyond the Numbers: A Reader on Population, Consumption and the Environment (Washington DC, Island Press, 1994);
(3) Population Reference Bureau, A Citizen's Guide to the International Conference on Population and Development, 1993;
(4) James E. Rosen and Shanti R. Conly, Africa's Population Challenge: Accelerating Progress in Reproductive Health
(Washington DC: Population Action International, 1998).
December 1998
1999
Youth and Population Momentum
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
A
t 1.05 billion, this is history's largest generation of young people between 15
The Cairo
and 24, and their number is rapidly expanding in many countries. It is critical
Cousensul
that all societies address their education, health and employment needs. (1)
population
The reproductive behavior of these young people will determine the planet's future.
the facts
If they are enabled to realise their potential, they will be a real "demographic
bonus"--an unprecedented bulge of human resources for future development.
of life
Ending Discrimination Against Girls
Discrimination against girls and women is a persistent barrier to generational
achievement. Several national declarations and treaties have labeled it a violation of
human rights as well as a threat to development. Ending discrimination must be a
priority worldwide.
Discrimination against girls often begins before birth in the preference for sons,
and in too many places continues with denial of medical care and education and
with forced teen or even preteen marriage, sex and pregnancy.
Women may be restricted to the home, sexually and physically abused without
remedy, and denied rights to own or inherit property, to receive training or
credit, or to take part in political and social discourse.
Girls may be prepared by their societies only to be mothers, restricted in
education and employment. Boys may be prepared only to be providers and
heads of families, restricted in emotional, communication and caring skills. At
puberty, both girls and boys have specific needs that should be addressed.
Adolescents, more than other age groups, are exposed to reproductive health risks.
As the average age of marriage goes up worldwide, the period of sexual activity
before marriage is increasing. But young people are often denied the
information and the means they need to avoid unwanted pregnancy and sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs).
Of the 260 million women aged 15-19 worldwide, about 11% (29 million) lack
access to effective contraceptive protection. A majority of these (16.2 million)
are married and say they want to delay childbirth; 9.8 million are unmarried and
sexually active; 3.2 million are adolescents, both married and unmarried, who use
traditional methods. (2)
Half of all new HIV infections occur in people aged 15-24. The infection rates
among young women are higher than among young men. Marginalized young
people, such as street children, show higher infection rates than do better-off
young people. (2)
Providing Quality Information
In most of Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, North Africa and the Middle East,
more than 60% of adolescents (often more than 80%) have heard of a modern
method of family planning. (2) But that does not mean they always know how to
use it properly. Better communication about sexuality, gender relations, unwanted
pregnancy and STDs is essential if young people are to make responsible choices
and broaden their life options.
A survey of secondary school students in Kenya found that only one in three males and one in
four females knew that contraceptive pills had to be taken by the woman and not by the man.
Even fewer knew the pills had to be taken daily, not just before sex. (2)
In Latin America, surveys show that 44 to 76% of the pregnancies of young unmarried women
are unwanted. In Kenya, 74% of unmarried women aged 15-19 (and 17% of the married women)
report their current pregnancy unwanted. (2)
Many women suffering from an unwanted pregnancy seek abortion whether it is legal or not.
Young women are more likely to get an unsafe abortion because they often lack the money and
the information to get it done in a safe way. (2)
Families remain the strongest influence on adolescents' behavior and choices, but traditional sources
of sex and gender education - grandparents, teachers and community leaders-are losing influence
to modern media culture and urbanization. Teens see their elders' lives and priorities as less relevant
to their own. While teenagers and service providers may seek to avoid pregnancy and other
consequences of sexual activity, their elders may see sexual activity itself as the problem.
A tribal chief of southern Malawi responded this way to a sex education radio program: "A
foreign dress mode is something we can easily accept, but should we wholesale adopt everything
foreign, including shamelessly talking about sex in public?" Family and community leaders need to
be included in population policy decisionmaking so that the helpful effect of such programs is
understood.
Sex education does not increase promiscuity. Of 68 studies on family life and sex education in a
scientific review, 65 found no associated increases in sexual behaviour. Of the 53 studies that
evaluated specific interventions, 21 found that young people taking part in such programs had
higher levels of abstinence, later start of sexual activity, higher use of contraceptives, fewer sexual
partners and/or reduced rates of STDs and unplanned pregnancy. (3)
Broadening Sex Education Beyond the Schoolroom
Sex education must not be restricted to school students. Not all young people are students, and in
some countries they are not even the majority.
Restricting sex education to secondary schools further reduces those reached, because the gender
gap in education is biggest in secondary school and a large percentage of girls will be missed. In
many countries, students may also enter primary school as teenagers and go no further. In sub-
Saharan Africa and South Asia, a majority of adolescents who are in school are in primary schools.
(4)
Millions of young people, many of them children, live on their own and/or on the streets. They
are more at risk than their peers. Special rehabilitation programs, including sex education and
reproductive health services, are needed to reach them.
Mass media campaigns have succeeded in addressing some reproductive health needs, such as
HIV/AIDS. Soap operas, comic books, posters, teenage magazines, drama and music are effective
ways to inform young people. Surveys show they are especially useful when combined with
training programs for young people who can then spread the word among their peers.
Sources: (1) UNFPA, State of the World Population 1998 (New York: UNFPA), p. 2; (2) Alan Guttmacher Institute, Into a New World
(Washington DC: 1998), pp. 24-29; (3) UNFPA, State of the World Population 1998 (New York: UNFPA), P. 31; (4) Ibid., P. 32; (5)
IPPF, Generations, 1998.
December 1998
1999
U.S. Scorecard
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
In Growth
The Cairo PEOPLE
The US population in November 1998 was 274 million, third highest in the world
population
and about 15 million higher than when the ICPD met in Cairo in 1994. China is still
first at 1.25 billion and India is next at 982.2 million, up 84.8 million from 1994.
the facts
World population as of mid-1999 is 6 billion, up 400 million in the past five years.
(1)
of life
The US rate of natural population increase, excluding immigration, is now
0.6%-1.6 million people per year. Among industrialized nations, only New
Zealand (0.8%) and Australia (0.7%) are higher. Europe, Russia and several other
countries of the former Soviet Union have a slightly negative natural growth
rate. The world average, however, is 1.4%. (2)
U.S. legal immigrants will probably number 820,000 in 1999, according to the
Census Bureau. (3) Counting both legal immigrants and natural increase, the
total U.S. growth rate is 0.9%-faster than all industrialized nations except
Canada and Australia. (4)
The U.S. fertility rate (average number of births per woman) is 1.96, highest of
all industrialized nations. Yemen has the world's highest fertility rate, 7.6, with
Oman (7.2), Uganda (7.1) and Niger (7.1) close behind. The lowest rate is 1.19,
in Italy. (5)
These growth rates are declining, but the U.N. estimates that U.S. population in
2025 will still grow to be 332.5 million, with global humanity numbering 8.039
billion-about 360 million fewer than in estimates made five years ago. (5)
In Mortality
U.S. life expectancy is now 73.4 years for men, lower than in 22 other nations
including Cuba, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, Canada and most of
Europe. U.S. women can expect to live 80.1 years, less than in Western Europe
(80.9), Greece, Puerto Rico, Canada, Hong Kong and Japan. (5)
Globally, the average life is 63.4 years long for men, 67.7 years for women, but in
least developed countries it is 50.9 and 53.0 respectively, more than 20 years shorter
than in North America. Life expectancy in shortest in Malawi, at 40.3 years for men,
41.1 years for women. (5)
U.S. infant mortality is 7 deaths per 1,000 live births, well below the world average
of 57 but higher than that in 14 other industralized countries, and about the same as
that in eight other nations. Japan's rate is lowest at 4 deaths per thousand live births,
and Sierra Leone is highest at 169. (5)
In Consumption
Each U.S. citizen consumes an average of 260 lbs. of meat per year, the world's
highest rate. That is about 1.5 times the industrial world average, three times the
East Asian average and 40 times the average in Bangladesh (6.5 lbs). (6)
The U.S. population is 4.6% of global humanity, but it produces 24% of the world's
carbon dioxide output, largely from the burning of fossil fuels. (6)
Directly or indirectly, each U.S. citizen consumes his or her own body weight in
primary resources every day: oil, coal, other minerals, and agricultural and forest
products. (7)
A child born today in the United States will have a lifetime impact on the
environment that is 30 times greater than a child born today in a developing nation
such as India. (8)
In Fulfilling the ICPD Commitment
Prior to 1995 budget cuts, U.S. family planning aid was $583 million per year. The
FY1999 level is $385 million, down 30%. (9)
Sources: (1) UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 1998 Revision: World
Population Estimates and Projections (New York: United Nations), Oct. 28, 1998; (2) Population Reference Bureau,
1998 World Population Data Sheet (Washington DC: 1998); US Bureau of the Census, "Population Projections of
the United States by Age, Sex, Race and Hispanic Origin: 1995 to 2050," Current Population Reports, (Washington
DC: US Government Printing Office, 1996: 28, Table Q; (4) US Bureau of the Census Web site
(http://www.census.gov/population/estimates); (5) UNFPA, The State of World Population 1998; (6) UNDP,
Human Development Report 1998; (7) Alan Thein Durning, How Much is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Future
of the Earth (New York: W.W. North & Co., 1992); (8) Al Gore, Report of the President's Commission on Sustainable
Development (Washington DC: June 1993); (9) Population Action International, "Politics of Population
Assistance," PAI Web site (http:/www.populationaction.org).
December 1998
1999
NGOs and the Role of
Forum
Civil Society
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
Coold
population
O
ne of the many contributions of the 1994 International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) was increased visibility and
participation for civil society in all UN proceedings thereafter. Before the ICPD in
the facts
Cairo, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had only an informal presence at
of life
best at UN conclaves.
In 1994, however, hundreds of NGOs took part in the ICPD as members of
delegations, activists and lobbyists, providing much of the language for the
Programme of Action. They helped set the agenda that focused clearly on improving
the quality of people's lives instead of on achieving demographic targets. Their work
was recognized in Programme language promoting NGO involvement in global
policymaking and implementation, the strongest such language ever to emerge from
a UN conference.
Many nations have reformed their population and family planning efforts in large
part due to NGO participation:
Most nations no longer accept targets, incentives or coercion, instead using
integrated approaches that make services, education and quality of care the
central elements.
India dropped numerical targets and is progressing on a major project in the
north that integrates family planning with maternal and child health services.
Several developing countries, particularly in Africa, are reorganizing reproductive
health programs so as to reach more young people and the unmarried.
NGOs have made substantial progress in networking for advocacy and lobbying:
In Europe, NGOs have forged an advocacy movement through formal and
informal alliances to build political support for the ICPD Programme in donor
countries as well as in developing nations.
Communication among NGOs and decisionmakers has increased in quality as
well as quantity in many countries, where NGOs are being invited more and
more to take part in policy debates.
NGO advocacy has shaped national population policy development and helped
mobilize financial resources in a number of donor and developing countries,
including Denmark, the Netherlands, India and Uganda.
NGOs have certain advantages over government agencies that allow them to design
and implement more innovative, flexible and responsive programs with extensive
grassroots participation.
NGOs often have constituencies that are poorly served by government or hard
to reach through government channels.
NGOs may be more free to approach sensitive issues. In Pakistan, for example,
an Islamic NGO can discuss reproductive issues more openly than the
government can.
NGOs' functions can vary according to need. They have helped establish sexual
and reproductive health as a movement, acted as watchdogs, set and monitored
performance standards, become donors and provided technical assistance,
among other work.
The Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) has
monitored and documented the promises each government has made at all UN
conferences since Cairo. Their findings are publicly available and posted on their
World Wide Web internet site: www.wedo.org.
Future Needs and Challenges
NGOs need to strengthen their policy expertise and capacity for advocacy, especially
in countries where the political environment remains unreceptive to the ICPD
Programme of Action.
NGO partnerships with government need strengthening in countries where
governments still view NGOs as unwelcome competitors for donor funds.
Governments need to increase their transparency in decision making and
information, and to be more open to NGO involvement in policy development.
Such NGO involvement should be institutionalized.
Governments need to modify cofinancing requirements, overhead limitations and
other bureaucratic procedures that constrain NGOs' effectiveness in advocating for
population and reproductive health programs and in implementing them.
December 1998
1999
From Family Planning to
Forum
Reproductive Health
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
Consenour
T
he 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
Programme of Action calls for an approach to reproductive health that is
population
comprehensive and client-centered. This consensus resulted from intense discussions in
the field among governments, policymakers and international donors.
the facts
of life
The ICPD or Cairo consensus process worked to build a bridge between advocates
for women and family planning organizations. The family planning groups wanted
to provide services in a more inclusive and empowering way. Advocates realized
that the ability to make responsible and informed choices about sexual and
reproductive health is both a condition and a vehicle for improving the status of
women.
Service providers worldwide, facing the spread of HIV/AIDS, found it increasingly
irresponsible to provide the means of family planning without counseling clients on
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
The Cairo consensus rejected coercion in any form in reproductive health services.
Implementing the Cairo Consensus
Ideally, reproductive health services should include: (1)
Family Planning
attendants
Range/choice of methods
STD/AIDS Service
Counseling on:
Delayed childbirth for adolescents
Prevention
Sex/sexuality education
Male responsibility
Condom promotion/ distribution
Safe sex
Attention to unmet need/demand
Treatment/referral/ screening
Male support
Research on safety/side effects
Prenatal screening (syphilis)
Women's support
Sterilization reversal
Symptomatic case management
Parental/family support
Implant removal
Adolescent treatment
Pre-/early adolescence AIDS/
Quality services
Identification of high risk-takers
STDs
Policy dialogue
Abortion
Pregnancy Care
Data collection
Family planning/methods
Prenatal care
Sterilization
Tetanus toxoid
Abortion-related Services
Iron folate/iodine supplements
Management of complications
Public Education on:
Safe delivery
Post-abortion family planning
AIDS/STDs
Access to caesarian section
Improved sex education and
Violence
Access to blood transfusions
family planning services where
Gender discrimination
High-risk birth screening
abortion is restricted
Female genital mutilation
Transport
Legal matters
Complications detection/
Infertility Services
Nutrition
management/referral
Prevention and management
Sexual/ reproductive rights
Postpartum care
Unintended pregnancy
Postpartum contraception
Provider Training
Smoking/substance abuse
Technical competence
Breastfeeding
Gender sensitivity
Management Information
As a family planning nethod
Adolescent nutrition
System (MIS) for male/female
Lactation management
Training for physicians, nurses,
clients
For newborn/child care
midwives and traditional birth
Key Factors in Implementation of the ICPD
Advocacy: Political will and commitment are needed at every level. The support of
community leaders is effective if not essential for the success of reproductive health
programs.
In South Africa, reproductive rights are now part of the constitution.
In Uganda, government officials implemented the new system with support from
community and religious leaders.
Among the Sabiny people in northern Uganda, elders were included in a campaign
to eradicate female genital mutilation.
Program development: The process can be as important as the outcome. Those
involved should range from grassroots organizations and client representatives through
service providers and policymakers.
Setting priorities: Providers may need to choose between providing basic services for
everybody in an area or a broad range of services for fewer people. They may need to
make crucial choices at the clinic level -for example, whether or not to provide IUDs
where no screening is available for reproductive tract infections. Clients' involvement is
essential, as their priorities are not necessarily the same as those of service providers. A
clinic in Indonesia, for example, learned that clients saw information supported by
drawings on family planning as more important than blood pressure testing, which was
available at the market for little money.
Infrastructure, referral and logistics: Reproductive health providers function
properly only with a guaranteed regular supply of drugs and equipment. Clients lose
interest when they make time and effort to visit a clinic, only to find nothing available
for them. Referrals can direct clients to other providers. For example, birth assistants in
some areas have been trained to diagnose complications at an early stage of pregnancy.
Training: Service providers need continuous training and support to face their new
challenges. Issues to be covered include quality and continuity of care, technical
competence, sensitivity to client needs, and commitment to informed choice.
Monitoring and evaluation: As for any new concept, monitoring and evaluation at
every level will ensure that follow-up visits are useful for clients and that timely
Programme adjustments can be made.
Sources: (1) This list was compiled from documents of the International Planned Parenthood Federation; USAID;
the World Bank; UNFPA; The International Projects Assistance League; International Women's Health Coalition; the
Older Women's League; Population Action International; the Rockefeller Foundation; and the World Health
Organization.
December 1998
1999
Poverty, Population and
Forum
Development
DAY OF OBILLION
PEOPLE
Cairo
F
ew people now deny the link between economic development and slower
population growth. But development is neither an automatic product of slower
population
population growth nor vice versa. Instead, family planning, reproductive health care
and development programs can work together to reduce the rate of population
the facts
growth and improve the quality of life.
of life
Sustainable development must include the following:
Provision of reproductive health care reduces child and maternal mortality rates,
which encourages smaller families, later childbearing-and planned spacing of
births.
Investment in education for women and in expanding their access to credit,
training, property and legal rights gives them options for achieving status and
satisfaction in life through more means than childbearing. It also liberates their
economic potential.
Smaller family size releases resources that individuals can then invest in work,
health care, education, or other economic activity. Fewer children to educate
means higher achievement levels for all of them and a smaller total bill.
In developing nations, 800 million people are unemployed or under-employed -
a number greater than the entire current workforce of the industrialized
countries. (1) Those nations must create 40 million new jobs per year just to stay
at this level.(2) They also need to guarantee the health and education of their
record number of young people (one billion teenagers in 2000) in order to
generate prosperity and to care for the growing number of the elderly, and for
future generations.
Globalizing markets bring benefits and dangers:
A village in rural China is now as likely to be linked to Hollywood movies and
advertising on a community TV as it is to be linked to the next town by road or
railroad. Expectations for the future are changing accordingly, increasing
pressure on governments for advanced development.
Every nation now receives a constant stream of new products, often produced
far away in unknown conditions. Advertising, now a $435 billion business (3), is
the predominant source of product information; consumer safety laws or
movements are absent or rudimentary in many developing nations. Unfamiliar
products have often brought dangers: tobacco from the New World, alcohol to
the Americas, infant formula to areas where no clean water exists.
Developing nations seeking income are vulnerable to the "dumping" of
commercial imports that may be hazardous such as expired medications, toxic
wastes, contaminated food or pesticides banned in the country of origin.
Impoverished areas are also the most likely to be the site of polluting industries
and waste dumps that threaten their health and livelihoods.
Products grown for export purposes may be capital-intensive cash crops,
replacing or crowding out those that make up the local food supply. Yet the poor
often cannot afford imported replacement foods.
Disparities continue and investment is needed:
In 1960, the richest 20% of humanity claimed 70% of all income; by 1997 their
share had risen to 86%. Meanwhile the poorest fifth saw their share fall from
2.3% to just 1.3%. The three richest people in the world have assets that together
exceed the combined gross domestic product of the 48 least-developed nations.
(3)
Of the 4.4 billion people in developing nations, a fifth have no access to modern
health services of any kind. A quarter do not have adequate housing. A third
have no access to clean water. Fully 60% lack access to safe sewers. (4)
Attention to the needs of the poor for basic sanitary and transportation services,
education, access to productive land and job opportunities will reduce pollution,
resource use and stress on the environment. Institutional solutions are needed
for management of common global resources of air, water, fisheries, forests and
pasture, and for controlling emissions and wastes.
Some of the gains in health, education and nutrition during the 1960s and 1970s
have since been reversed. In Africa, the proportion of malnourished children
rose from 5% to 25% between 1983 and 1993, and primary school enrollment
fell from 79% to 67%.(5) The average African household today consumes 20
percent less than it did 25 years ago.(4)
Sources: (1) International Labor Organization, World of Work, (Washington DC: 1998); and United Nations
Population Fund, The State of World Population 1998 (New York: 1998); (2) Population Action International,
Why Population Matters, (Washington DC: 1996); (3) United Nations Development Programme, Human
Development Report 1998 (New York, 1998), P. 63; (4) UNDP, Human Development Report 1998, p. 30; (5)
UNDP, Human Development Report 1998, p.2; (6) Lawrence H. Summers, US Government, statement to
members of the African Development Bank, Abidjan, May 1993.
December 1998
1999
Population and the
Forum
Environment
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
T
he link between population and environmental impact seems obvious at first
population
glance: more people consume more resources, damage more of the earth and
generate more waste. As nations develop, they increase consumption. This simple
the facts
reasoning is true as far as it goes, but the larger picture is more complex.
of life
A very small proportion of the population consumes the majority of the world's
resources. The richest fifth consumes 86% of all goods and services and
produces 83% of all carbon dioxide emissions, while the poorest fifth consumes
1.3% of goods and services and accounts for 3% of C02 output. (1)
Per capita municipal waste grew 30% in developed nations since 1975 and is now
two to five times the level in developing nations. (1)
An average American's environmental impact is 30 to 50 times that of the
average citizen of a developing country such as India. (1)
The need is to balance the requirements of a growing population with the necessity
of conserving earth's natural assets.
Rising levels of industrial and agricultural pollution threaten the air we breathe, the
oceans, the diversity of Earth's species and the ozone layer that protects life itself.
Every 20 minutes, the world adds another 3,500 human lives but loses one or
more entire species of animal or plant life -at least 27,000 species per year. This
is a rate and scale of extinction that has not occurred in 65 million years. (2)
Spreading deserts and declining water tables in a third of the planet are
contributing to famine, social unrest and migration.
Two thirds of the world's population lives within 100 miles of an ocean, inland
sea or freshwater lake: 14 of the world's 15 largest megacities (10 million or more
people) are coastal. Their impacts include growing loads of sewage and other
waste, the drainage of wetlands and development of beaches, and destruction of
prime fish nurseries. (3)
Technological advances can mitigate some of the impact of population growth, and
market mechanisms raise prices for some diminishing resources, triggering
substitution, conservation, recycling and technical innovation so as to prevent
depletion.
But market systems often subsidize industries such as logging, mining and
grazing without tallying environmental costs. No market considers commonly
held resources such as groundwater levels or atmospheric and ocean quality. Nor
do markets consider questions of equity and social justice.
A world conclave of 58 national Academies of Science agreed in 1993 that
unchecked consumption and rapid population growth are likely to overwhelm
technological improvements in affecting the environment. (4)
Clearly, the greatest environmental threat comes from both the wealthiest billion
people, who consume the most and generate the most waste, and from the poorest
billion, who often damage their meager resource base in their daily struggle to avoid
starvation. In addition, the billions in between are doing their best to increase their
standard of living, in part through increased consumption.
Although the world's supply of water remains constant, per capita water
consumption is rising twice as fast as world population. At least 300 million
people live in regions with severe water shortages now; by 2025, the number
could be 3 billion. (5)
The world's forests have shrunk from 11.4 to 7.3 square kilometers per 1,000
people since 1970. The loss is concentrated in developing countries, mostly to
meet the demand for wood and paper by the industrialized world. Wild species
are becoming extinct 50 to 100 times faster than they naturally would. (1)
Over the last 50 years, 12% of the planet's soils have been severely degraded.
That's nearly 2 billion hectares, the size of China and India combined. (1)
Global emissions of carbon dioxide, a "greenhouse gas" most researchers say,
have caused global warming and disruption in weather patterns, have quadrupled
since 1950, largely from deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels. Where the
industrialized world now produces 60% of it, the developing world will be
producing 60% of it by 2015.(1)
Sources: (1) United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 1998 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1998); (2)Ken Strom, Population and Habitat in the New Millennium, National Audubon Society and
The Global Stewardship Initiative (Boulder CO 1998); (3)Population Action International, Why Population Matters
(Washington DC: PAI, 1996); (4)Report, Population Summit of the World's Scientific Academies (Washington DC: The
National Academy Press, 1993); (5)Simon, Paul, Tapped Out (New York: Welcome Rain Publishers, October
1998).
December 1998
1999
Consumption and Resources
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo
I
n 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)
Cousenoul
saw that industrialized nations' level of consumption of natural resources was
population
unsustainable worldwide. One U.S. citizen was consuming 30 times what one citizen
of India did; developed nations were 20% of the world's population yet used two-
the facts
thirds of all resources and generated 75% of the world's pollution and waste. (1)
World consumption patterns were undermining the environmental resource base.
of life
Yet the 1 billion people living in absolute poverty require increased consumption so
as to alleviate their malnutrition, disease and illiteracy.
The ICPD agreed that countries should reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns
of production and consumption so as to meet people's needs without compromising
future generations.
Such changes would conserve resources long enough for new policy options to be
implemented that would contribute to human development.
Consumption disparities are increasingly stark:
With world population at 6 billion and rising, the richest 20% of humanity
consumes 86% of all goods and services used, while the poorest fifth
consumes just 1.3%. The wealthy consumes 45% of all meat and fish, use
58% of all energy produced and own 87% of the vehicles. (2)
Meanwhile, 2.6 billion people lack basic sanitation, 1.5 billion have no access
to clean water, 1.1 billion lack adequate housing and nearly 900 million have
no access to modern health services of any kind. (2)
According to the United Nations, Americans and Europeans together spend
$17 billion a year on pet food, $4 billion more than the estimated yearly
additional amount needed to provide everyone in the world with basic health
and nutrition. (2)
Production techniques are eroding the resource base:
The burning of fossil fuels has almost doubled since 1950. Consumption of
fresh water has doubled since 1960, and wood consumption (for household
and industry use) is 40% higher than 25 years ago. (2)
Commercial fishing is threatened worldwide by over-fishing: one-quarter of
all fish stocks are listed as "depleted" or in danger of being depleted; another
44 percent are being fished "at the biological limit." This is driven by export
demand for animal feed and oils, not by food needs, but it strains the
primary protein source for nearly billion people in 40 developing nations. (2)
Producing a quarter-pound of hamburger requires 100 gallons of water, 1.2
lbs. of feed grain and energy equal to a cup of gasoline, causing the loss of
1.25 lbs. of topsoil and producing greenhouse gas emissions equal to a 6-mile
drive in a typical U.S. automobile. (3) Americans each consume 260 lbs. of
meat per year on average, most of it hamburger; the average in Bangladesh is
6.5 lbs. (2)
The trend is toward more consumption worldwide:
Global spending on advertising, which stimulates consumption, multiplied
nearly sevenfold from 1950 to 1990, when the total was $257 billion, or $48
for each person on the planet. It has nearly doubled again since then, to $435
billion, and is increasing faster than incomes or population, especially in
developing nations. (2)
Surveys of U.S. households found that the income desired to fulfill
consumption aspirations doubled between 1986 and 1994. (2) The definition
of "necessity" is changing worldwide.
Increased consumption is not producing a parallel increase in happiness. The
National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago has found
that the proportion of Americans who say they are "very happy" has
remained at about one-third since 1957, although personal consumption has
more than doubled.(4)
Sources: (1) United Nations Population Fund, Population and the Environment: The Challenges Ahead (New York:
United Nations, 1991); and R.Paul Shaw, "The Impact of Population Growth on the Environment: The Debate
Heats Up," Environmental Impact Assessment Review, March-June 1992; (2) United Nations Development
Programme, Human Development Report 1998 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998) P. 5; (3) Alan
Durning, Ecological Wakes: The Story of Six Everyday Objects (Seattle: Northwest Environment Watch, 1994);
(4) Alan Durning, How Much is Enough? The Consumer Society and the Fate of the Earth (New York: W.W.
Norton, 1992)
December 1998
1999
The Road to the Cairo Consensus:
FORUM
DAY OF OBILLION
People Rather than Numbers
The Chiro PEOPLE
global
population
I
n 1946, a Population Division was set up within the UN Secretariat to analyze
demographic trends, based on the then-prevailing concern that mortality from war
the facts
and disease might cause a population decline. Researchers developed demographic
analysis and governments in developing countries conducted the first national censuses.
of life
When 1950 and 1960 findings became available, policymakers became concerned about
rapid global population growth. The UN role expanded to include policy development
and financial and technical aid to population programs. Improved data collection and
analysis, including growth projections, brought the issue to the attention of more
policymakers and stimulated national population programs.
In 1974, 1984 and 1994, the UN organized international population conferences to help
build world consensus on the need to address population issues. These created political
support for national policies to promote sustainable populations and voluntary family
planning programs.
The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo was an
important watershed. The conference document reaffirmed the importance of slowing
population growth for social and economic development, but it also called for a major
shift in strategies to achieve this goal: an emphasis on meeting the needs of individual
women and men, rather than on achieving any demographic targets.
The 1994 ICPD in Cairo
The UN Economic and Social Council in 1991 explicitly linked development and
population when it named the 1994 gathering. Preparations for a 1992 UN Conference,
on Environment and Development (ICED) in Rio de Janeiro, focussed attention on the
new concept of "sustainability"-that environmental and population factors are critical
in economic growth.
Other crucial influence came from the 1990 World Summit for Children and the 1993
Vienna Conference on Human Rights. The ICPD's first preparatory meeting resolved
that population, sustainable economic growth and development would be ICPD themes.
The ICPD was the largest intergovernmental conference on population and
development ever held: 11,000 registered representatives from governments, NGOs,
UN agencies and intergovernment agencies. 179 States negotiated on a Programme of
Action for the next 20 years, while another 4,000 NGOs held a parallel conference and
there was unprecedented media attention.
Cairo is Working
The key to the Cairo consensus, and perhaps its chief achievement, was recognition of the need to empower
women, providing them with more choices through expanded access to education and health services, skill
development and employment, and full involvement in policy and decisionmaking at all levels.
The ICPD Programme of Action facilitated reforms in population/family planning programs so that they
no longer use targets, incentives or coercion. Instead they include integrated approaches where services,
education and quality care are central elements.
Since Cairo, non-governmental organizations have achieved near-full participation in official conference
proceedings. The Programme of Action language on NGOs' role and civil society was the strongest from
any UN gathering. Since Cairo, NGOs have participated as official delegates to UN conclaves and have been
instrumental in providing language for the final documents.
ICPD Plus Five: Reviewing the Results
The 1999 ICPD + 5 is the first review in the 20-year course of the Cairo Programme of Action. The UN
General Assembly, ordering this comprehensive appraisal of implementation so far, further resolved that the
review would not reopen provisions of the Programme but would instead identify ways to advance its
implementation.
Beginning in April 1998 with the first of four roundtable discussions, a series of events (1) involved program
countries, donor countries, the UN system, and civil society including NGOs and the private sector in
discussion of current issues.
An International Forum convenes in The Hague in February 1999 to recommend next steps in
implementation for presentation at the March 1999 meeting of the Commission on Population and
Development. The review then culminates in a three-day Special Session of the UN General Assembly in
June 1999.
The Role of NGOs
NGOs will be fully involved in the review process. They have identified five themes that must be addressed
if the Cairo Programme of Action is to be realized:
Resources and advocacy;
Reproductive rights: rhetoric to reality;
Putting the Cairo agenda into practice: providing sexual and reproductive health services;
Links between population, environment and development; and
Partnerships
Each theme area will be the focus of a panel discussion during the NGO Forum at The Hague in February
1999. The forum's final document will suggest further steps needed to implement the Cairo Programme of
Action into the next century.
Sources: (1) The events will concern adolescent sexual and reproductive health; reproductive rights and implementation of
reproductive health programmes, women's empowerment, male involvement and human rights; the role of civil society; and population
and macro-economic links.
December 1998
1999
Journalist's Notebook:
Forum
What's In A Word?
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
population
W
hat's in a word? Plenty when it comes to population terminology.
Demographic language is often freighted by controversial associations with
geopolitics, sex, power, gender, race, religion and personal rights.
the facts
of life
"Population control" is a prime case in point. The term is now out of favor with
experts in the field, because it implies force - a negative thing to most. To some it
evokes men trying to control women, industrialized nations trying to weaken the
power of developing nations' increasing numbers, or whites trying to reduce the
future numbers of people of color.
To stress the voluntary nature of the actions sought, experts use terms like
"stemming," "stabilizing" or "slowing" population growth. Similarly, "family
planning" is preferred to "birth control," a term that dates back to the time of
Margaret Sanger's crusade for women's right to use contraceptives.
"Overpopulation" is also a misnomer. If we have too many people, who are the
unneeded? Developing nations and the poor suspect that the wealthy may be
referring to them. Besides, a newborn can represent not only a new mouth to feed
but two new hands with which to build and a new mind to create the future.
The subject of debate is better described as "global population issues" or
"population policy," in order to stress the need to assess human numbers in the
context of desired living conditions and development.
"Immigration" is taking on negative connotations in the U.S. and in western
Europe as a globalizing economy and population crowding bring rising numbers of
newcomers who could threaten jobs, social services and the predominant culture. As
the new wave is largely nonwhite, some whites fear that immigration will dilute their
power.
In the developing world, however, "migration" tends to connote an admirable
ambition and courage to seek work or a better life away from home. Many
immigrants migrate again, or return home when conditions change or they achieve
their purposes. More than 90% of all births now take place in developing nations, a
fact that helps explain relative attitudes toward trans-national human traffic.
Doomsday scenarios are passé. Thomas Malthus' dire warnings of rampant disease
and famine sparked talk of "triage" and "lifeboats" to describe the coming necessity
of deciding who should be allowed to live in a world eaten out of house and home
by too many people.
The "population bomb" is somewhat discredited. Growth rates peaked in the early
1970s, and we are now living in that explosion's fallout: global numbers doubled
from 3 billion in the 1960s to 6 billion in mid-1999, and continue to rise but at a
slower rate. Improved health services have managed to keep the increased billions
alive, though often in a deprived state. Population specialists now concentrate on
"quality of life" of the millions of newborns who will be hard-pressed to find
education, health care and work needed for a meaningful life.
Today, "population momentum" from the 1960s baby boom continues to drive
human numbers upward. Growth will continue for at least another generation as the
new millennium's record 1 billion teenagers enter their reproductive years. The
question now is: when will we achieve "population stabilization," where growth
stops?
The answer depends upon whether commitments that the world's nations made at
the ICPD in 1994 are fully honored: to programs furthering "birth spacing,"
"reproductive health" and "women's rights"; boosting "sustainable
development"; and improving the earth's "carrying capacity" and the human
quality of life." These terms stress not sheer population numbers but the broader
vision of global well-being.
"Acceptable risk" describes the health risks associated with many modern
contraceptives, while "relative risk" compares that small danger to, say, riding a
motorbike in city traffic. The definitions of each are under challenge from women's
groups, who note that all but two modern methods (condoms and male vasectomies)
make women take the risk.
Not Just Words
It's not just political correctness to watch your population language. Many of
yesterday's terms were rooted in detached calculations that dehumanized people and
the process of family-building. People universally resist bean-counter reckoning in
deciding the size of their families. Population specialists have moved beyond mere
number-crunching to understand what population increase means to individuals--and
this change in perspective has changed policy and language.
Most governments in developing countries have adopted family planning policies in
an effort to balance their national populations with available resources. They have
shouldered two-thirds of the costs involved, asking industrialized nations' to help
with the rest. The term "commitment" involves not only political will but the
provision of human and material resources as well. It is this commitment that is at
stake today.
December 1998
1999
People On the Move:
Forum
Urbanization & International Migration
DAY OF OBILLION
The Cairo PEOPLE
P
eople leave their native lands for many reasons: to find better work, escape
political conflict or personal danger, and to find a better environment to live
population
in. They may migrate again or return home when conditions change or their
purposes are accomplished. These factors are often related to population pressures.
the facts
Both the communities gaining population and those losing it may view the change
of life
either as threat or benefit.
Reliable statistics on the movement of people from country to country do not exist.
The best current "guesstimate" from the United Nations Population Fund, however,
is that roughly 120 million people were living outside their-countries of birth or
citizenship in 1998. The number is thought to be rising for a number of reasons;
one is that the native labor pool in the industrialized world is shrinking while the
developing world's workforce will soon double. (1)
Migration Affects Urbanization Patterns
Cities are growing faster than ever. The world was 45% urban in 1995 (2), and
cities are expected to hold most of the projected increase in humanity for the
next 25 years.
The number of cities with more than 1 million people rose from 111 in 1960 to
280 in 1995, and two-thirds of those are in developing nations. (3)
By 2010, the developing-world total will be 368 such cities, up from 173 in 1990.
This will further strain those nations' capacity to provide services such as energy,
education, health care, transportation, sanitation and physical security.
Violence Attends Much Migration
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that
most of the 22 million people who came under its wing in 1997 were fleeing
from conflict, both domestic and international. Most of them fled to poor
countries - only 406,000 sought asylum in Western nations, up from 318,300 in
1997.(4)
Refugees, especially women, often suffer beatings, rape and other abuses of their
human rights while losing access to systems of justice and medical care. The lack
of reproductive health care for refugee women is especially acute.
Migrants Do Not Fit Stereotypes
Immigrants to industrialized nations from developing ones tend to have higher
fertility rates for the first generation (25 years). Thereafter their fertility rates
equal those of the host country. (5)
For the most part, voluntary immigrants are not the world's poorest and most
destitute people but those with the energy, intelligence, courage and resources to
seek a better life.
The ICPD Programme of Action commits nations to:
Recognize and address the root "push" causes of migration--armed conflicts,
human rights violations, environmental degradation, lack of sustainable
economic growth, and insufficient social resources--and also acknowledge the
influence of economic "pull" factors.
Improve urban planning by encouraging the growth of small or medium-sized
urban centers and sustainable development in rural areas.
Assess the impact of national economic and environmental policies on
residential patterns, and build capacity to manage urban development.
Stem undocumented migration by improving law enforcement (especially against
profiteering smugglers of aliens) while safeguarding the human rights of
undocumented migrants.
Protect refugees and asylum-seekers, reduce pressures that lead to refugee
movements and support international refugee assistance.
Sources: (1) Population Action International, Why Population Matters (New York: 1996), P. 19; (2) UNFPA, The
State of World Population 1998 (New York: 1998), P. 70; (3) UNFPA, The State of World Population 1995 (New
York: 1995); (4) Intergovemmental Consultations on Asylum, Refugee and Migration Policies, and U.S.
Committee for Refugees (World Wide Web site: w/ttp://www.refugees.org/world/statistics/wrs98
table10.htm); (5) Joseph A. McFalls Jr., "Population: A Lively Introduction (Third Edition)," Population Bulletin
53.3 (Washington DC: Population Reference Bureau, 1998), P. 10.
December 1998
1999
rogum
Money Matters:
DAY
OF
BILLION
Financial Resource Commitments
The Cairo
Cousenour
population
the facts
T
o reach the ambitious goals of the ICPD, participating governments - after
hard negotiations and much research - agreed to increase spending on
population and related programmes to $17 billion per year by 2000. The figure, less
of life
than one week's global spending on armaments, was to climb to $22 billion by 2015.
(1). Two-thirds of the total was to come from developing nations and one-third
from the industrialized world.
That commitment was a departure from trends prior to 1994, which had showed a
steady slight decline in overall development assistance. But the ICPD saw that just
to maintain the levels of contraceptive use that had led to global fertility declines,
about 100 million more couples would need access to reproductive health and family
planning services by 2000.
A Good Start
In 1995, a global total of $9.5 billion was earmarked for population programmes and
projects, a substantial rise from 1994 spending.
Donor countries increased their assistance to $2 billion, the highest percentage
in a decade.
Developing nations provided $7.5 billion, about 78% of total investments, more
than projected. China, India and Indonesia accounted for more than half that
amount.
The funds were channeled to projects directed at expansion of reproductive health
care including family planning and sexual health information and services for women
and men; and production and distribution of safe, effective and inexpensive
contraceptives, maternal health care, essential childbirth and STDs and HIV/AIDS
prevention. It also includes advocacy for the ICPD Programme of Action, especially
for primary education and sexual health. These were the programmatic priorities
agreed upon at the ICPD.
Follow-through is Lacking
Since 1995, however, donor nations with a few exceptions have been reducing their
support for population measures rather than increasing it as promised.
Only five donor nations have managed to approach their share: Denmark,
Finland, Sweden Norway and the Netherlands. Most others are far short of their
commitments.
Population aid from all donor nations was 2.46% of official development assistance in 1996, up
from 2.32% in 1995 but still short of their share. (2)
In 1996, 94% of all population assistance funding came from ten countries: the Netherlands and
the United States (55% together); and the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Denmark,
Sweden, Norway, Canada and Australia. (2)
Final 1996 spending by region was as follows: Sub-Saharan Africa $422 million (28%); Asia and
the Pacific $367 million (24%); Latin America and the Caribbean $197 million (13%); Western
Asia and North Africa $104 million (7%); Europe $25 million (2%). The remaining 26% went to
global and interregional aid. (2)
The Consequences of Continuing to Fall Short Will Be Severe
The UN Population Fund has projected scenarios for low, medium and high rates of shortfall from
the Cairo commitments. (1)
Constant growth of commitments, the most optimistic, assumes that donor nations continue their current
below-target rate of growth in contributions 1995-2000, and that developing nations meet the Cairo
targets. This means a shortfall of $2.1 billion in 2000.
Some 97 million people who would have chosen contraception will not be able to do so. The
number of unintended pregnancies will rise by 130 million.
Abortions will increase by 50 million. Unwanted births will rise by 59 million. Maternal deaths will
rise by 300,000, and an additional 3.6 million infants and 1.3 million children will die from
inadequate health care.
Intermediate growth of commitments assumes assistance rises 20% more slowly than in the above
scenario. This leads to a $2.9 billion shortfall in 2000.
About 130 million people who would have chosen contraception will not be able to do so. The
number of unintended pregnancies will rise by 170 million.
Abortions will increase by 68 million. Unwanted births will rise by 79 million. Maternal deaths
will rise by 400,000, and another 4.8 million infants and 1.8 million children will die from
inadequate health care.
Low growth of commitments assumes that developing nations also fall short of their targets. This results
in a $3.8 billion shortfall in 2000.
Some 170 million people who would have chosen contraception will not be able to do so. The
number of unintended pregnancies will rise by 230 million.
Abortions will increase by 92 million. Unwanted births will rise by 110 million. Maternal deaths
will rise by 540,000, and an additional 6.5 million infants and 2.4 million children will die from
inadequate health care.
Sources: (1) Except where indicated, all figures are from UNFPA, Falling Short: Struggling to Implement the Cairo Programme of Action,
(New York: 1997). (2) UNFPA, Global Population Assistance Report, 1996 (New York: 1997),
December 1998
1999
Contacts:
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
United Nations,
The Cairo PEOPLE
U.S. Government and International
population
United Nations
the facts
of life
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Stirling Scruggs, Director of
Information and External Relations. Contact: Corrie Shanahan, Senior Information
Officer, [email protected], (212) 297-5023, www.unfpa.org.
United Nations Population Division. Contact: Joseph Chamie, Director, (212)
963-3179.
U.S. Government
U.S. Agency for International Development, Center for Population, Health &
Nutrition, Liz Maguire, Director, Office of Population. Contact: Dianne Sherman,
Director of Communication & Outreach, [email protected], (202) 712-4817,
www.info.usaid.gov/pop_health.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Contact: Sarah Kovner,
Special Assistant to the Secretary, (202) 690-6347, www.os.dhbs.gov.
U.S. State Department, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration,
Margaret Pollack, Director, Office of Population. Contact: Suzanne Petroni,
Program Officer, [email protected], (202) 663-3029, www.state.gov/www/global/prm,
U.S. Information Agency Electronic Journal, "Population at the New Millenium: the
U.S. Perspective," www.usia.gov/journals/journals.htm
International
World Population Foundation, Wouter Meijer, Executive Director.
Contact: Joke Van Kampen,[email protected], (31) 35 642 2304, www.wpf.org.
December 1998
1999
Contacts:
Forum
DAY OF OBILLION
U.S. Non-Governmental Organizations
The Cairo PEOPLE
Cairo Plus Five Task Forces:
population
Building a Grassroots Constituency: Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, Gloria Feldt, President, Roberta Synal, Media Relations,
[email protected], (202) 785-3351, www.plannedparenthood.org
the facts
of life
Telling the Cairo Story: The Centre for Development and Population
Activities (CEDPA), Peggy Curlin, President; Patricia Sears, Public Affairs and
Communications Coordinator, [email protected], (202) 667-1142, www.cedpa.org.
Mobilizing Resources: Population Action International, Amy Coen, President,
Sally Ethelston, Director, Media Relations, [email protected], (202) 659-1833,
www.popact.org.
Communicating Research Findings: Population Reference Bureau, Peter
Donaldson, President; Alene Gelbard, Director of International Programs,
[email protected], (202) 483-1100, www.prb.org. Population Council, Margaret Catley-
Carlson, President; Sandra Waldman, Director, Public Information,
[email protected], (212) 941-5300, www.popcouncil.org.
NGOs in Support of the Cairo Consensus:
Advocates for Youth, James Wagoner, President. Contact: Darryl Figueroa,
Director of Communications, [email protected] (202) 347-5700,
www.advocatesforyouth.org
Alan Guttmacher Institute, Jeannie Rosoff, President. Contact: Susan Tew,
Deputy Director of Communications, [email protected], (212) 248-1111, ext. 2208,
www.agi-usa.org.
AVSC International, Amy Pollack, President. Contact: Rachael Pine, JD, Director
for Public Affairs, [email protected] (212) 561-8470, www.avsc.org.
Catholics for a Free Choice, Frances Kissling, President. Contact: Jon O'Brien,
Director of Communications and Education, [email protected], (202) 986-6093,
www.igc.org/catholicuote/
Center for Health and Gender Equity. Contact: Jodi Jacobson, Co-Director,
[email protected], (301) 270-1182.
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Janet Benshoof, President. Contact:
Barbara Becker, Acting Director for Communications, [email protected], (212)
514-5534, www.clrp.org.
Communications Consortium Media Center. Contact: Kathy Bonk, Executive
Director, [email protected] (202) 326-6767, or Kirsten Sherk, Project Assistant,
[email protected], (202) 326-8724.
2
Family Care International. Contact: Jill Sheffield, President,[email protected], (212) 941-5300,
www.familycareintLorg.
Family Health International, Theodore M. King, President. Contact: Nash Herndon,
Managing Editor, [email protected], (919) 544-7040, www.fhi.org.
Family Planning Management Development Project/Management Sciences for Health,
Catherine Crone Coburn, President. Contacts: Sherri Clark, Information Officer,
[email protected], (617) 527-9202 ext. 316, www.msh.org.
The Futures Group International, Henry E. Cole, President. Contact: Jeff Jordan, Deputy
Director, Policy Project,[email protected], (202) 775-9680, www.tfgi.com.
International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), Adrienne Germain, President. Contact:
Hilary Maddux, Director of Communications, [email protected], (212) 979-8500, www.iwhc.org.
Ipas, Forrest Greenslade, President. Contact: Charlotte Hord, Deputy Director for Policy,
[email protected], (919) 967-7052, www.ipas.org.
Izaac Walton League of America, Paul Hansen, Executive Director. Contact: Jim Baird,
Carrying Capacity Project Director,[email protected], (301) 548-0150, www.iwla.org.
John Snow, Inc., Joel Lamstein, President. Contact: Nancy Pendarvis Harris, Vice President,
[email protected], (703) 528-7474, www.jsi.com.
Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, Phyllis Piotrow, Director. Contact:
Stephen Goldstein, Managing Editor, Population Reports, [email protected], (410)
659-6300, www.jhuccp.org.
Meridian Development Foundation. Contact: Victoria Baird, President, v.baird@meridian-
group.com, (202) 466-0511.
National Audubon Society, John Flicker, President. Contacts: Population and Habitat
Campaign, Pat Waak, [email protected], Lise Rousseau, [email protected], (303). 442-2600,
website: boulder.earthet.net/popet
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, Judith DeSarno,
President and CEO. Contact: Marilyn Keefe, Director of Public Policy and Service Delivery,
[email protected], (202) 628-3535, www.nfprha.org.
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health. Contact: Aracely Panameño, Executive
Director, [email protected], (202) 326-8970,
National Wildlife Federation, Norman I. Dean, Senior Vice President. Contact: Peter
Belden, Population Specialist, [email protected], (202) 797-6639, www.nuf.org.
National Women's Law Center, Marcia Greenberger, Co-President. Contact: Sharon Jenkins,
Communications Director, [email protected]. (202) 588-5180, www.nwlc.org.
3
The Park Ridge Center. Contact: Laurence J. O'Connell, Ph.D., S.T.D., President and CEO,
(312) 266-2222.
Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Allie Stickney, President/CEO. Contacts:
Judy Wechsler, Director, the International Program,[email protected], (802) 878-7232.
Population Coalition. Contact: Marilyn Hempel, Executive Director, [email protected],
(909) 625-5717.
Population Communications International, David Andrews, President. Contact: Patrice
Newman, News & Information, [email protected], (202) 687-3366, www.population.org.
Population Institute, Werner Fornos, President. Contact: Hal Burdett, Director of Public
Information, [email protected] (202) 544-3300, www.populationinsitute.or
Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH), Gordon Perkin, President.
Contact: Elaine Murphy, Ph.D., Director of PATH/NCIH Women's Reproductive Health
Initiative, [email protected], (202) 822-0033, www.path.org.
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Rev. Carlton Veazey, President. Contact:
Marjorie Signer, Director of Communications, [email protected], (202) 628-7700, www.rcrc.org.
Research, Action & Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO),
Nahid Toubia, M.D., Executive Director. Contact: Linda Moise, Administrative Officer,
[email protected], (212) 477-3318, www.rainbo.org.
Save the Children, Charles MacCormack, President. Contact: Mary Beth Powers,
Reproductive Health Advisor, [email protected], (203) 221-4269, www.savethechildren.org.
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS). Contact:
Debra W. Haffner, President, [email protected], (212) 819-9770, www.siecus.org.
Sierra Club, Carl Pope, President. Contact: Stephen Mills, Director for International
Programs, (202) 547-1141, www.sierraclub.org.
Winner, Wagner, and Associates. Contact: Sally Patterson, Vice President,
[email protected], (202) 333-2533.
Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Susan Toole, Executive Director.
Contact: Diana Quick, Public Affairs and Communications Coordinator, [email protected],
(212) 551-3087, www.intrescom.org/wcrwc.html
Women's Environment and Development Organization. Contact: Dianne Dillon-Ridgley,
Interim Executive Director, [email protected], (212) 973-0325, www.wedo.org.
Zero Population Growth, Peter Kostmayer, President. Contact: Mark Daley, Press Officer,
[email protected], (202)745-3179, (800) 767-1956, www.zpg.org.
December 1998
CATHOLIC VOICES
WITH THE
ONSENSUS
Catholics and Cairo: A Common Language
One of the most daunting tasks in international
inflammatory language, such as "population
discourse is the discovery and crafting of a common
explosion" and "zero population growth." This
language. This imperative becomes all the more
demographic approach emphasized reduction of
difficult and demanding when the issues seeking
population and neglected women's human rights.
expression are charged with intense feelings,
emotions, and differences in worldview.
The Programme of Action represents a
refreshing step forward. It recognized the
The United Nations 1994 International
importance of ethics, values, interrelationships,
Conference on Population and Development and its
sustainability, poverty eradication, and especially the
Programme of Action adopted in Cairo constitute a
connection between the empowerment of women
pivotal moment in the articulation of a common
and lower fertility rates. The document articulates a
language of conscience. Furthermore, Cairo
broad vision that puts human dignity above
provided the Catholic church with an unprecedented
demographic goals; women's equality and men's
opportunity to enter the world dialogue in terms not
responsibility over mandated family planning. It
unfamiliar to its own traditions and mission.
crafted language on reproductive and sexual health
and rights.
THE CAIRO CONFERENCE
AND THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION
This year, the five-year assessment of Cairo will
be conducted through a series of regional, national,
Every ten years since 1974, the United Nations has
and international meetings. This assessment is
convened an international conference on population
enhanced considerably by religious voices reflecting
and development. Past conferences have been held
on the principles and goals of Cairo and its
in Bucharest (1974) and Mexico City (1984). In
Programme of Action. Among these religious
1994, 180 governments came to Cairo, Egypt, to
groups, a Catholic reflection is especially crucial
attend the third United Nations International
because of the strong and sometimes controversial
Conference on Population and Development
role played by the Vatican and the Holy See during
(hereafter, Cairo or the Cairo Conference).
the Cairo process.
At Cairo, the governments of the world agreed
THE VATICAN AT CAIRO
to a list of proposed actions for the future these
are contained in a Programme of Action, which
Cairo sought to deal with some of the most volatile
spans over 100 pages and comprises sixteen
issues in our personal, political, and religious lives:
chapters. Chapters three through sixteen develop
reproduction, sexuality, development, and women's
the qualitative and quantitative goals agreed to at
human rights. Remarkably, it chose to link these
Cairo. Of particular interest to Catholics and other
themes together and to deal with them in the
people of faith are the principles in chapter two that
overarching categories of rights and responsibilities.
provide the ethical framework for the Cairo
approach to population and development.
Rights emerge from the individual, innate, and
inviolable core of each person. Responsibilities are
Earlier population conferences were rightly
grounded, for the most part, in the community, in
criticized for focusing solely on limiting family size
the demand to treat others with equal dignity and
and reaching demographic targets, often using
rights, and in the insistence that the consequences of
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
all our actions be measured by more than our own
or to propose language that could win the support of
advantage and identity. The dialogue and tension
the world. This difficulty was compounded by the
between rights and responsibilities, between
Vatican's reluctance to affirm the revolutionary
individual and community, between belief and
character of the Cairo Conference as it put issues of
conscience, between wealth and poverty, indeed
population in an overall ethical framework fortified
between men and women were addressed in Cairo to
by insistence on women's rights and health.
an unheard-of level of agreement. To find the
words and consensus to express the world's
Furthermore, the Vatican's actions at Cairo
conscience on such controversial matters is
weakened Cairo's message, particularly for the
extraordinary. One might have supposed that the
Catholic observer. While there are many Catholics
Holy See would be gratified by the serious purpose,
who do not agree with the positions taken by the
religious resonance, Catholic language, and moral
Vatican at Cairo, more still do not realize how
tone with which Cairo went about its work.
consistent the Programme of Action is with Catholic
teachings. In reality, Cairo and the Vatican had
The field of agreement between the Catholic
more areas of concurrence than disagreement. The
church and the Programme of Action is large and
Vatican came to Cairo with deep suspicions and an
impressive. Nonetheless, sharp differences emerged
apparent unwillingness to trust the global process of
(these are dealt with in part 2 of this paper).
reaching agreement on ethical issues, and, therefore,
its message at Cairo was often inconsistent with
Unique among religious bodies of the world,
church teachings. In particular, the Vatican's actions
the Catholic church enjoys a privileged status as a
distorted what Cairo actually said on women's
Non-Member State Permanent Observer at the
human rights, health, and family.
United Nations through its governmental entity, the
Holy See. In this capacity, the Holy See takes part in
Reproductive rights are dealt with in the
United Nations-conferences and can exercise, as it
Programme of Action under the larger rubric of
did at Cairo, voting rights.
human rights for women. The same strategy is
followed in addressing reproductive health through
However, any government will not necessarily
the more expansive issue of a right to health. This is
reflect the beliefs and practices of the people it
one of the great contributions of Cairo. It
purports to represent. There is a distinction between
constantly seeks a larger context, one in which there
the Catholic church and its tradition as a whole (i.e.
is universal agreement, before it deals with
the entire body of believers) and the administration
controversial specifics. Thus, all of the world agree
of that church as it is represented by the Holy See at
on human rights for women even if they may
the United Nations. This distinction is especially
disagree on reproductive rights. The same is true of
important to keep in mind because the laity,
a right to health and the more difficult issues of
theologians, and the bishops at large have no
reproductive health, safe motherhood, abortion, and
meaningful voice or vote on the selection of the
sexual health.
pope and the policies of the Holy See. Therefore, a
truly Catholic position on a particular issue must
One of these difficult issues turned on the
take into account not only the official position of the
definition of "family." As Cairo sought a
Holy See, but also the way this position is received
comprehensive definition, the Vatican feared that a
and lived out in the body of believers. This widely
consequence of so broad a definition would be the
accepted approach insists that Catholic teaching is
validation of homosexual unions.
made up of two entities: the teaching hierarchy
(pope, cardinals, and bishops) and the teaching of
The Vatican became most adamant over the
the laity - the sensus fidelium.
issue of abortion. It finds abortion and
contraception immoral in every circumstance. It
rightly opposes coercive use of these methods.
For all these reasons, the strong Vatican
Delegates at Cairo agreed with the need to end
rejection of major items in the Cairo document was
coercion but also believed that people should be
puzzling and disappointing. The Vatican has every
informed of all these choices. The Programme of
right to state its reservations. The difficulty many
Action leaves to religions and conscience the
experienced with the Vatican's position derived from
dialogue about whether particular individuals or
its unwillingness to enter the process of discussion
traditions should choose among the options they are
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
given. In a world climate in which choices seen as
While it is written from a Catholic perspective,
moral by one side are branded as immoral by the
we hope this article will be of use and interest to
other, the Cairo Conference had no other way to
readers from other religious, ethical, or philosophical
proceed.
traditions. And by no means does our analysis
pretend to be exclusive: Cairo's vision reflects the
The articulation of moral choices should never
values of many belief systems.
be so absolute that they have no reference to the real
situations in which people live. Catholic theology
PART 1
and teaching have always affirmed the right of
AREAS OF AGREEMENT: SHARED
conscience and contextualized moral choices. Cairo
PRINCIPLES
did insist that where reproductive health is
concerned, all legal options open to the individual
The Vatican claimed that the Programme of Action
should be safe and people should be informed fully
lacked an ethical framework and was the work of
about the consequences of deciding one way or the
aggressive Western feminists: "One of the principal
other.
concerns of the Delegation of the Holy See
regarding the Draft Final Document is its lack of a
CATHOLICS AND CAIRO
clear ethical vision."i The document that the
Vatican so soundly excoriated, however, is actually
Cairo, in many ways, is a universal declaration of
remarkable for its principles and values values
human rights applied to population, sexuality, and
forged and agreed to by over 180 nations from
women's lives. Had the document been cast in the
around the world and clearly articulated in chapter
narrow terms the Vatican demanded, it would have
two of the Programme of Action.
divided and splintered the world community. A new
language of shared values needed to be formulated, a
The principles, the foundation for the
language of universal rights and responsibilities. The
Programme of Action, are consistent with Catholic
agency to speak that language, the United Nations,
values - especially as they relate to population and
gained the world's confidence more readily than the
development - reflecting how much the Catholic
respected but sometimes ideological voice of the
church has in common with the global community.
Vatican.
These principles are the legacy of Cairo. Regardless
of what happens with regard to proposed actions or
The debates at Cairo made it clear that in many
financial commitments, the principles are critical to
moments, the Vatican and the global community
the development of a common language of values.
frequently spoke with the same voice. The Vatican,
And despite initial appearances to the contrary, the
however, often declared its position on the more
Vatican and those supporting reproductive rights do
controversial issues as definitive, neither inviting nor
agree on these values.
allowing participation or nuance in order to achieve
consensus. The United Nations cannot adopt a
PRINCIPLE 1:
language of ethics and values that the human family
UNIVERSALITY OF HUMAN RIGHTS
at large neither understands nor accepts. If people
Following the United Nations tradition of support
are fundamentally reliable, then open debate,
for human rights, the Programme of Action includes
accommodation, and global consensus may offer us
strong support for individual rights. Catholic
our best hope for choices that are moral, profoundly
endorsement of the fundamental vocabulary of
human, and irresistibly fair.
human rights moved forward dramatically as social
justice documents and the Declaration on Religious
For the purposes of this article and to help
Freedom from Vatican II were adopted in the 1960s.
clarify the distinction between the official and the
Since then, the church has become an international
living church, the terms "Holy See," "Vatican," and
advocate for human rights, even though, like many
"delegation" are used to represent church
other political and religious bodies, it has a mixed
governance. The terms "church," "church
record in this area.
teachings," and "church tradition" are used to
represent a broader definition of Catholicism, to
Catholic support for human rights - such as
include the laity, theologians, and the hierarchy.
bodily integrity, right to life, and right to health - is
linked to the value placed on human dignity by the
church, biblically grounded in the creation of human
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
4
beings in the image of God (Gn 1:26) and the spirit
of resisting development is incalculable and
of Christ (In 1). These rights are human, therefore
unconscionable.
universal, and transcend boundaries of gender, race,
religion, and nations. However, while the church
The Catholic social justice tradition and
upholds the universality of human rights, its record
preferential option for the poor provide a basis for
on women's rights is varied.
the church's teaching on development. The church
maintains that industrialized nations should assist,
Within the international community there is a
through technology transfer and debt forgiveness,
debate over the universality of human rights. In this
the developing world's ability to use its resources for
debate, the Vatican agrees with human rights
its own development. In particular, John Paul II has
organizations that a core group of human rights are
criticized both capitalism and socialism for
universal because of our common human dignity
neglecting to put human needs and the common
and should be freely exercised independent of the
good above material profit.
current political, cultural, or economic atmosphere
of a particular location. The other side of the debate
PRINCIPLE 5: POPULATION-RELATED GOALS
argues that human rights are not necessarily
Although often perceived as unwilling to
universal and indeed are culturally conditioned. In
acknowledge problems caused by rates of population
this way "culture" has often been used to defend
growth, the church does consider hunger and other
human rights abuses and to prevent the
developmental problems to be exacerbated by
implementation of development programs.
population growth. Indeed, the Second Vatican
While the church teaches that preservation of
Council insisted that parenthood be exercised
culture is an important consideration in any global
responsibly. Parents who bring children into the
mandate, it insists that culture is not an absolute
world recklessly and thoughtlessly are censured. At
value that justifies everything from the oppression of
issue is not limiting births or determining family size,
women to the bondage of children and genocide.
which the Vatican accepts, but the means by which
The Jewish prophets and Jesus himself exemplified
this limitation is achieved.
the Christian belief that people of good will often
resist aspects of their own cultural heritage.
PRINCIPLE 6: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Because developing countries were able to voice
PRINCIPLE 2: PEOPLE AS CENTRAL
their concerns over sustainable development at
CONCERN OF DEVELOPMENT
Cairo, a larger recognition of the overconsumption
The true measure of development, according to both
of developed countries was written into the
the Programme of Action and the church, is whether
Programme of Action. This principle is also seen in
it meets people's human needs and aspirations and
the church belief that developed countries must
whether it does so in accord with their human dignity.
eliminate their overconsumption as a way to
maintain sustainability and to achieve responsible
Development policies have at times been the
stewardship.
subject of serious criticism by faith-based
organizations, including both official and
The Catholic church supports consideration of
independent Catholic groups. Development policy
environmental concerns in development policy. For
has often been focused solely on economic rather
many centuries, the church, prompted by Scripture,
than human development. In contrast, delegates at
principally Genesis, believed that domination of the
Cairo reaffirmed the emerging global consensus that
earth by people was God's will. To its credit, the
people's lives, not markets or production, should be
church has begun to appreciate the vital
the central concern of all development policies.
interrelationship among human beings, other forms
of life on the planet, and the planet itself. Now the
PRINCIPLE 3: RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT
church sees the world itself as a sacrament, namely a
The United States President's Council on Sustainable
reality endowed with the presence of God and with
Development notes that people in developed
grace. There remain those in the Catholic
countries only 20 percent of the world's
community who fear that ecological spirituality may
population - consume 85 percent of the world's
lead to pantheism. This hesitancy has not prevented
resources. In light of this observation, we are made
popes from speaking bravely about an ecological
aware that we can do better and that the human cost
crisis, our common environmental responsibility,
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
5
and the need to impose limits on human domination
experts prior to Cairo to address this subject:
and overconsumption of natural resources.
prostitution of children in Bangkok, Thailand (1992);
child labor in Manila, Philippines (1993); and street
PRINCIPLE 7: ERADICATING POVERTY
children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1994).
The Programme of Action's focus on eradicating
poverty and the special attention it gives to the
However, it is important not to overstate the
neediest of poor countries is an important aspect of
hierarchy's support of children's rights. While the
the Cairo consensus for Catholics. Cairo is
church often speaks and acts on behalf of the well-
consistent with church teachings on the preferential
being of children, it defines children's rights as
option for the poor and economic justice for all in
almost exclusively derivative of parental rights.
insisting that "special priority" be given to the least
Furthermore, the Vatican is more likely to support
developed nations of the world.
parental rights over children's rights, as further
recognition of the patriarchal family unit. Parents
It has been observed that poverty imposes
have a primary right to educate and raise their
imperatives on the affluent. Jesus makes it quite
children, but it is not an absolute or exclusive right,
clear that neglect of the poor is neglect of God. The
such as prevails in some cultures where children are
Catholic tradition resonates with this teaching, from
defined as property. Society at large and the church
the medieval legends of the poor as saints and of
must establish and affirm children's rights when
God disguised in poverty to modern proclamations
parents violate or neglect them.
of a preferential option for the poor. Indeed, the
Catholic church is often seen as the church of the
PRINCIPLE 12: MIGRANT RIGHTS
masses, the poor, and the workers.
The Programme of Action acknowledges that
migrants often have the least access to resources and
There are different ways of addressing poverty;
services provided in development plans and calls on
sometimes the least effective, but by no means
countries to guarantee fundamental human rights to
inconsequential, is charity and alms giving. On a
all migrants. The church's record here has been
deeper level, however, the church calls for the
impressive and effective. The church has organized
transformation of structures that create poverty. On
and spoken on behalf of migrants. It has often
the deepest level of all, the poor must be addressed
demanded that nations support immigrant and
as equal in dignity to those who are affluent. On
migrant populations by not only considering them as
this, the church and Cairo agree.
workers, but also respecting their cultural identity.
The church has offered migrants pastoral service,
PRINCIPLE 10: RIGHT TO EDUCATION
and through the pope and national conferences of
In Cairo, education was emphasized as the means to
bishops has acted as their advocate before the world
the full development of human resources.
community. In fact, on the issue of migrant rights,
Traditionally, girls and women have not been given
the church and United Nations are more in
equal access to educational opportunities.
agreement with each other than with developed
Investment in education is critical to the
nations.
empowerment of women and the achievement of
their human rights.
PRINCIPLE 13: RIGHT TO ASYLUM
Cairo explicitly calls on nations to grant protection
Catholic teachings support the importance of
for refugees escaping persecution. This stance is
education. From monasteries to universities, the
well in line with church tradition, which condemns
church has been a pioneer in educating people in
political and religious persecution and urges nations
their spiritual and social responsibilities.
to provide asylum for those in exile as a duty of the
common good. In fact, church buildings have
PRINCIPLE 11: CHILDREN AS A PRIORITY
traditionally been sanctuaries for the persecuted.
Cairo maintained children's rights to standards of
The church at large, sometimes selectively, has
living and adequate health care, as well as the right to
offered protection to the vulnerable.
be protected from injury and exploitation. The
church protects children as innocents. The church
PRINCIPLE 14: INDIGENOUS RIGHTS
was so concerned with the injustices perpetrated
In the past, the church has in many instances
against children that the Pontifical Council for the
favored evangelization and cultural transformation
Family organized three international meetings of
over the preservation of indigenous identities.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
6
History tells how colonization of indigenous people
proposing language or lending force to the many
by Western powers was often accompanied by the
other issues discussed at the Cairo Conference and
imposition of Christianity. The church, however,
important to Catholics.
has recently been more sensitive to indigenous
traditions. Nonetheless, it is disappointing that
In the end the Vatican joined the global
national church leaders, speaking on behalf of their
consensus on the Programme of Action as a whole,
own people, have not been sufficiently heard by the
but placed reservations on the following list of
Vatican. Indigenous rights are not only the rights of
specific phrases:
indigenous minorities. The church cannot be truly
incarnated in a culture unless it takes on the
contraception
character of that culture. If the church appears as an
couples and individuals
alien presence in the culture, it will not reach the
family planning
people there on a profound level or in an authentic
reproductive health
way.
reproductive rights
PRINCIPLE 15:
sexual health
DEVELOPMENT RESPONSIBILITIES
sexual rights
The final principle agreed to in Cairo addresses the
widest range of family-planning services
need for all nations to take responsibility in assisting
women's ability to control their own fertility
global development while acknowledging that each
nation has its own needs, capabilities, and
The Holy See also placed general reservations
responsibilities. It also states a special obligation of
on eight of the sixteen chapters: "Reproductive
more developed countries to advance set agendas
Rights and Reproductive Health"; "Health,
and to maintain sustainable levels of growth. The
Morbidity, and Mortality"; "Population,
church has historically been sensitive to the diversity
Development, and Education"; "Technology,
of nations in regard to population and development
Research, and Development"; "National Action";
strategy, and it has put pressure on the North to
"International Cooperation"; "Partnership with the
contribute to the equitable development of the
Non-Governmental Sector"; and "Follow-up to the
South.
Conference."
PART 2
Cairo, of course, did not detail ethical values as
AREAS OF DEBATE: WOMEN,
a religious tradition would detail them. It could not
HEALTH, AND FAMILY
do this, given the diversity of its constituency. It did,
however, search for a common, global ethic based
When the United Nations produces an international
on human rights and responsibilities. Cairo afforded
document such as Cairo's Programme of Action, its
an opportunity for the Holy See to make its points
goal is to secure the support of as many nations as
regarding the importance of human dignity in
possible. Thus, it provides an extensive drafting
population policy. The Holy See might have done
process aimed at achieving consensus, with many
this more convincingly by affirming more forcefully
versions of a document and numerous preparatory
the many positive features in this document and by
meetings -- with considerable input by
engaging in a constructive dialogue with the world
nongovernmental organizations to discuss
on the complex issues of reproduction and sexuality.
objectives. A government delegation objecting to
any part of the document may have a section,
The Holy See delegation's concerns over three
phrase, or word placed in brackets for further debate
principles in the Programme of Action - women's
and possible deletion. During the Cairo process the
human rights, the right to health, and the definition
Holy See and a handful of other nations- including
of family - led to reservations on a number of Cairo
Argentina, Benin, Guatemala, Honduras, Malta,
objectives. Disagreement was over application, as
Morocco, and Nicaragua- bracketed most language
the church has historically supported all three of
referring to reproductive rights, sexuality education,
these principles. However, a gap exists between
abortion, contraception, the definition of family, and
what the Vatican said at Cairo and what Catholic
safe motherhood. In fact, the Vatican focused most
tradition allowed the Vatican to say. In reality,
of its energy at Cairo on objecting to the existing
official church statements could have been brought
consensus on reproduction and sexuality rather than
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
7
to bear to support the United Nations positions on
Catholic support for women's rights comes
women, health, and family.
from the biblical tradition of gender equality.
Theologians, men and women, working within the
PRINCIPLE 4: WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS
Catholic tradition have rediscovered the role of
As part of the new development paradigm created at
women in Scripture and early tradition and have
Cairo, women's human rights were supported as a
found it to be more open, creative, and decisive than
principal goal. Prior to Cairo, women's lives were
current Vatican policy. Scripture begins, in the first
not always treated with dignity and respect in
chapter of Genesis, with the grand theme of gender
population policies; women were often considered
equality in the creation account. Not only is there
only in terms of their reproductive capacity, and
no subordination of women, there is indeed a radical
their aspirations and needs were made secondary to
gender equality. The Christian Scriptures present to
demographic outcomes.
us the startling ease that Jesus has in bringing
women into a discipleship of equals. The greatest of
While the church has a strong record of
all messages about Christ, the Easter experience, is
speaking in support of human dignity and objecting
borne by a woman who becomes the apostle to the
to human rights abuses, its record on women's
apostles and, indeed, their teacher. Paul readily
human rights is ambiguous. It is not that church
speaks of the prominent role women play in the
teachings do not support gender equity or the dignity
creation of the early church: Women are appointed
of women, but that the Vatican has shown itself to
as deacons, coworkers, and even apostles (Romans
hold a limited understanding of women's human
16).
rights, and in particular, the ability of women to
control their own fertility.
This discrepancy between the statements of the
Holy See delegation at Cairo and church teachings is
The Holy See is careful never to assert
illuminated by the delegation's criticism of two areas
women's equality with men without a qualifier,
of the Programme of Action: empowerment of
usually the notion of "women's special dignity." In
women and reproductive rights.
the Vatican's worldview, men are the normative
human beings and women are understood primarily
EMPOWERMENT Of Women
in terms of their reproductive and mothering
Cairo's focus on the empowerment of women is a
capacities. What seems to be a laudable principle
culmination of decades of progress in the field of
women's dignity -- actually circumscribes women's
population and development, accelerated as women
options and equality. No such assumption is ever
entered the international dialogue and research
made with regard to men, whose dignity is presumed
showed that women's status was a factor in family
simply to stem from their humanity.iii
size and efficacy of development programs. The
Programme of Action was the first United Nations
When the Vatican addresses rights for women,
document on population that explicitly recognized
they are more often rights to be protected through
the importance of women's rights as a crucial factor
the agency of others. They are not political, social,
in development and indeed, as a worthy goal in itself.
or economic rights through which women
Cairo declared that development policies should not
themselves exercise power as autonomous moral
center on controlling women's fertility, but on
agents. And while the Vatican does support the
empowering women to make decisions about their
universality of human rights, a division exists
own reproduction. This empowerment could be
between the Vatican and women's human rights
advanced by ensuring access to information and
advocates over the question of what a human right
resources and providing social, political, and
is. In the case of human rights dealing with
economic conditions that favor autonomous
reproductive health, sexuality, and women's
decision making.
empowerment, the Vatican holds that Western
feminists, among others, are attempting to establish
The Vatican and even Pope John Paul II
"new" rights. In reality, Cairo sought not so much
himself have spoken of women's empowerment and
an expansion of human rights but an expansion of
call for the support of women in their dual roles as
what the global community means when it says
mother and part of the labor force. But this very
human rights.
positive view of women in the public sphere is
presented with an emphasis on the woman's role as
mother. "The true advancement of women requires
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
8
that labour should be structured in such a way that
rights as an integral aspect of human rights.
women do not have to pay for their advancement by
According to the Programme of Action,
abandoning what is specific to them and at the
reproductive rights are grounded in previously
expense of the family, in which women as mothers
recognized human rights, such as the right to bodily
have an irreplaceable role."iv
integrity and nondiscrimination, and specifically the
right to decide freely the number and spacing of
Vatican support of the economic
children and reproductive autonomy a right first
empowerment of women demurs when this
recognized in 1968 at the International Conference
empowerment leads women to a sense of their
on Human Rights in Teheran, Iran."
sexual and reproductive options. As the Catholic
tradition developed, men were made the norm for
The Vatican objected at Cairo to the
human experience, and women far too readily were
Programme of Action's treatment of reproductive
defined in church teachings in terms of their
rights, choosing this moment to invoke the
reproductive and maternal capacities. In this
preservation of culture and tradition and proclaiming
scenario, little accrues to women simply because they
the danger of establishing "new fundamental human
are human More often, women are praised when
rights."vi However, Catholic teachings supply many
they are submissive, when they are mothers, and
elements that support reproductive rights, primarily
when they serve the needs of men or their children.
the church tradition advocating for the universality
Within this framework, the Vatican sees the exercise
of human rights. The Vatican recognizes that human
of women's human rights as threatening the
dignity is tied to the ability to exercise free will and
traditional family unit.
individual conscience. In the contemporary world,
religions gain credibility and become persuasive
And although the church has spoken of the
when they recognize the importance of free will,
contributions women can make in the public forum,
allow alternatives, and then guide or persuade people
this belief does not extend to the role of women in
by appealing to their highest motives.
the church. Actions speak more clearly than words.
No woman is ordained in the Catholic church. The
There is something demeaning and morally
governing structure of the Holy See includes no
offensive about putting burdens on women without
women in decision- or policy-making roles and no
allowing them a voice and a vote about their own
women in the church's pivotal electoral body, the
lives and the consequences they may be asked to
College of Cardinals. There is no requirement that
endure. Women at large must be trusted to be
women be consulted regarding the development or
concerned about life issues and to make responsible
content of Vatican documents and no indication that
decisions. Political participation, equality in the
such consultation occurs voluntarily except in very
workplace, protection from violence all rights
limited and rare examples. Official church policies
supported by the Vatican cannot be addressed
prohibiting important forms of women's
without first affirming women's moral capacity and
participation in the church make it difficult for
integrity. Women cannot be expected to make
people to believe that the church is committed to
decisions freely outside the home if society or the
gender equality. The fact that these policies of
church preempts their personal decision making
exclusion are difficult, if not impossible, to derive
concerning the reproductive activity of their bodies.
from Scripture or tradition further weakens the
Vatican's position.
Church teachings on the common good and
justice show us that we cannot achieve moral order
We cannot expect an all-too-human church to
if individuals are coerced or repressed. Because
be centuries ahead of the cultural development of
women in the church have been excluded from
gender equality. It is unpardonable, however, when
defining elements of the common good,
the church seems to be behind, or worse, when it
reproductive rights have not been adequately
resists such development.
addressed in the Catholic church. Women, indeed
all people, do best in dialogue, not when they are
REPRODUCTIVE Rights
asked only to take dictation.
The Vatican has recently been supportive of rights
of women in society, but it continues to try to deny
It is telling that the Vatican chose this moment
women reproductive rights. Cairo went beyond
in the Cairo negotiations to argue for cultural
defining reproductive health to affirm reproductive
preservation. It argued, for example, that access to
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
9
contraception and legal abortion are staunchly
and sexual health is noncontroversial, such as
opposed in other cultures and that democracy does
prenatal, postnatal, and maternal health care and
not suit the culture of the Vatican. This may be true,
treatment for those affected with HIV. However,
but it raises the question of who defines this culture.
even this section of the Programme of Action
Such "sensitivity" to culture is not evident when the
provoked numerous objections on the part of the
culture of women, for example, is at issue or when
Vatican.
cultures that strongly support contraception and
legal abortion are denied these options because they
In addition to the church's strong support of
do not adhere to the Vatican view of acceptable
health as a fundamental human right, Catholic health
public policy.
care is guided by the tradition of treating the whole
person, recognizing that separating the body from
There is a tendency to criticize Western culture
the soul or treating only one aspect is not the best
as too feminist and to favor more traditional
method of promoting overall health. Yet church
alternatives. However, when African and Asian
leadership over and again singles out reproductive
bishops ask for different attitudes on the position of
health and attempts IO limit services and information
the Vatican, as they did in recent synods at Rome,
available for this aspect of health. For women,
they are not heard. When women of the South and
reproductive health is central to overall health. At
East spoke to delegates on the importance of
some point, women are placed in bondage to
reproductive rights and health, their positions were
reproduction and biology if only periodic abstinence
dismissed. Culture has been invoked to silence the
("natural family planning") is tolerated.
voices of women in the dialogue on reproductive
rights. Surely those who have most at stake in every
To tell the world that "natural family planning"
pregnancy should be allowed a decisive voice and
is the only means by which pregnancies may be
choice on their own behalf.
avoided - as the Vatican does - is to speak with an
ineffective voice. The world knows that such
PRINCIPLE 8: RIGHT TO HEALTH
teaching is rejected by a virtual unanimity of Catholic
The church's support of the right to health has
couples and by the vast majority of Catholic
biblical grounding in the healing tradition of Christ.
theologians. The historical record shows that all the
A "right to medical care" is established in the 1963
cardinalatial and episcopal committees formed by
encyclical Pacem in Terris, and the Catechism of the
the popes to deal with this issue recommended a
Catholic Church places the burden of respecting health
change in church teaching and the acceptance of
on all of society. Pope John Paul II often calls upon
artificial contraception as a moral option. The
nations to provide health care to all citizens as a
prohibition of artificial contraception is not so much
basic economic right necessary for human dignity.
church teaching as it is papal teaching.
By acknowledging the universality of the right to
health care, the Catholic church is acknowledging
Furthermore, Catholic teaching on responsible
the need for health care to be independent of
parenthood strongly rejects coercion by any group or
geography, language, ethnicity, gender, or religion.
individual attempting to restrain couples from
making responsible decisions about procreation.
While the church asserts the right to health as a
Denying access to information about certain options
fundamental right, absolutely necessary for human
was perceived by many in the global community as
dignity, the Vatican does not support health when
morally and practically coercive, especially when
applied to reproduction and sexuality, as clearly
access and information are denied to those who are
demonstrated in the Holy See's objections to the
not Catholic or those whose consciences tell them
sections on reproductive health, safe motherhood,
that contraception is a moral choice. In any case,
abortion, sexual health, and sexuality education for
even according to church teachings, without options
adolescents as agreed to at Cairo. At issue was how
one cannot act morally. The Vatican remains free to
to specify and define health.
address and influence the consciences of people by
moral suasion. The world community objects,
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
however, to efforts to eliminate access to artificial
Cairo's Programme of Action was the first United
contraception, sterilization, and abortion completely
Nations document to explicitly define reproductive
with legal force and punishment.
health. Much of the language included in the
recommended actions for obtaining reproductive
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
10
SAFE MOTHERHOOD
contraceptives became more available over a thirty-
The Vatican bracketed the term "safe motherhood"
year period, abortion rates fell from over 60 per
in the Draft Programme of Action and objected to
1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in the 1950s to under 40
its use at the Cairo Conference. Its opposition to
per 1,000 in the 1980s.* One of the best ways to
the term, the Vatican delegation said, was based on a
reduce recourse to abortion is through access to a
fear that inclusion of the term would open the door
range of effective contraceptive options.
for abortion. vii But "safe motherhood," by
definition, covers many services and programs that
Even taking into account Vatican opposition to
the church unequivocally supports, including efforts
abortion, we remain puzzled about why the Vatican
to improve women's health in pregnancy through
objects to abortion being safe where legal. "There is
prenatal care and nutrition.
no such thing as a 'safe' abortion: Whether legal or
not, abortion is lethal for the child and destructive of
All women face risks in pregnancy and
the mother and society," declared the US cardinals
childbearing. Poor women face especially high risks.
before the Cairo Conference. This dismissal of safe
For example, Bolivia, the poorest country in South
abortion by the hierarchy is insensitive to the
America, has a maternal mortality rate of 600 per
realities women face and to the number of women
100,000 live births,viii compared with 12 per 100,000
who die from unsafe abortions every day.
in the United States.ix
Because women everywhere resort to abortion,
The Vatican delegation's decision to reject the
the alternative to safe abortion, of course, is unsafe
term "safe motherhood" outright, without any
abortion. Again, it is the hierarchy's preoccupation
attempt to make a distinction between its acceptance
with eliminating abortion from the world that
of the components it supports and its resistance to
prevents the real issues of justice and health for
abortion without exception, led to an inconsistent
women from being addressed. Such an absolutist
position on motherhood. All women's lives are
position fails to acknowledge the ambiguity and
defensible, and it is disingenuous for the church to
doubt regarding fetal life and ignores the moral
claim to defend life while simultaneously opposing
complexities surrounding each situation.
measures necessary to save women's lives. The
Vatican's refusal to support safe motherhood at
While the legal status of abortion appears to
Cairo gave the impression that a woman's health is
have relatively little connection to its overall
secondary to her reproductive functions.
pervasiveness in a country, it does influence the
safety of conditions under which the procedure must
ABORTION
be performed. Illegal abortion is associated with a
Despite much talk about the issue, the Programme
high incidence of maternal death and disability. For
of Action principally deals with abortion in one
example, while Mexico and United States have
paragraph, which makes four major statements:
similar abortion rates, maternal deaths per 100,000
abortion should not be promoted as a
live births are almost ten times higher in Mexico,
method of family planning;
where abortion is illegal.xi
incidence of abortion should be reduced
through access to family planning services;
In countries where abortion is illegal, it is the
abortion should be safe where legal; and
poor who are left to face abortions under the worst
where illegal, the consequences of
types of conditions. And in countries where
illegal/unsafe abortions should be addressed.
abortion is legal, but safe abortions are costly, it is
During Cairo, the Vatican objected to all but
again poor women who shoulder the burden. The
the first.
church tradition of a preferential option for the poor
has been interpreted by many Catholics to support
Abortion is a complex moral and social issue
the safety of abortion and to oppose unsafe
potential mothers know this best. However, the
abortions when safe options are available. It is
Vatican's position on abortion is compromised by its
possible to be opposed to abortion without
unwillingness to accept contraceptive services and
supporting unsafe procedures; concern for public
devices even though they reduce abortions by
safety is not the same as moral endorsement.
diminishing the number of unwanted pregnancies.
For example, according to the Alan Guttmacher
Despite Vatican disapproval, the Cairo
Institute, data from Hungary show that as
Conference was right to address the catastrophic
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
11
health consequences for women of unsafe abortion.
temptresses. Celibacy is protected, admired, and
Mercy requires that we eliminate pain whenever
rewarded by special privileges in the church.
possible; justice demands that we do not abandon
Holiness is equated with abstinence. In the Council
poor women or women in need of help.
of Trent (1545-1563), the church at its highest level
of authority condemned and censured anyone who
SEXUAL HEALTH
dared to say celibacy is not superior to marriage.
Cairo acknowledged the link between sexuality and
gender relations, affirming that relationships
The Vatican's views on sexuality translate into
between partners have profound consequences for
an isolation in church policy of sexual health from
sexual health and behavior. The Vatican, in
other forms of mental and physical health, which has
response, accused the Programme of Action of
real impact on human lives. This impact is most
"promoting a self-centered and casual view of
conspicuous in the Vatican's treatment of
human sexuality, an approach so destructive of
HIV/AIDS. Forbidding the use of condoms when
family life and the moral fiber of society."xi In
one partner is already infected is an irresponsible
Catholicism, a long tradition of aversion to sexuality
application of church teachings on contraception.
is the root of current Vatican conservatism on
reproduction and women. Despite recent attempts
Realizing the impracticality of the Vatican's
to expunge this historical antipathy, church teachings
position on condoms, the French bishops in 1996
often continue to reflect its influence.
presented a 235-page document on AIDS
acknowledging the usefulness of condoms in
Until Vatican II, pleasure was rarely, if ever,
preventing the spread of HIV. The use of a
linked to sex in a positive way by the church. Sex
condom, the bishops said, "can be understood in the
was often presented as a necessary evil and is termed
case of people for whom sexual activity is an
such by church teachers such as St. Augustine. The
ingrained part of their lifestyle and for whom [that
purpose of sex was procreation, not pleasure or even
activity] represents a serious risk."xiv
relationship. For more than a thousand years, the
church taught the superiority of sexless marriages
An escalating chorus of voices from recent
and urged all married priests to reject sex with their
official church teachings, theologians, and laity
wives and to refuse to conceive children.
supports positive views of human sexuality.
Spirituality and sexuality are seen today as linked.
Today, the Vatican's suspicion of sexuality
The celebration of our bodies and sexuality brings us
persists. Part of this mistrust is based on amnesia
spiritual awareness and even love itself. Human
concerning biblical references to sexual pleasure as a
sexuality is seen as committing each person to
value in its own right. A preeminent example of this
concern for the other or else it forfeits its human
tradition is the Song of Songs. In this most frank
and virtuous content. Sexuality, like love, should be
and erotic of all biblical books, sexual pleasure
sensitive, considerate, generous, compassionate, and
between lovers and spouses is celebrated. In
concerned. Christianity insists that we love our
addition, one of the overriding images of God's love
neighbors as ourselves. This principle is expected to
for the human family in both testaments is the
govern our sexual relationships.
relationship between the bridegroom and bride.
Jesus has been misinterpreted by some as hostile to
Furthermore, in the sometimes less-than-ideal
pleasure. In reality, Jesus says little about sex but is
lives people must live, differing levels of tolerance,
deeply troubled by power and authoritarianism. The
compassion, and resiliency matter. By denying the
church's suspicions of sexual pleasure and its
sexual or reproductive realities and needs of people,
negative judgment about it do not derive from the
the church cannot effectively heal lives.
Bible. They emerge from second- and third-century
Greco-Roman ideas about pleasure and pain, ideas
ADOLESCENTS AND SEXUALITY EDUCATION
that the mind needs to control the body and that
During the Cairo Conference, the Vatican accused
pleasure or emotions are less human or less
the Programme of Action of accepting "almost as an
acceptable than cognitive life.
unrestricted right, that each individual including
adolescents from an early age, may be 'sexually
Female sexuality, in particular, was and is often
active."xv In reality, the Programme of Action
viewed negatively by the church. Women are blamed
balances the needs of adolescents for access to
for men's sexual desires and presented as
services and information on sexuality and
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
12
reproduction with the rights and duties of parents
as a "domestic church," a "privileged community,"
and other adults to provide needed guidance and
and "the original cell of social life."xvii Indeed,
direction to maturing young people, calling on
society is always most stable when families are secure
societies to promote mutually respectful and
and when governments invest resources in them.
equitable gender relations and to provide education
But while both the Vatican and the Programme of
and services in order to deal with sexuality positively
Action concur that family is important, their
and responsibly.
definitions of what constitutes a family differ.
Instruction in sexuality must, of course, fit with
Cairo acknowledged a wide spectrum of
the age and condition of the person to be instructed.
families, reflecting the global reality of diverse family
The intent should not be information only but
structures. In contrast, the Vatican objected to the
formation of a responsible conscience and sensitivity
diverse characterization of families in the
to the lives of others.
Programme of Action out of fear that this diversity
would threaten the patriarchal system that the
Paralleling the Vatican's difficulty in affirming
church has supported and encouraged throughout
women as moral agents, there is only limited support
the twentieth century. By using "families" instead of
of adolescent sexuality in Catholic teaching. When it
"family," the Holy See delegation believed Cairo
is mentioned, the duty of educating adolescents on
would establish "a formula which would recognize
the issue of sexuality rests with the parents.
all free unions, homosexual couples, etc. as
equiparated with the family."xviii Envisioning a "real
The Vatican is concerned that too much
family"xix as only a husband, a wife, and children, the
knowledge too soon, sexual information offered
Vatican lobbied to include language giving special
with no value orientation, and contraceptives made
protection to this configuration of a family and in
too readily available will be seen as tacit
the end officially entered a reservation to the use of
endorsement for irresponsible sexual behavior.
"couples and individuals."
These points could be made without discouraging
the benefits of sexuality education. Adolescents deal
In reality, family diversity has existed
with issues of sexuality every day. The church's
throughout human and biblical history. In biblical
policy of abstinence before marriage does not
times, there were several perspectives on the family,
address the realities of adolescent lives or respect
none of which readily corresponds to the modern
their capacity to make meaningful decisions about
nuclear family. In the Hebrew Scriptures, patriarchy
their sexuality. Abstinence should be encouraged,
prevailed as well as polygamy, men were allowed
but not without information about alternatives, even
concubines, and wives could be dismissed for even
if they are less than ideal.
trivial reasons. In Matthew 19, Jesus objects strongly
to this patriarchal model, especially when it allows a
While Cairo was concerned with the possible
man to divorce a woman because she is property and
and the practical, the Vatican insisted on abstract
forbids a woman to divorce a man on the same
moral imperatives, which led it once again to
grounds.
become an obstacle to the global community's
consensus.
Family structure is not set by nature but reflects
the culture and economy in which it is embedded. A
PRINCIPLE 9: DEFINING FAMILY
male-dominated nuclear family, consisting of a
During the Cairo drafting process, John Paul II told
working husband, a wife who works in the home,
pilgrims in Vatican City that the United Nations was
and several completely dependent children, is a
attempting to destroy families: "I am going back to
relatively recent development in history. Cairo, in
the Vatican to combat a project prepared by the
suggesting that diversity reflects current realities and
United Nations, which want to destroy the
aspirations, is making a statement that has always
family."xvi Despite the pope's early characterization
been true. Out of fear that the Programme of
of the Cairo Conference, the Programme of Action
Action would be interpreted as endorsing same-sex
clearly supports families in significant ways.
marriage, the Vatican failed to acknowledge that
Catholic tradition supports and affirms diverse
Principle 9 names the family as the basic unit of
family forms such as extended families,
society and calls for its protection on these grounds.
multigenerational families, families without children,
The Catechism of the Catholic Church refers to the family
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
13
and other constructs of family that embody love and
We are amazed at how impressive church
acceptance.
rhetoric is and how often it resonates with the global
consensus. There is no reason not to conclude that
There are some who observe that the Holy See
the rhetoric is genuine and that it springs from a
has not always matched its performance on family
profound belief in what is being said.
life with its rhetoric. Marriages were dissolved in the
Nonetheless, the consequences and practice
past so that one partner might enter formal religious
that the world community expect to flow from such
life. Annulments are granted today to one spouse or
rhetoric do not follow in the Catholic church. The
parent over the staunch objections of the other.
strong statements on the equality of women are
And although the Holy See speaks beautifully of
difficult to reconcile with the marginalization of
marriage, it continues to insist that celibacy is a
women in decision-making structures in the Catholic
superior state of life. It punishes priests who marry
church and their absence from key Vatican offices
with exclusion from ministry; it does not, as a matter
and, of course, from the priesthood. The ringing
of course, allow married people to be ordained.
words about parents rather than the state
determining the number of their children and the
REFLECTION: CONSCIENCE AND CONSENSUS
appeal that parents should follow their consciences
Catholicism, despite appearances to the contrary,
in doing so do not fit in easily with the rejection by
has a profound sense that rules are not rigid. Some
the official church of the overwhelming number of
of this sense comes from the New Testament
Catholic parents who believe in conscience that
resistance to law; some comes from the dynamics of
artificial contraception can be a moral choice in
canon law, which readily builds exceptions into the
structuring their families. The statements about the
system; and some comes from a strong investment
sacredness and sacramental character of sexual love
in forgiveness and reconciliation. All this protects
are inconsistent with the denial of sexual love to
church teaching and practice from many of the
church leaders.
rigidities of fundamentalism and biblical literalism.
This inconsistency happens, we believe,
One of the hallmarks of Catholic moral
because the Vatican has been unwilling to admit that
teaching has been its capacity for nuance. Catholic
it sometimes makes mistakes, that it has sometimes
tradition speaks with vigor about principles in the
misled, and that substantive change is possible in the
public forum but encourages latitude in pastoral
system. The Vatican and the Catholic church have
practice. To appreciate the full range of Catholic
impressive power and resources. An admission of
teaching one must take into account not only the
errors made in good faith in the past cannot
articulation of the principle but also the way the
destabilize the credibility of such an institution. A
principle is lived out in practice.
willingness to state, furthermore, that the world has
impressive moral wisdom of its own in no way
For Catholics, conscience is always the court of
makes the Catholic church a less welcome
last appeal in moral decisions. According to the
participant in the global dialogue.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, "a human being must
Morality can at times become the tool of a
always obey the certain judgement of his
political program rather than a principle of rights
conscience."x Even though the official church
and truth. Sexual norms are sometimes formulated
seeks to qualify conscience with such words as
not to illuminate the ethical content of the choices
"informed" or "right," it nonetheless allows that an
people make but to legitimate the denial or
objectively wrong action is a virtue if those who
restriction of personhood for those who defy a
perform it are convinced in conscience they are
convention. To sanction torture in the rooting out
doing good. One of the most influential church
of heresy is to establish the overriding claims of
thinkers, St. Thomas Aquinas, said that it would be
orthodoxy. To forbid all sexual activity to
better to be excommunicated than to act in a way
homosexuals is to promote the exclusive claims and
that contradicted conscience.xxi
value of heterosexuality. To deny all contraception is
to insist that pleasure and relationship must always
Given this tradition, why does the official
be subordinate to reproduction. All these have been
church so often become rigid and ideological? More
taught by the Vatican.
specifically, why were resiliency and consensus so
difficult for the Vatican during Cairo?
The Vatican declares that access to abortion,
contraception, or the use of condoms is never
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
14
permissible. These positions are rigidly held and
For example, the Universal Declaration of
admit no exceptions. Thus abortion is not permitted
Human Rights declared, in 1948, that adult men and
even in cases of incest, rape, a seriously deformed
women had a right to marry and to found a family
fetus, or risk to the life of the mother.
and, indeed, that they had equal rights in entering
Contraception is prohibited even for women who
and dissolving a marriage. There was tension
have had so many births that another would imperil
between the world community and the Catholic
their health or lives. Condom use is condemned
church on the question of divorce. Yet then, as
even to save one's partner from AIDS. Assisted
now, there was a basis for dialogue. Article 16 of the
reproduction is rejected even if done to correct a
Declaration goes on to use language echoing
biological defect. At Cairo, such positions dominated
Catholic documents that the "family is the natural
the Vatican's diplomacy and eclipsed all other
and fundamental" basis of society and that it is
manner of church teaching and discourse.
"entitled to protection by society and the State."
The Catholic community at large and indeed
In the past fifty years, Catholics and sometimes
the pastoral and theological communities take
the official church as well have moved closer to the
different positions on all these issues. One finds
United Nations' position. In 1948, for example, the
substantial latitude in the behavior and beliefs of
church taught that celibacy was superior to marriage
Catholics, in the pastoral practice of priests, and in
and asked many of its members to give up their right
the teachings and analysis of Catholic theologians.
to marry and found a family. In 1948, Catholics
responded favorably; now, they do not. Fifty years
The Vatican position at Cairo reflected papal
ago, virtually no Catholic marriages were officially
rather than necessarily Catholic thinking and
dissolved; now, annulments are frequent, and many
tradition. Its position was narrowly focused rather
Catholics divorce and remarry without annulments.
than comprehensive, diplomatic rather than
magisterial, political rather than morally
An openness to sexual and reproductive ethics
conscientious. The Holy See delegation sought to
and rights is gaining ground in the Catholic church.
bring the Cairo document as close as possible to the
Despite the vehement opposition of the Vatican,
pope's thinking without expecting full concurrence
Catholics in many countries favor access to legal
from the world community, and yet the Vatican was
abortion and contraception and civil rights for
at the same time convinced that it would withhold
homosexuals -- unthinkable even fifty years ago.
endorsement of the document if it did not receive
Catholics support legal options even when they are
complete concurrence. This stance did not reflect
not convinced that people have the moral authority
the flexibility that exists in the Catholic tradition.
to exercise them well.
The Vatican repeatedly expressed its concern at
At Cairo, it is relevant to note that, although
Cairo that the rest of the world does not affirm an
the Vatican was a fully active and engaged
impressive ethic on life, reproduction, sexuality, and
participant, its sexual and reproductive agenda did
family. The global community is aware that it faces
not prevail. This fact was instructive for the both
life and death decisions regarding abortion,
Vatican and the world. In the grand human
contraception, HIV/AIDS, and sexuality education.
dialogue, the church sometimes teaches the world (as
The Vatican, despite being a sovereign state, is
the Vatican has done brilliantly on the evils of
immune from these concerns because of the
coercion and self-indulgence and on the sacred
character of its population and the purpose of its
character of sexual experience and marital
existence. Aware of this dilemma, the Vatican
commitments), and sometimes the world teaches the
might have been resilient and flexible at Cairo on
church (as Cairo and the United Nations may be
how its moral principles are applied to the world's
doing on human rights, women's human rights, and
governments as they confront concrete realities and
reproductive and sexual rights)
diverse belief and ethical systems.
The church is always less than the truth it
Yet there is reason for hope. History contains
proclaims. It does not control this truth but serves it
examples of church flexibility and growth, as well as
and searches for it. The church sometimes advances
Catholic teachings informed by global values.
because of a reflection on its own traditions; very
Substantive changes have occurred.
often it grows, however, because it hears and learns
from the world. The Reformation and the
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
15
Enlightenment not only benefited the global
community, they also enriched the church.
One of the more encouraging results of Cairo
is an awareness of how the United Nations heard the
church and respected its voice. It is now time for the
church to hear the world community as it speaks
with responsibility and consensus. When the church
possesses truth, it is always a truth the world
possesses in some way. The Creator does not love
and enlighten only a few and leave all the others to
their own devices. And so humility is always in order
and hope is always justified.
NOTES
i
Msgr. Diarmuid Martin, Statement at the Beginning of the
III Session of the PrepCom, April 4, 1994: para. 7.
ii The President's Council on Sustainable Development,
Population and Consumption Task Force Report, US GPO,
Washington, DC: 1996: p. 33.
iii Women-Church Convergence, Equal is as Equal Does:
Challenging Vatican Views on Women, Washington, DC:
Women-Church Convergence, 1995: p. 2-3.
iv Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1981: para. 19.
The Proclamation of Teheran said the following about
reproductive rights: "Parents have a basic human right to
determine freely and responsibly the number and the
spacing of their children." United Nations International
Conference on Human Rights, Proclamation of Teheran
(Teheran, Iran), May 13, 1968.
vi Statement at the Beginning of the III Session of the
PrepCom: para. 12.
vii Dennis Poust, "No Consensus," Catholic New York,
April 28, 1994.
viii United Nations Population Fund, The State of World
Population 1997 New York: UNFPA 1996, p. 86.
ix Alan Guttmacher Institute, "The Role of Contraception in
Reducing Abortion," Issues in Brief, 1997: p. 4.
"The Role of Contraception in Reducing Abortion": pp.
2-3.
xi US Cardinals Conference, Concerns Expressed to Clinton
on Cairo Conference, May 29, 1994.
xii "The Role of Contraception in Reducing Abortion": p. 4.
xiii US Cardinals Conference, Concerns Expressed to
Clinton on Cairo Conference, May 29, 1994.
xiv French Bishops Council, AIDS: Society in Question,
February 12, 1996.
XV Statement at the Beginning of the III Session of the
PrepCom: para. 7.
xvi Philip William, UPI, April 17, 1994.
xvii Catechism of the Catholic Church: 2204-2207.
xviii Notes on the Draft Final Document of the ICPD: p. 2.
xix Gravissimum Educationis Momentum: para. 3.
XX Catechism of the Catholic Church: 1800.
xxi As quoted in T. O'Connell, Principles for a Catholic
Morality, Crossroad, 1978/1990, chapter 8.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
The Rome Declaration
On the International Conference
On Population and Development
January 5, 1999
Religion Counts
Religion Counts representatives met in Rome in January 1999 to draft and
issue this statement, articulating religious support for ethical approaches to
population and development, and specifically demonstrating solidarity with
groundbreaking agreements made at the 1994 International Conference on
Population and Development.
THE ROME DECLARATION
ON THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
January 5, 1999
RELIGION COUNTS
Religion counts. Religious values and thought have helped to build the
foundation for human well-being and they continue to inspire and guide billions of
the world's people. Religions have maintained a sense of the sacred and sustained
humanity in times of trial. They have nurtured spiritual growth, spurred intellectual
inquiry, and provided moral guidance.
The world's faiths have developed in different cultures and historical contexts.
They nonetheless share common moral sensibilities. The different traditions
highlight complimentary values. In many indigenous faiths there is a comprehensive
understanding of the relationship of human beings to the earth; in Hinduism a great
appreciation of diversity and tolerance; in Buddhism a deep understanding of
suffering and compassion; in Confucianism a powerful awareness of reciprocity and
duty in human relationships; in Taoism an enduring emphasis on harmony and
balance; in Judaism a profound regard for the sanctity of life; in Christianity a rich
understanding of charity and mercy; in Islam a boundless devotion to equality and
justice. These attributions have not been exclusive but are embraced across religious
boundaries. They are religion's shared gifts to the world community.
These values are splendidly expressed in the Programme of Action adopted in Cairo
in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).
The conference articulated a new approach to population and development issues in
which development policies focus on people rather than markets and population
policies treat women not as receptors of family planning but as directors of their
own reproductive decisions. The Programme's positioning of health and education as
central components of human development replace a prior concentration on fertility
regulation and population control. Finally, the ICPD acknowledged over-
consumption in the developed world as both socially unjust and ecologically
damaging. These developments represent a fundamental transformation in the way
the world community and its policy makers address concerns related to population
and development.
-2-
The ICPD's PRINCIPLES
The ICPD grounded these advances in a set of principles put forth in the second
chapter of its Programme of Action. These principles are consistent with four moral
norms that reflect core affirmations of the world's religions:
Equality, evidenced in the ICPD's assertions that women and men,
whatever their difference, are equal in dignity and rights, and that
education and comprehensive physical and mental health services are
prerequisites for full participation in human societies.
Justice, which the ICPD states is violated in poverty and great
disparities of wealth, and which is at the foundation of its assertion
that families, in their diverse expression and as a basic unit of society,
deserve defense and support.
Freedom, embodied in the ICPD's rejection of coercion in
reproductive decision-making and its recognition that all women and
- men are meant to be free moral agents.
Respect, embodied in its call for public policies that are sensitive to
cultural identities, and its insistence that nations not marginalize
migrants and refugees.
RELIGIOUS INSIGHTS INTO THE PROGRAMME OF ACTION
People of faith readily recognize many of the values and principles in the
concepts and commitments in the Programme of Action because they resonate with
moral convictions that are deeply rooted in the heart of religious traditions. These
principles provide the foundation in the document for addressing the interrelated
issues of population and development, including those that require fundamental
social transformation.
The Programme of Action establishes the elimination of poverty as a crucial means
for achieving full human rights and for meeting the objectives of humane population
policies and sustainable development. The recommendations challenge economic
systems that cause and perpetuate poverty, exacerbate disparities in wealth among
people and nations, and recklessly degrade the environment. These
recommendations reflect historic teachings of the world's religions, giving a clear
mandate to people of faith to advance the Programme of Action.
Religion Counts
-3-
At the heart of the document is a challenge to patriarchal societies. Male
dominance bears significant responsibility for women's illiteracy, sexual and physical
violence to women, and women's lack of educational and economic opportunity and
inadequate access to health care. Religions through history and even today are
complicit in sustaining male domination in the societies of which they are part. In
recent decades, religious traditions have begun to recognize that their integrity
compels them to advance towards full gender equality, including within the religious
communities themselves. Both traditional sources and findings of modern religious
scholarship are fully in keeping with the ICPD recommendations on women's rights
and political participation, education, reproductive health and rights, and socio-
economic opportunity in the public and private spheres. Eradication of male
dominance is imperative for the sanctity of all creation.
Reciprocity and mutuality in relationships is the appropriate moral and ethical
foundation for policies related to sexuality. Prompted by the personal articulation of
people's experiences, a reexamination of traditional teaching on sexuality is taking
place within most religious communities.
Sexual and reproductive health are of significant religious concern as integral
components of human well-being. Both women and men must exercise
responsibility in their sexual behavior. Most faith communities accept modern forms
of contraception and family planning, and even where there is official religious
condemnation the evidence suggests that a great many adherents make use of
artificial contraception without a sense of being unfaithful to their traditions. Sexual
and reproductive health care, including education and access to comprehensive
health services, should be available to all women and men.
The challenge is to provide reproductive and sexual health services to those
women and men for whom it is still inaccessible. Religious communities should be
advocates for the recommendations for the Programme of Action in these areas.
People with HIV/AIDS have human dignity that must be respected. There is no
justification for stigmatizing them. Religious leaders and teachers have a particular
duty to dispel the myth that AIDS is a punishment from God. In many countries,
this devastating disease is killing millions of people, leaving children orphans,
partners bereft, and communities crippled. Those who value life should support
access to services that prevent the transmission of HIV. The world's religions are
compelled to assert their most fundamental teachings on the sanctity of life by
advancing comprehensive sexuality education, assertive positions on the use of
condoms, confidential HIV/AIDS testing, and support for those affected by the
disease.
Religion Counts
4
Abortion continues to be a divisive and complex issue. The Programme of Action
addresses the question of abortion in a very limited way. It notes that abortion
should not be a method of family planning; that abortion can and should be reduced
through access to family planning services; it should be safe wherever it is legal, and,
where illegal, the consequences of unsafe abortion should be addressed as a public
health issue.
Certain realities should be made clear. Where there is a full range of family
planning services, the incidence of abortion decreases. In the absence of provisions
for safe abortions, even when legal, the rate of maternal death is increased. When
abortion is illegal it is poor women who suffer the greatest consequences in the loss
of life and health. Children who are the result of unwanted pregnancy can suffer
abuse or abandonment. Those who oppose even the modest provisions of the
ICPD language on abortion need to be accountable for these realities.
Reflection on these hard truths has caused many people of faith, even those
personally opposed to abortion, to conclude that provisions for legal, safe, and
accessible abortions are defensible on religious and moral grounds. While the
religious traditions differ on the issue of abortion, the Programme of Action's limited
statements on abortion do not violate the teachings of any of our traditions.
Therefore religious leaders and communities can and should support the ICPD on
this issue.
CALL FOR ACTION
As Religion Counts joins with others in the five-year review of the Programme of
Action, the following considerations demand our commitment:
1. Principles count. The principles articulated in chapter two of the
Programme of Action must serve as the benchmark against which
implementation of specific actions laid out at the ICPD are evaluated.
For example, a comprehensive review of family planning programs
must not only address their efficacy, but also the extent to which they
embody the ICPD's principles.
2. Partnerships count. Governments and non-governmental
organizations have the opportunity to enlist the support and
participation of religions as large and powerful allies for the
implementation of the Programme of Action. It would be tragic for
both religious communities and advocates of the ICPD consensus if
this opportunity for collaboration and cooperation were not realized.
Religion Counts
3. Commitments count. As a matter of moral integrity, nations
must keep their financial and programmatic commitments as
signatories to the Programme of Action. Religious communities and
other non-governmental organizations must insist that their
governments meet these obligations.
4. Religions count. Religions must commit themselves to the
realization of the ICPD's goals and assume an active role in the
implementation of the Programme of Action, including empowering
women, eliminating poverty, making provisions for comprehensive
health care, and promoting a sustainable environment.
Religion Counts affirms the powerful message of the Programme of Action. All
nations, all peoples, and all religions share this world in relationships of
interdependence. The immense challenges taken on in Cairo five years ago by the
countries of the United Nations can only be addressed in an environment of mutual
respect.
Religion counts. This is a moment to make it count for the common good of all
humanity and the whole of creation.
Religion Counts
RELIGION COUNTS
Religion Counts is an inter-religious group of religious scholars, experts, and leaders from
around the world. An initiative of the Park Ridge Center for Health, Faith, and Ethics and
Catholics for a Free Choice, Religion Counts provides a positive, ethically sensitive religious
contribution to discourse on issues surrounding population, reproductive health, and
development policies.
The Park Ridge Center
Catholics for a Free Choice
211 East Ontario
1436 U Street, NW
Suite 800
Suite 301
Chicago, IL 60611
Washington, DC 20009
Attention: Larry Greenfield
Attention: Frances Kissling
(p) 312-266-2222
(p) 202-986-6093
(f) 312-266-6086
(f) 202-332-7995
Rev. Carlton Veazey
USA
Executive Director, Religious
Coalition for Reproductive
Choice
Washington, DC, USA
Protestant
Isaac Wüst
Dutch
Member, International
Movement We Are Church
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Roman Catholic
RELIGION COUNTS
MEMBERS
Rev. Rose Teteki Abbey
Rev. Julian Cruzalta
Beverly Harrison
Ghanaian
Mexican
USA
Pastor
Lecturer, Universidad Colonia
Professor of Christian Ethics,
Presbyterian Church of Ghana
Copilco
Union Theological Seminary
in Accra
Mexico City, DF, Mexico
New York, New York, USA
Accra, Ghana
Roman Catholic
Protestant
Protestant
Musa W. Dube
Elfriede Harth
Denise M. Ackermann
Botswanan
German, Colombian
South African
Professor, University of
= Coordinator, International
Professor of Religion and
Botswana
Movement We Are Church
Theology, University of Western
Gaborone, Botswana
Member
Cape
Protestant
Versailles, France
Belleville, South Africa
Roman Catholic
Anglican
Asghar Ali Engineer
Indian
Riffat Hassan
Michio Araki
Director, Institute of Islamic
USA
Japanese
Studies
Professor of Religious Studies
Professor of Religion,
Mumbai, India
and Humanities,
University of Tsukuba
Muslim
University of Louisville
Tsukuba Ibaraki, Japan
Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Buddhist
Rev. Walter Fauntroy
Muslim
USA
Mehmet Aydin
Pastor, New Bethel Baptist
Teresia Hinga
Turkish
Church, Former Member,
Kenyan
Philosophy Department Head,
United State Congress
Professor of Religion, DePaul
Dokuz Eylul University
Washington, DC, USA
University
Turkey
Protestant
USA
Muslim
Roman Catholic
Rev. Larry Greenfield
Sheila Briggs
USA
Shamsul Islam
USA
Research Scholar, The Park
Indian
Professor, School of Religion,
Ridge Center for Health, Faith,
Senior Reader, Political Science
University of Southern
and Ethics
Department, University of
California
Chicago, Illinois, USA
New Delhi
Claremont, California, USA
Protestant
Delhi, India
Roman Catholic
Muslim
Sahar Hafez
Dina Cormick
Egyptian
June Jacobs
South African
General Secretary, Arab
British
Leadership, Women's
Women's Solidarity
President, International
Ordination of South
Association
Council of Jewish Women
Africa/We Are Church
Cairo, Egypt
London, England
KwaZulu-Natal, Republic of
Muslim
Jewish
South Africa
Roman Catholic
Sandha Jain
Joanna Manning
Rev. Gustavo A. Parajon
Indian
Canadian
Nicaraguan
Columnist, the Times of India
Founder, Coalition of
President, Nicaraguan Council
and political/religious
Concerned Canadian Catholics
of Churches
commentator
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Managua, Nicaragua
New Delhi, India
Roman Catholic
Protestant
Hindu
Rev. James Martin-Schramm
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Madhu Khanna
USA
USA
Indian
Assistant Professor,
Georgia Harkness Professor,
Associate Professor, Indira
Department of Religion and
Garrett-Evangelical Seminary
Ghandi National Centre
Philosophy, Luther College
Evanston, Illinois, USA
for the Arts
Decorah, Iowa, USA
Roman Catholic
New Dehli, India
Protestant
Hindu
Arvind Sharma
Maria Consuelo Mejia
Indian
Gabi Kienesberger
Mexican
Birks Professor of
Austrian
Director, Catolicas por el
Comparative Religion,
Theologian, member,
Derecho a Decidir
McGill University
European Women's Synod
Mexico D.F., Mexico
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Vienna, Austria
Roman Catholic
Hindu
Roman Catholic
Rev. Myosei Midorikawa
Sheikh Gamal Solaiman
Frances Kissling-
Japanese
British
USA
Chaplain, Jindai Temple
Council Member, Institute of
President,
Tokyo, Japan
Business Ethics
Catholics for a Free Choice
Buddlrist
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Washington, DC, USA
Muslim
Roman Catholic
Philomena Mwaura
Kenyan
Rev. Gordon Sommers
Manfred Kulessa
Lecturer, Department of
USA
German
Religious Studies, Kenyatta
Former President, National
Leadership,
University
Council of Churches
Association of Churches'
Nairobi, Kenya
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Development Service
Roman Catholic
Protestant
Bonn, Germany
Protestant
Maria Jose Rosado Nunes
Ven. Haeju Sunim
Brazilian
Korean
Chung Hyun Kyung
Coordinator, Catolicas pelo el
Professor of Philosophy,
Korean
Direito de Decidir, Brazil,
Dongguk University
Professor,
Professor, Catholic University
Seoul, Republic of Korea
Union Theological Seminary
of Sao Paulo
Buddhist
New York, New York, USA
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Protestant
Roman Catholic
Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo
USA
Rabbi Amy Levin
Anthony Padovano
Secretary, Sakyadhita:
Israeli
USA
International Association of
Treasurer, Rabbinical Assembly
Director, CORPUS, a national
Buddhist Women
of Israel
association for married priests
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Jerusalem, Israel
Morris Plains, New Jersey,
Buddhist
Jewish
USA
Roman Catholic
CATHOLIC VOICES
WITH THE
ATROICONSENSUS
Catholic Voices: Reflections from the Paseo de la Reforma
Mexico City, December, 1998
INTRODUCTION
formal meetings sponsored by the United Nations,
The Hague Forum in February, 1999. The Hague
Over the past decade, the United Nations has,
Forum will evaluate the progress in implementation
through a series of international conferences and
of agreements made at the International Conference
plans of action, addressed a number of serious
on Population and Development held in the Cairo
problems facing the world and its people: human
Programme of Action since its completion in
rights, the environment, population and
September 1994. One of the remarkable aspects of
development, social development, housing, and
the Cairo conference was the partnership forged
women's rights. Few areas have been more
between governments and civil society in the crafting
contentious or difficult than the question of
of international policies. In the spirit of that
population and development, which embody
partnership and with an eye toward the five-year
differing deeply embedded political and religious
review, the United Nations invited non-
views of women's rights, gender, sexuality, and
governmental organizations to share their
reproduction.
perspectives with the UN on the themes and actions
outlined in the Cairo Programme of Action.
At the UN International Conference on
Catholic Voices has taken up this invitation with
Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994,
enthusiasm, and thus we gathered in Mexico to
these different perspectives collided. The Vatican
reflect upon the issues of population and
and its Holy See delegation occupied substantial
development.
public space, serving as an obstacle to a growing
international consensus on population. This
We are not experts in service delivery or
consensus resulted in a remarkable, socially
program evaluators. Rather, we review the
transformative document called the Programme of
Programme of Action from the perspective of values
Action, which was adopted by the world's
and principles enlightened by the Catholic social
governments. The past five years have marked the
justice tradition. The agreements reached at the
beginning of realizing the world view represented in
Cairo conference represented what has been called
that document and implementing its outlined
by many a "paradigm shift" in the world's approach
actions. These matters were the basis for discussion
to population and development. In this shift, an
of Catholic Voices, a forum of Catholic leaders,
emphasis on demographic targets gives way to an
theologians, activists, and scholars who came
emphasis on human needs and the common good.
together in Mexico City in December 1998.
In the new paradigm, we see hope, a reverence for
life, health, and well being, and an impulse toward
With Catholic Voices' work for women's rights,
respect for human dignity, social justice, and equality
human development, and church reform, it was
among all people. Especially evident in the
fitting that the meeting took place on Mexico City's
Programme of Action is a new-found respect for the
Paseo de la Reforma, the Reform Promenade. This
moral agency of women.
wide, grand boulevard with its stirring name became
a symbol of our hopes for the human community's
Particularly because the views of many
progress toward justice and the common good.
Catholics were not represented by the Holy See at
the Cairo Conference, we present this report of our
The gathering on the Paseo de la Reforma
reflections on issues related to population and
came just two months before the first of a series of
development.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
Reflection: Eradicating Poverty
enable people to "seek to do more, know more and
We are rooted in the principle of the preferential
have more in order to be more," as Pope Paul VI's
option for the poor and economic justice for all in
1967 encyclical Populonon Progressio (On the
insisting that special priority be given to the least
Development of Peoples) put it.
developed nations of the world and to the poorest
individuals everywhere. Profound concern for the
As part of development, Cairo specifically
poor is a refrain throughout the Hebrew Scriptures,
emphasized the right to education and noted that
where the community is urged time and again to care
investment in education is critical to the
for the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. In the
empowerment of women and the achievement of
Christian Scriptures, neglect of the poor leads to
their human rights. Cairo also underscored
exclusion from the Reign of God (Mt. 25), which
everyone's right to "the enjoyment of the highest
embraces not just life after death, but also the here
attainable standard of physical and mental health."
and now, indeed, the totality of human experience.
Cairo recognized development as an integral part of
fundamental human rights and said it must be
Poverty imposes imperatives on the affluent.
fulfilled so as to equitably meet the needs of present
Neglect of the poor is neglect of God. We support
and future generations.
ways of helping the poor such as charity, but we also
call for the transformation of domestic and world
Reflection: Human Rights and the Poor and the
structures that create and maintain poverty. On the
Marginalized
deepest level, it must be recognized that the poor
Our Catholic tradition calls us to stand with the poor
and the affluent are equal in dignity and rights.
and the marginalized. Marginalization of the "other"
Furthermore, the privileged must acknowledge and
leads to corruptions such as racism and nationalism.
reform their habits of over consumption. The
Common human dignity argues for the free exercise
world's resources belong to all of us, rich and poor
of rights by those who are marginalized, including
alike.
-
the impoverished, migrants, threatened indigenous
populations, the disabled, the elderly, the persecuted,
As population and development policies are
homosexuals, and other disempowered groups.
created and implemented, it is important to note that
World history reveals an often repeated record of
poverty cannot be blamed on population growth.
maltreatment of these groups. It also shows us that
Poverty arises from injustice, and slowing fertility
women and children are the world's poorest and
rates is not a single or simple solution to poverty.
most marginalized.
We applaud Cairo's call for nations to cooperate to
eradicate poverty "in order to decrease the disparities
Cairo calls on countries to do better. For
in standards of living and better meet the needs of
example, the Programme of Action acknowledges
the majority of the people of the world."
that migrants often have the least access to resources
provided in development plans. It entreats countries
Reflection: People-Centered Development
to guarantee fundamental human rights to all
People's lives, not markets or production, should be
migrants. It also explicitly calls on nations to grant
the central concern of development policies. The
protection for refugees escaping persecution and to
true measure of development is whether it meets
recognize and support the identity, culture and
people's human needs and aspirations and whether it
interests of indigenous peoples, and to enable them
does this in accord with their human dignity. In the
to participate fully in the nation's life.
past, the Catholic church as a whole has seriously
criticized development policies for focusing solely
Reflection: Women's Human Rights
on economic rather than human development.
To put it concisely: women's rights are human rights.
Ethical population and development policies must
Women and men are entitled to the same rights and
be focused on people, not numbers; on rights, not
privileges; both also share the same responsibilities
demographics; on serving human needs, not denying
and duties. Universal acceptance of women's human
human desires.
rights remain unsettled. However, throughout the
last several decades, women's rights have been
Every person has the right to development.
increasingly recognized in the world, in both the
The cost of the world community's failure to
secular and religious fields. Unfortunately, the
support development is incalculable and
Vatican's actions at Cairo did not reflect the richness
unconscionable. Development policies should
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
3
of the Catholic tradition in support of women's
reproductive health services. Cairo called for
human rights.
adolescents to have information and services "to
help them understand their sexuality and protect
Cairo's Programme of Action was the first
them from unwanted pregnancies, sexually
United Nations document on population that
transmitted diseases and subsequent risk of
explicitly recognized the importance of women's
infertility." Cairo also correctly called on
rights as a worthy goal in itself and as a crucial factor
governments to safeguard the rights of adolescents
in development. Prior to Cairo, women's lives were
to privacy, confidentiality, respect and informed
not always treated with dignity and respect in
consent. It said countries should remove legal,
population policies; women were often considered
regulatory and social barriers to reproductive health
only in terms of their reproductive capacity, and
information and care for adolescents. The
their aspirations and needs were made secondary to
Programme of Action also acknowledged that
demographic outcomes. Cairo noted the exceptional
adolescents must be fully involved in the planning
importance of the "empowerment and autonomy of
and implementation of these educational
women and the improvement of their political,
programmes.
social, economic and health status."
Reflection: Sexuality
We stand with Cairo's groundbreaking calls for
Sexuality is a gift of God and is integral to our
gender equality, the empowerment of women, and
humanity. The celebration of our bodies through
the recognition of women's moral agency. We
sexuality brings us spiritual awareness. Human
endorse its outlined actions aimed at advancing
sexuality commits each person to concern for the
women's status, including promoting education for
other or else it forfeits its human and virtuous
women, eliminating economic and other
content. Sexuality, like love, should be sensitive,
discrimination against women, enhancing women's
considerate, generous, compassionate, and
employment opportunities, and ending violence
concerned. The same standards apply to men and
against women.
women equally. The principle that insists that we
love our neighbors as ourselves is expected to
Reflection: Adolescents' Human Rights
govern our sexual relationships. Ethical expressions
Adolescence is a passage in the human journey
of sexuality based on equality, mutual respect, and
toward maturity. It is an age in which people
concern are found in many kinds of relationships
appropriately begin to explore and discover
and unions.
experiences related to adult life, including social,
spiritual, and personal growth. Given this search,
These perspectives reflect a broader
adolescents must have adequate reliable information
understanding of sexuality than the ones put forth by
to light their way. Adolescents must also be
the Vatican at Cairo. Indeed, a persistent tradition
recognized as more than recipients of adult
of aversion to sexuality within Catholicism is the
knowledge and advice. They have much to draw
root of current Vatican conservatism on
from and to offer as a result of their own insights
reproduction and women. Sex has often been
and experience.
presented as a necessary evil by churchmen,
reflecting a kind of amnesia concerning biblical
The intent of sexuality education for
references to sexual pleasure as a value in its own
adolescents should not be information only; it
right.
should rather be aimed toward the formation of a
Sexual expression is multi-facted and serves
responsible conscience and sensitivity to the lives of
many good purposes. It is a way of communicating
others. The responsibility for these kinds of
intimately with another, of giving and receiving
messages are shared by many, including parents,
pleasure, and of creating new life. It is morally
schools, the media, and other social institutions.
separable from its reproductive function. To its
Sexuality education must respond to the expressed
credit, Cairo addressed "sexual health" in the context
and unexpressed needs of young persons
of "enhancement of life and personal relations, and
themselves.
not merely counseling and care related to
reproduction and sexually transmitted diseases."
One of Cairo's achievements was its recognition
The Cairo agenda should be informed by agreements
that the reproductive health needs of adolescents as
made by nations at the 1995 Fourth World
a group have been largely ignored by existing
Conference on Women, which declared that "the
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
4
human rights of women include their right to have
responsible procreation more possible, it also allows
control over and decide freely and responsibly on
for a satisfying, pleasurable sexual life with
matters related to their sexuality free of coercion,
diminished fear of unintended pregnancy.
discrimination and violence."
Furthermore, the control over fertility that
contraception offers has allowed women to develop
Reflection: Reproductive Health and Rights
aspects of their lives beyond motherhood.
Reproduction is one of the most important and
profound aspects of human life and relationships.
The Vatican supports, in fact encourages, the
Through reproduction, we express our hope in the
practice of family planning, for it recognizes the
future of the human family. Reproduction is both
moral imperative of responsible parenthood.
private and public. It has undeniable consequences
However, only "natural family planning," a set of
for the community and society at large. It is also a
methods that involve periodic abstinence, is allowed.
matter of public health, religious teachings, and
Making only one method available - and one that
government policy. It is an area in which women are
does nothing to protect against sexually transmitted
the central protagonists, for it is women who bear
diseases - cruelly ignores the reality of people's lives.
the risks and consequences of childbearing and the
Women and men must freely decide not only
greater responsibility for child rearing. In the just
whether they wish to use contraception, but which
world we work toward, these risks and
method is best for them.
responsibilities will be equally shared by men and
better supported by society.
Couples worldwide have indicated that they
need and want to use contraception. We endorse
An ethically based approach to reproductive
Cairo's commitment to voluntary family planning
health and rights has several underlying principles.
programs that include a full range of safe, effective,
First, it must be voluntary rather than coercive.
and affordable contraceptive choices.
Imposition of external limits on family size are
unacceptable. Couples must have the right to decide
Reflection: HIV/AIDS
when, whether, and how to bring new life into the
Society's and individuals' responses to AIDS must
world. Second, it must be comprehensive rather
be rooted in compassion, responsibility, and a
than focused on family planning alone. Women's
commitment to life. These principles require that
reproductive health cannot be extricated from their
efforts to prevent the spread of HIV must include
health, and programs must provide a wide range of
condoms and condom instruction. Couples should
services. Third, it must be seen as an integral aspect
be encouraged to use them to prevent transmission
of human rights. Reproductive rights are grounded
of HIV. We reject the Vatican's opposition to
in previously recognized human rights. This right
condom use, and we stand with Cairo's approach to
was first recognized in 1968 at the International
treating and preventing this tragic disease.
Conference on Human Rights in Teheran, Iran.
Fourth, it must be tied irrevocably to respect for the
Reflection: Safe Abortion
rights of conscience and free will. Couples consider
Abortion is a complex moral and social issue
a range of concerns in making the decision whether
potential mothers know this best. The Vatican's
to have a child. The community, family, religious
position on abortion is compromised by its
teachings, social conventions will play a role in
unwillingness to accept contraceptive services and
reproductive decisions, but in each decision, the
devices even though they reduce the need for
individual conscience has the ultimate say.
abortion. Even taking into account Vatican
opposition to abortion, we remain puzzled by
Cairo's approach to reproductive health and
Vatican objections to abortion being safe where
rights is grounded in these principles. Its rejection
legal. This dismissal of safe abortion by the church
of coercion and its support of comprehensive safe
hierarchy is insensitive to the realities women face
motherhood programs are to be commended.
and to the number of women who die from unsafe
abortions every day. Because women everywhere
Reflection: Contraception
resort to abortion, the alternative to safe abortion is,
Catholics around the world have come to believe
of course, unsafe abortion. Again, it is the
that contraception is a moral option. Bringing
hierarchy's preoccupation with eliminating abortion
children into the world is a sacred responsibility.
from the world that prevents the real issues of justice
Safe and effective contraception not only makes
and health for women being addressed. Such an
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
5
absolutist position fails to acknowledge the
Cairo honored families in the Programme of
ambiguity and doubt regarding fetal life and ignores
Action, saying, "The family is the basic unit of
the range of moral complexities surrounding each
society and as such should be strengthened." And it
situation.
recognized diversity. "In different cultural, political
and social systems, various forms of the family
Despite charges that it did, Cairo did not call
exist."
for universal legal abortion. In fact, it based a large
measure of its support for comprehensive family
Reflection: The Role of Religion
planning programs on the imperative to reduce the
Religious thought has an important role to play
need for abortion. It did call for abortions to be safe
within the civil society and its cultures. The values
where legal and for the public health issues of unsafe
and principles at the core of all the major religious
abortion to be addressed. The Holy See opposed
traditions - respect for human dignity, care for the
even these points.
poor and marginalized, a striving for the common
good are important touchstones for civil society.
In countries where abortion is illegal, it is the
Where religion is rooted in community and
poor who are left to face abortions under the worst
experience, religious stories and traditions serve as
types of conditions. And in countries where
important teaching tools. Religious insights often
abortion is legal, but safe abortions are costly, it is
form the framework for the most fundamental and
again poor women who shoulder the burden. The
profound human inquiries.
church tradition of a preferential option for the poor
has been interpreted by many Catholics to support
Many of the issues at the heart of population
the safety of abortion and to oppose unsafe
and development concerns- not least among them
abortions. Within the Cairo context, concern for
issues of sexuality and reproduction, women's rights,
public safety is not the same as moral endorsement.
gender roles and responsibilities- call for massive
social change. They center on transforming
Despite Vatican disapproval, Cairo was right to
relationships, between men and women, between
address the catastrophic health consequences for
government and citizens, and between and among
women of unsafe abortion. Justice demands that we
family members. This kind of social reform and
do not abandon poor women or women in need of
reorganization will be difficult and will take a long
help.
time. Participation by religious institutions,
organizations, and individuals can promote, enhance,
Reflection: Families
and accelerate this transformation.
A broad, fluid vision of families is reflected by Jesus
himself in the Gospel of Mark As his mother and
However, there is not one religious model that
brothers one day approached Jesus and a group
applies to the whole world. There must be constant
encircled around him, Jesus asked, "Who is my
dialogue among religious and spiritual movements so
mother, or my brothers?" He gestured toward the
that we can become more aware of how to
circle and said, "Here are my mother and my
accommodate difference as well as reach shared
brothers!" (Mk. 3:31-35)
values. As Catholics, we are called by the Second
Vatican Council to "recognize the legitimacy of
We do not agree with the parsimonious view of
differing points of view," and show respect for our
family espoused by the Vatican.
fellow citizens. (Gaudium et Spes, 75). Moreover,
while religions have a place at the policy table, it is
In the fragile world in which we live, it seems
not a privileged place. Rather, they are equal voices
to us that we do better as a human community to
among many.
embrace extended and varied definitions of families.
Why decry people's bonds of solidarity and
EPILOGUE
willingness to take responsibility for another?
As Catholics who support the ethical approach
However, whatever structure the family has
to population and development articulated in the
taken, it has often been the site of violence against
Cairo Programme of Action, we call on nations to
women and children. As we look to a more
strengthen their commitment to the principles and
generous vision of families, violence has no place.
actions outlined therein. We further call on people
who gather themselves in religious communities to
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
6
dedicate themselves to addressing the challenges and
problems related to these issues. We look forward
with hope to a future in which poverty and its roots
are eliminated, men and women enjoy equal rights,
children have what they need to grow and develop,
and the rights of conscience are protected.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
CATHOLIC VOICES
IONE WITH THE
AIROCONSENSUS
Acting Against the Grain
A Chronology of Church Action to Block Cairo's Implementation
At the September 1994 International Conference on
informed choice. In fact, the agreement says that
Population and Development held in Cairo, Egypt,
governments should remove "unnecessary legal,
the overwhelming majority of nations agreed to a
medical, clinical and regulatory barriers to
Programme of Action - a set of actions and
information and to access to family-planning
policies intended to address "the critical challenges
services and methods." But church officials around
and interrelationships between population and
the globe have acted as barriers themselves, taking
sustained economic growth in the context of
steps to restrict access to any method of family
sustainable development." The Holy See joined the
planning officially banned by the church. (Official
consensus on all of the principles articulated in the
teaching forbids the use of any method except
conference Programme of Action, while expressing
periodic abstinence.)
reservations on most of the document's other
chapters, including those dealing with sexual and
Since Cairo, church officials have obstructed
reproductive health and rights.
efforts to implement many other Cairo agreements,
including efforts to broaden sexuality education
The Vatican's opposition to agreements
programs, to improve and expand prevention
reached in these areas did not end with the
programs on HIV/AIDS and other sexually
conference's conclusion. In the ensuing four and a
transmitted diseases, and even to end discrimination
half years, church officials, from the Vatican to
of disabled persons with regard to reproductive
bishops' conferences and beyond, have conducted a
rights and family formation.
campaign of obstruction to implementation of these
parts of the Cairo agenda. Many of these instances
The following chronology enumerates incidents
have taken the form of direct incursions into the
in this campaign of obstruction. It is by no means
formation of public policy; some are more oblique
comprehensive, and in fact presents only a portion
efforts to vilify those implementing the Cairo
of what is likely a high number of such actions. The
agreement, as when the pope maintained that
entries in this chronology have been gleaned
international institutions providing voluntary
principally from church documents that have been
contraceptives to couples who want them are
made public and from news reports of public actions
involved in a "conspiracy against life." All of their
by church officials. There is no way to identify or
efforts, however, affect not only Catholics, but
quantify nonpublic efforts of the Roman Catholic
citizens of all faiths and no faith all across the world.
church as an institution in the crafting of public
policy and the shaping of individual behavior.
The Cairo Programme of Action stresses the
Appearing at the end of each chronology entry is a
"right of all couples and individuals to decide freely
citation of the relevant section from the Cairo
and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of
Programme of Action.
their children, and to have the information and
means to do so," and it called for expanded access to
In chapter 11 of the Programme of Action,
primary and reproductive health care. Cairo called
delegations at Cairo agreed that those in "influential
for family planning programs to "ensure that women
positions," including religious leaders, should
and men have information and access to the widest
"mobilize public opinion in support of the actions
possible range of safe and effective family planning
proposed" (11.17). Sadly, officials of the Roman
methods in order to enable them to exercise free and
Catholic church have tried to do just the opposite.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
Chapter 11 was among those on which the Holy See
insist that the only reliable remedy to the spread of
did not join the consensus, and indeed, church
AIDS is fidelity within marriage and chastity outside
representatives have worked, often in the public
marriage." In their statement, the bishops also insist
policy arena, to make it harder for the Cairo vision
that periodic abstinence is the only acceptable
to be realized.
method of family planning. 5 PROGRAMME OF
ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.31, 8.35
December 1994
The US bishops approve updates and revisions to
August 1995
the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health
The Peruvian bishops' conference issues a news
Care Services. The Directives bar Catholic health care
release upholding the pope's new encyclical,
facilities from providing or condoning contraceptive
Evangelium Vitae, which condemns contraception and
practices, from providing condoms or condom
criticizes family planning programs. The bishops
counseling, even for disease protection, and from
assert that the church's ban on contraception is not
performing voluntary sterilizations for men and
just an opinion, but is a truth, taught by the church,
women.¹ PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6,
"in the name of God."Moreover, they assert, this
7.15, 7.23, 8.17
church doctrine is not only directed at Catholics, but
is directed to all people of good will.6 PROGRAMME
December 1994
OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.31, 8.35
US Archbishop Francis Schulte of New Orleans,
Louisiana, issues a pastoral letter entitled "Pastoral
September 1995
Action for Families," in which he denounces the use
Brazilian Roman Catholic officials publicly criticize
of contraceptives. "To many," he writes, "the ability
the government's new AIDS prevention campaign.
to control conception seems to be accompanied by
The campaign advocates the use of condoms to
the right to separate the procreative and unitive
prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. Bishop
functions of marriage."2 PROGRAMME OF ACTION
Dadeus Grings states that "a sickness isn't fought by
7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.17
degrading morals and hurling people to hell. The
church preaches chastity and is opposed to the use
March 1995
of prophylactics The church is highly concerned
Pope John Paul II issues his encyclical letter,
about preserving human dignity and can't agree with
Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), in which he
the methods adopted to fight AIDS."
condemns, among other things, contraception and
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.23(b), 8.31, 8.35
treatment of infertility. The pope claims that
international institutions are involved in a
September 1995
"conspiracy against life" because they are engaged in
In its reservations and statements of interpretation
campaigns to make contraception available.³
of the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing,
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23,
the Vatican says, "The Holy See in no way endorses
8.17
contraception or the use of condoms, either as a
family planning measure or in HIV/AIDS
June 1995
prevention programs."8 The Vatican also criticizes
The Catholic church in Kenya vows to fight a new
the platform of the Conference for the document's
program of Family Life Education in schools. The
focus on sexual and reproductive health, and wants
new program would give young people access to
that all references to sexuality in the document be
information to equip them with the ability to say
interpreted to mean sex within marriage. Joined by
"no" to sex and to help them avoid unwanted
Latin American, Islamic countries, and conservative
pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases,
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the
including HIV/AIDS.4 PROGRAMME OF ACTION
Vatican opposes language that it claims denigrates
7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
the two-parent (mother and father) family, belittles
motherhood and diminishes the rights of parents to
June 1995
decide if their children should receive sex education
Fifteen bishops from the Middle East and Asia meet
and reproductive health care, including contraceptive
at the Vatican to discuss goals in the pastoral care of
services.⁹ PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6,
families. In their statement, "Serving the Needs of
7.15, 7.23, 7.37, 7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
the Family," the bishops call upon all men and
women to reject "safe sex" programs, saying, "We
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
September 1995
March 1996
Catholic groups oppose Ireland's move to institute
A Brazilian Roman Catholic bishop rejects the
sex education programs in schools, accusing the Stay
marriage application of a Brazilian couple because
Safe program of "confusing moral judgments and
the man is "paraplegic and therefore impotent,"
personal feeling." Although there persists a debate
according to the bishops' letter to the couple. The
among Catholics in Ireland over the sex education
man had applied to the Catholic church to marry a
program, Stay Safe continues - but it is closely
widow who had two children from a previous
monitored by the church. 10 PROGRAMME OF
marriage. A couple "needs to be in perfect physical
ACTION 7.23(b), 7.37, 7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
condition to be married," the bishop says.¹⁵
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 6.30
January 1996
Church leaders and Catholic conservatives fight
August 1996
against a New York City AIDS education curriculum
As 250 people watch, Kenya's top Catholic bishop,
that includes condom distribution and textbooks
Cardinal Maurice Otunga, ceremoniously burns
that teach respect and tolerance for diverse sexual
several boxes of condoms and one hundred copies
orientations. Consequently, the Board of Education
of pamphlets promoting safe sex. According to the
adopts a revised curriculum on AIDS education that
World Health Organization, one million of Kenya's
no longer includes classroom demonstrations of
twenty-six million people are infected with the virus
condom use.¹¹ PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.23(b),
that causes AIDS. 16 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.6,
7.37, 7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
7.23, 7.37, 8.31, 8.35
February 1996
August 1996
The Vatican advises parents to "reject the promotion
Experiencing pressure from Catholic and other
of 'safe sex' or 'safer sex,' a dangerous and immoral
religious groups, Kenya's President Daniel Arap Moi
policy based on the deluded theory that the condom
rules out sex education in primary schools. Moi
can provide adequate protection against AIDS."12
states that, "Our religions are against such
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.3, 7.23(b), 7.37, 7.46,
immorality [sex education] and my government will
8.31, 8.35, 11.9
reject calls for it to be debated in parliament." The
Catholic church has persistently opposed the
February 1996
teaching of sex education because the proposed
The Peruvian bishops' conference releases a letter,
curriculum included information about
"Building a Culture of Life," that criticizes the
contraception." PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.23(b),
government's promotion of a sex education program
7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
geared toward adolescents. They claim the program
is devoid of moral values and social responsibility.
August 1996
They assert that the program is limited to education
The Catholic bishops of Nicaragua release a
on prophylactics and condoms, and thus encourages
statement saying the country is suffering under a
recreational sex that does not take into account
campaign of "antireproductive colonialism." The
responsibility for consequences.¹³ PROGRAMME OF
bishops call for Catholics to not be confused by
ACTION 7.23(b), 7.37, 7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
those who speak of "reproductive rights,"
"reproductive health," and "safe sex," arguing that
March 1996
these terms disguise "abortionists, promiscuity, and
The Vatican orders Scottish Archbishop Keith
the arbitrary use of sex."18 PROGRAMME OF ACTION
O'Brien to remove his imprimatur (official
7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.23, 8.25
permission to print) from an AIDS education
package that includes information and advice on
November 1996
using condoms. The most important inadequacy of
The Holy See announces at the Pledging Conference
the package, according to one churchman involved,
for Development Activities, held at the United
is the attitude towards condoms, "that if you have
Nations in New York, that it will not offer its usual
got HIV and you are having pre-marital sex, or sex
symbolic contribution to United Nations Children's
in any situation, you should use a condom."
Fund (UNICEF) for 1997 and calls on others,
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.23(b), 7.37, 7.46, 8.31,
especially Catholic institutions and individuals, to
8.35, 11.9
reconsider their support for the agency. The attack
is based on charges-unequivocally denied by
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
4
UNICEF - that the agency is engaged in
contraception. The pope asks that the bishops
distributing contraception and promoting abortion,
"support the teaching of natural methods of
and on UNICEF's endorsement of a UN manual
regulating fertility."2 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.6,
dealing with women's needs in emergency situations
7.15, 7.23(b), 8.31, 8.35
and in refugee camps. Produced at the height of the
Bosnian conflict, the manual states that women -
February 1997
including the victims of rape as an instrument of war
The US National Conference of Catholic Bishops
- "have the same rights as others to have access, on
decries the congressional approval of a bill providing
the basis of free and voluntary choice, to
additional international family planning assistance.
comprehensive information and services for
The bishops claim that the money would support
reproductive health," including emergency post-
abortion activities, even though US law prohibits the
coital contraception for raped women.¹⁹
use of US funds for any abortion-related activities
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 4.17, 4.18, 4.19, 7.46,
overseas.24 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6,
11.8, 11.9
7.15, 7.23, 8.17, 8.25, 8.31
November 1996
March 1997
The Roman Catholic church in Honduras uses its
The Pontifical Council for the Family issues a
influence to prevent the distribution of condoms at
reference document entitled, "Vade Месит for
polling stations during primary elections. The
Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of Morality of
Honduran Ministry of Health had planned to
Conjugal Life," in which contraception is referred to
distribute more than one million condoms at polling
as an "evil." The document states, "The church has
places where voters from the country's two major
always taught the intrinsic evil of contraception, that
parties were choosing candidates for the presidency
is, of every marital act intentionally rendered
and other offices. Government officials say they
unfruitful. This teaching is to be held definitive and
cancelled the plans largely because of church
irreformable. Contraception is gravely opposed to
objections.² PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6,
marital chastity; it is contrary to the good of
7.15, 7.23, 8.31, 8.35
transmission of life
; it harms true love
"25
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23,
December 1996
8.35
Addressing participants in a course to prepare
teachers of natural family planning, the pope
April 1997
reiterates that natural family planning is the only
The Catholic bishops of the United States urge the
method permitted by the church for married couples
US Congress to vote against aid for family planning
to use to space pregnancies. A month prior to his
programs overseas.²⁶ PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2,
statement, the pope urged doctors to adhere to the
7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.17, 8.25, 8.31
church's sanctioned method of family planning, and
he condemned contraceptives as a form of
June 1997
"hedonism."21 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3,
In a letter to US Bishop John McCarthy of Austin,
7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.35
Texas, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith instructs the bishop to terminate all
January 1997
access to contraception and sterilization at
In a letter to the US Congress, Cardinal Bernard Law
Brackenridge Hospital. The letter is part of a series
of Boston, Massachusetts urges members of
of correspondence regarding the leasing arrangement
Congress to vote against the US Administration's
between Seton (a Catholic health care system) and
proposal to spend an additional $123 million for
Brackenridge Hospital (a public medical facility) in
international family planning assistance.²
Austin, Texas. "This Congregation," the letter reads,
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23,
"directs Your Excellency to ensure that direct
8.17, 8.25, 8.31
sterilizations, as well as any other contraceptive
programs, immediately and permanently cease at
February 1997
Brackenridge Hospital." PROGRAMME OF ACTION
In an address to members of the Philippine bishops'
7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23
conference during their ad limina visit to Rome, Pope
John Paul II instructs the bishops to defend the
family by publicly opposing sterilization and
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
5
July 1997
November 1997
L Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, gives its
The Vatican nuncio to the United Nations protests
support to a report which calls on people with
medical aid in refugee camps, saying it is "sometimes
mental and physical disabilities to abstain from sex.
almost exclusively in the form of reproductive health
Dr. Maria Cristina Baldacci, a surgeon and
measures."³ PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6,
consultant in bioethics, wrote an article for Medical
7.15, 7.23, 10.25
Morality ,saying the disabled should "collaborate with
God to avoid creating further pain and sorrow" by
January 1998
expressing their sexual urges as "friendship or
The German bishops' conference concedes to Pope
something more transcendental."28 PROGRAMME OF
John Paul II's "urgent request" that Catholic church-
ACTION 6.30
sponsored counseling centers stop issuing
counseling certificates to pregnant women who need
July 1997
abortions. The bishops agree to withhold counseling
Catholic and Muslim groups form Citizens for a
certificates that are key in Germany's legal
Healthier Kenya to campaign against the
procedures for abortion.34 PROGRAMME OF
government's sex education programs and
ACTION 7.6, 7.24, 8.19, 8.25
distribution of contraceptives. The group seeks to
gain support for "traditional family life" and in its
January 1998
literature states that the planned sex education will
The local Catholic church in Zambia opposes a
be dangerous "killing all sense of morality, opening
proposed regulation that would allow unmarried
the way to free sex, to contraception and
pregnant girls to continue in school, claiming the
abortion."29 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 5.9, 5.13,
regulation sanctions immorality. The church says
7.15, 7.23, 8.31, 8.25, 8.35, 11.9
that only students with potential should have the
opportunity to continue their education, and argues
August 1997
that pregnant unmarried girls do not have
The archbishop of Mexico, Norberto Rivera Carrera,
potential.35 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 4.17, 4.18,
demands that all condoms distributed through
4.19, 11.8
Mexico's AIDS prevention program carry warning
labels that state, "Use of this product is harmful to
February 1998
health." In his homily in Mexico City's cathedral, the
On the thirtieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae the
archbishop praises the Mexican government officials
1968 encyclical letter issued by Paul VI that reiterates
for placing warning labels on alcoholic beverages
the church ban on the use of artificial contraception
that say, "this product is harmful to your health,"
- Pope John Paul II tells Catholics that the
and laments how the government does not do the
church's ban on contraception is the law. In his
same for contraceptives. PROGRAMME OF ACTION
letter addressed to Anna Cappella, director of the
7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 8.31, 8.35
Center for Research and Study on the Natural
Regulation of Fertility at Rome's Catholic University
September 1997
of the Sacred Heart, Pope John Paul states that "in
With the support of PROVIDA, a conservative
the act that expresses their love, spouses are called to
prolife group in Mexico, Mexico's Archbishop
make a reciprocal gift to themselves to each other in
Norberto Rivera Carrera rejects the use of
the totality of their person.
This
is
the
reason
for
contraceptives in marriage. In his homily, Rivera
the intrinsic unlawfulness of contraception: It
Carrera instructs parishioners not to use intrauterine
introduces a substantial limitation into this reciprocal
devices and condoms, arguing that they are methods
giving
"36 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3,
that destroy the sexual unity between spouses.3
7.6, 7.15, 7.23, 7.24
PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 715, 7.23,
8.17
April 1998
The New York State Catholic Conference and the
October 1997
Connecticut Catholic Conference lobby against US
Fr. Jacque Suaudeau, a medical doctor who is a
legislation that would require health insurance
member of the Vatican Council for the Family
policies to provide prescription drug coverage for
claims that using condoms during sexual intercourse
contraceptive drugs and devices. Women of low-
will not protect against transmission of the HIV
virus.³² PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.23(b), 8.31, 8.35
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
6
incomes would especially benefit from the
sponsored insurance plans.⁴² PROGRAMME OF
legislation.37 PROGRAMME OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.15,
ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.15, 7.23, 7.24
7.23, 7.24
April 1998
NOTES
The archbishop of Lima, Peru, Cardinal Augusto
Vargas Alzamora, protests sex education for eleven-
1 US Bishops, "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic
and twelve-year-olds in secondary school, calling it a
Health Care Services," Origins 24:27 (December 15, 1994),
450-460.
sacrilege and a crime. He criticizes the program for
2 Archbishop Francis Schulte, "Pastoral Action for Families,"
teaching students to prevent pregnancies by using
Origins 24:30 (January 12, 1995), 506.
artificial contraception. The minister of education,
3 Pope John Paul II, The Gospel of Life Evangelium Vitae
Domingo Palermo, explains the program addresses
(New York: Random House, 1995), 23-30.
the country's problem of teen pregnancy and the aim
4 Open File, June 1995.
5 Asian, Middle Eastern Bishops, "Serving the Needs of the
is to bring information not only to the students, but
Family," Origins 25:6 (June 22, 1995), 100.
also to parents and teachers.³⁸ PROGRAMME OF
6 "Al Servicio del Evangelio de la Vida," comunicado de los
ACTION 7.23(b), 7.37, 7.46, 8.31, 8.35, 11.9
Obispos de Perú, 4 de agosto de 1995.
7 UPI wire service, September 19, 1995.
May 1998
8 Mary Ann Glendon, "Vatican Stance: Women's Conference
Final Document," Origins 25:15 (September 28, 1995), 235.
Cardinal Augusto Vargas Alzamora of Lima, Peru,
9 "Vatican Criticizes Women's Platform," UPI, September 15,
calls upon parishioners to boycott artificial methods
1995.
of contraception. The archbishop states that, "the
10 The Catholic World Report, August-September 1995.
church condemns these methods because they
11 "Best for Kids," Catholic New York, January 4, 1996.
compromise and affect health, dignity and the
12 Pontifical Council for the Family, "The Truth and Meaning
of Human Sexuality," Origins 25:32 (February 1, 1996).
economy of families."3 PROGRAMME OF ACTION
13 Carta de los Obispos de Perú a los fieles creyentes,
7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 715, 7.23, 8.17
"Construyamos una Cultura de Fe," 2 de febrero de 1996; The
Catholic World Report, March 1996.
June 1998
14 The Catholic World Report, March 1996; PA News wire
In the process of instituting the International
service, November 11, 1995.
15 "Brazil Bishop Bans Marriage Because of Impotence,"
Criminal Court, the Vatican opposes the inclusion of
Reuter wire service, March 26, 1996.
"forced" or "enforced" pregnancy among the court's
16 AP wire service, August 31, 1996.
list of war crimes, in fear of women being able to use
17 The Catholic World Report, August-September 1996.
the ICC to obtain abortions in countries where
18 "Obispos Católicos condenan 'Colonialismo
abortions are illegal.40 PROGRAMME OF ACTION
anticonceptivo'," La Tribuna, August 15, 1996.
19 "Vatican Shelves UNICEF Support," AP wire service,
7.35, 7.39
November 5, 1996; "The Holy See Suspends Its Annual
Symbolic Contribution to UNICEF," Holy See press release,
July 1998
November 4, 1996.
US residents of Enid, Oklahoma, face the loss of
20 "Honduran Church Blasted For Halting Condom Giveaway,"
Reuter wire service, November 28, 1996.
tubal ligation services. The city's two hospitals, one
21 "Pope-Birth Control," AP wire service, December 7, 1996.
Catholic and the other Baptist, plan to build a
22 Cardinal Law, letter to Members of Congress, January 30,
Medical Plaza for Women and Infants. The new
1997. See www.nccbuscc.org.
facility will not offer the choice of tubal ligations at
23 "Filipino Families Are Seeking Sound Doctrine, Grace and
delivery for women because it will operate under the
Human Empathy," L 'Osservatore Romano, February 19, 1997.
24 "Official Expresses Dismay on Vote for Funds for Abortion
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care
Groups," National Conference of Catholic Bishops news
Services, the Catholic church's national guidelines
release, February 13, 1997.
barring most reproductive services.⁴¹ PROGRAMME
25 Pontifical Council for the Family, "Vade Mecum for
OF ACTION 7.2, 7.3, 7.6, 7.15, 7.23
Confessors Concerning Some Aspects of Conjugal Life,"
Origins 26:38 (March 13, 1997), 621.
26 Most Reverend Theodore E. McCarrick and Most Reverend
August 1998
John Ricard, letter to Senator/Representative, April 22, 1997.
The US Catholic bishops lobby against the US
27 Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, letter to the Most
Congress bill that would require federal employees'
Reverend John McCarthy, June 9, 1997.
health insurance to cover prescription
28 "Disabled Protest to Vatican on 'Avoid Sex' Call," Irish
contraceptives. The bill passes, but the bishops
Times, July 2, 1997.
29 The Wanderer, July 17, 1997.
succeed in securing exemptions for Catholic-
30 "El condón no es totalmente seguro, dice el arzobispo Rivera
Carrera," Crónica, 25 de agosto de 1997.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
7
31 "Rivera Carrera rechaza los métodos anticonceptivos dentro
del matrimonio," Crónica, 1 de septiembre de 1997.
32 The Tablet, October 18, 1997.
33 Catholic New York, November 13, 1997.
34 "Obeying Pope, German Bishops End Role in Abortion
System," New York Times, January 28, 1998; "German
Catholics to end abortion certificates," Reuter wire service,
January 27, 1998.
35 Von Zarina Geloo, "Zambia's Young Mothers Should be
Allowed to go to School Again," DPA wire service, January
12, 1998.
⁶Pope John Paul II, "Why Natural Family Planning Differs
from Contraception," Origins 27:40 (March 26, 1998), 680-
681; "Pope Reminds Catholics Contraception Not Allowed,"
Reuter wire service, March 2, 1998.
37 New York State Catholic Conference, letter to New York
State Assembly, 3 April 1998; Connecticut Catholic
Conference, letter to state legislators, 30 April 1998.
38 "Cardenal Vargas Alzamora critica contenido de educación
sexual," El Comercio, 10 de abril de 1998; "Ministerio de
Educación no imparte planificación familiar a adolescentes,"
El Comercio, 15 de abril de 1998.
39 "Cardenal pide a los feligreses boicotear métodos artificiales
para control natal," Expreso, 12 de mayo de 1998.
40 "New Struggle for Life," The Catholic World Report,
August-September 1998; "The Holy See's Statement on
Criminal Court," L Osservatore Romano, July 22, 1998;
"Semantics Stalls Pact Labeling Rape a War Crime," New
York Times, July 9, 1998.
41 "Religion, Medicine, Collide on Birth Care," Chicago
Tribune, July 7, 1998.
42 "Political and health issues dominate 'pill bill' debate," Our
Sunday Visitor, August 30, 1998; "Women's Groups Eye
Insurance Bill," AP wire service, August 31, 1998; "Federal
Coverage for Birth Control Gives Pro-Abortion Forces a
Boost," National Catholic Register, August 16-22, 1998.
CÁTHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
TOLIC VOICES
WITH
THE
INSENSUS
The Holy See and Cairo
The 1994 International Conference on Population
family," John Paul said. It is the "snare of the devil,"
and Development gave rise to unprecedented
promulgates a "culture of death," and represents a
attention by the Vatican to a United Nations
"serious setback for- humanity." On one visit to a
meeting. "No issue has affected John Paul II in a
neighborhood church in Rome, the pope told
more profound way throughout his fifteen-year
parishioners, "I am going back to the Vatican to
papacy than the Cairo conference," observed
combat a project prepared by the United Nations,
Raymond Flynn, then US ambassador to the
which want to destroy the family. I say simply no,
Vatican. Five months before the ICPD convened,
no. Think again. Convert your hearts. If you are
Reuters reported that the pope had "pulled out all
the United Nations, you must not destroy."
the stops in an attempt to influence the conference."
Other senior church officials joined in.
Throughout the year leading up to the
Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the
conference, Pope John Paul II and other top Roman
Pontifical Council for the Family, said the ICPD
Catholic church officials campaigned with a
could cause "the most disastrous massacre in
vengeance against the consensus taking shape
history." Trujillo accused the United States and
around the UN conference. John Paul met in March
other Western countries of "biological colonialism"
1994 with Nafis Sadik, executive director of the
for advocating family planning methods the Vatican
United Nations Population fund and secretary
opposes- that is, any methods other than those
general of the ICPD. Face to face, he upbraided
relying on periodic abstinence, or "natural family
Sadik and criticized the draft Programme of Action
planning."
as formulating "population issues in terms of
individual and 'sexual and reproductive rights,' or
A gathering of 114 of the church's 139
even in terms of 'women's rights'."
cardinals in June endorsed the Vatican's fight with a
statement charging that the Cairo document would
Then came his letter to every head of state,
legitimize "abortion on demand, sexual promiscuity
claiming that the document promotes a "lifestyle"
and distorted notions of the family."
that is "totally individualistic, to such an extent that
marriage now appears as something outmoded."
At the final preparatory meeting in April in
This lifestyle, the pope wrote, is "typical of certain
New York, Holy See Delegate Diarmuid Martin
fringes within developed societies, societies which
infuriated participants when he accused conference
are materially rich and secularized."
leaders of flouting the "cultural, ethical, spiritual, and
religious values" of people in developing nations and
In late March, John Paul summoned all
of indulging in "reticence towards a coherent moral
ambassadors assigned to the Vatican for a papal
vision." NGO representatives jeered his remarks,
lesson on population. A month later, he spoke by
and in a curt response, the chairman of the session,
telephone and in person with President Clinton on
Fred Sai of Ghana, turned the charge of ethical
the matter.
shortcomings back against the Holy See.
Through the spring and summer, the pope took
Unbowed, the Vatican attempted to secure
every opportunity in general audiences and other
allies for its crusade, but months of diplomatic
public appearances to attack the conference with
efforts netted few recruits. After one staunch
fiery rhetoric. The conference aims to "destroy the
soldier, President Carlos Menem of Argentina, failed
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
to rally Latin American heads of state to adopt a
Indeed, the Vatican's vision of civilization did
joint "right to life" platform for the Cairo
seem to be at stake. The conference became a
conference, it seemed that the pope began turning
debate "between modernity and tradition, between
over stones to find comrades. In August the Vatican
dogma and reason," the Italian daily La Repubblica
reached out to Islamic fundamentalists, paying calls
observed. What the Vatican decried, others
on repressive regimes such as Libya. A Libyan news
acclaimed. The overwhelming majority of world
agency reported that, in return for Libya's support in
governments, religious leaders, and a broad array of
condemning the Cairo conference, Vatican
public interest organizations with historically diverse
diplomats were supporting Libyan efforts to resolve
views on population issues had come to a consensus
differences with Western governments around the
on humane population policies and sustainable
1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie,
development; the Vatican dug in its heels, crying that
Scotland
the new views of sexuality, reproduction, and
families meant the end of civilization.
During their campaign against the conference,
Roman Catholic church leaders were especially
With the preponderance of governments in
critical of the US government and its positions on
strong support of the plan- a sign that it was no
issues related to the Cairo conference. The US
manifesto of radical liberalism- the Vatican made
bishops issued a statement calling on the US
efforts to cloak its disapproval in acceptable terms.
government to "reverse its efforts" on the
But, crowded with straw men, Vatican criticisms
conference.
often had a ring of absurdity: "The conference's
themes," Navarro-Valls asserted in his op-ed,
Higher up the hierarchy, the US cardinals wrote
"include coerced family planning, abortion,
a letter to President Clinton that distorted the
homosexuality and versions of women's rights that
emerging Programme of Action in order to attack it.
are harmful to women." Readers would have to do
They claimed, for example, that the document
their own research to learn that the document clearly
advocated increased use of sterilization, even though
and repeatedly condemned coercive measures, did
neither the draft document nor its final articulation
not mention homosexuality, and enjoyed the support
promoted particular methods of regulating fertility
of women's advocates the world over.
and never used the words "sterilization," "ligation,"
"vasectomy," or "surgical contraception."
When the conference began on September 5,
Vatican diplomats were undeterred by their lack of
Meanwhile, the US administration, in the
success to date. As soon as delegates set to work on
person of Vice President Al Gore, made
the document, of which 10 percent had been marked
extraordinary efforts not to offend the Vatican while
for continued debate at Cairo, the Holy See seized
defending the conference agenda. For Gore's
upon the paragraph on abortion and, for five days,
trouble, a top Vatican official, papal spokesman
would not let go. To some extent, the Holy See held
Joaquin Navarro-Valls, publicly insulted him by
the conference hostage to the high value the UN
name, suggesting that the Vice President was lying
placed on achieving consensus. The Vatican also
about US intentions.
took advantage of its own vestigial aura of authority
in international circles; with as little support as the
The Vatican also courted US opinion with an
Vatican had mustered, few countries would have
op-ed article written by Navarro-Valls and published
been able to win such a long hearing for their
by the Wall Street Journal a few days before the ICPD
particular agendas.
opened. The conference, Navarro-Valls wrote,
would be "a crucial challenge to Christianity's most
Even after delegates had reworded sections to
fundamental doctrine on the sanctity of life as it has
appease the Holy See, the pope's envoys forced
to come to be and exist in the family. The Holy
delay. So exasperated were delegates that at one
Father is not merely defending a sort of odd
session they booed a Holy See representative.
Catholic view about life and family. He is in fact
pointing to the key issue on which future humanity
"Does the Vatican rule the world?" asked
must make a choice. This issue of human life and
Egyptian population minister Maher Mahran. "If
population undergirds all others. A false step here
they are not going to negotiate, why did they come?"
leads to a general disorder of civilization itself."
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
Delegates and NGO representatives grumbled
Cairo. But in reality, Cairo's statements about
about the Holy See's obstructionist behavior, and at
abortion account for only a tiny portion of its
least two petitions circulated calling for a change in
remarkable 20-year plan for the world's future. To
the Vatican's status at the United Nations. While the
be sure, Cairo explicitly addressed the public health
movement to repeal the Holy See's status was
problem of unsafe abortion for the first time in a
limited, frustration with the delegation ran deep. It
UN document. But the document also says "in no
was exacerbated by the widespread understanding
case should abortion be promoted as a method of
that the Pope's positions on reproductive matters do
family planning."
not reflect the attitudes and practices of Catholics
around the world. "The bottom line is the credibility
As evidenced by the Vatican's statements
of the papacy," one government delegate told
decrying the broad themes of the conference, the
Reuters. "If no one follows him, for whom does he
Holy See's conflicts centered not only on abortion,
speak?"
but on the notion that couples and individuals
should have access to a range of contraception,
The Holy See had refused to endorse the two
including but not limited to natural family planning,
previous UN population conference documents, in
on the prominence of women's rights and women's
1974 and 1984, and no one expected anything
equality, and on the recognition of the centrality of
different in Cairo. But in the end, the Holy See
reproductive and sexual health in ethical population
surprised most observers by joining the consensus
policies. The Vatican's differences with the world
on about half the Programme of Action.
consensus on these issues has not changed, and can
be expected to arise again during the five-year review
From news reports of the ICPD, many might
of the implementation of the ICPD.
have been led to believe that the single issue of
abortion accounted for the conflict between the
Holy See and the majority of the delegations in
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
MOLIC VOICES
THE
ONSENSUS
The Church at the United Nations
Through an entity called the Holy See, the Roman
the adherents as well- "it exists and operates within
Catholic church enjoys unique governmental status
the international community as the juridical
at the United Nations, where the Holy See is a Non-
personification of the Church."⁴
Member State Permanent Observer. While there are
numerous UN observers (intergovernmental
Legally, the Holy See and Vatican City are
organizations, liberation movements, and specialized
distinct entities with a relationship unique in
agencies of the UN system), the Holy See and
international law. The Vatican city-state exists to
Switzerland are the only two currently holding that
administer the properties belonging to the Holy See
status as "states."
and to insure the ecclesial independence of the Holy
See. The Holy See holds sovereign authority over
THE HOLY SEE, VATICAN CITY, THE
Vatican City and carries out international relations
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH-ARE
on the city-state's behalf as well as on behalf of the
THERE DIFFERENCES AMONG THEM?
Roman Catholic church.⁵ While Vatican City does
not enter into diplomatic relations, the Holy See is
The Roman Catholic church is a religious society
active in the United Nations and maintains full
without a political identity under the law. Vatican
diplomatic relations with 157 countries.⁶
City is an independent city-state within Rome that
serves as the site of the church's government and is
IS THE HOLY SEE CONSIDERED A
itself governed by the head of the church, the pope.
STATE?
The Holy See is "the supreme organ [of
government] of both the Catholic church and the
No, despite its designation as a non-member "state"
Vatican City State," according to the authoritative
permanent observer, "the Holy See is not a state,"
work on the Holy See's international relations,
according to Cardinale.⁷ It is a religious entity
written by Archbishop Hyginus Eugene Cardinale,
without defined temporal territory.⁸ Diplomatically,
who was a Vatican diplomat.¹ Vatican City is
however, many countries treat the Holy See "as
temporal and territorial; the Holy See, a more
being on the same footing as a state" because of the
nebulous construct, is religious.
influence of the pope, as leader of Catholics
worldwide.⁹ According to its Permanent Observer
The term Holy See has multiple meanings. In
Mission, the Holy See can enter into treaties as the
one sense it is simply the pope's "see," or diocese
"juridical equal of a state."10
(the authority and jurisdiction of a bishop), including
not just Vatican City but also Rome. In another
In international law, statehood traditionally
sense, as the "central government" of the church, it
rests on four criteria: a permanent population; a
refers to the pope, the Roman Curia, and the College
defined territory; a government; and the capacity to
of Cardinals together.² Also called the Apostolic See,
enter into relations with other states. 11 The United
the Holy See refers to the pope's "authority,
Nations Charter, while requiring statehood for
jurisdiction, and sovereignty" in both the "spiritual
membership, does not define a "state."
and temporal governance and guidance" of the
church, including Vatican City.3
Unlike the Holy See, Vatican City is considered
a state. At less than half a square kilometer and with
Although the Holy See is not the same thing as
fewer than 1000 residents- only about half of those
the Roman Catholic church-which encompasses
being citizens- it is the smallest entity in the world
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
claiming statehood.¹² In order to administer and
must apply to the UN secretary general for the
safeguard the property of the Holy See, the State of
status.¹⁷
Vatican City was established by the 1929 Lateran
Treaty, between the papacy and Italy, which had
Permanent Observers cannot vote in the
seized the Papal States during the Italian unification.
General Assembly, but as a matter of custom they
have full access to meetings and documents.
WHY IS THE HOLY SEE, A RELIGIOUS
Permanent Observers may address the General
NON-STATE-AND NOT VATICAN CITY-
Assembly and participate in its debates. 18 (The
ACTIVE IN THE UNITED NATIONS?
Vatican's observer status in the World Health
Organization is similar- a voice but no vote.)
There was confusion over Vatican/Holy See
terminology at the United Nations during the 1950s.
Observers can take part in UN conferences,
Official UN documents referred to UN relations
such as the Fourth World Conference on Women.
with the "State of the Vatican City," but in an
The UN agency organizing each meeting decides
exchange of letters with the UN secretary-general in
what level of participation to allow observers, and
1957, the church sought and secured the agreement
non-member states typically are granted the full
that it was the Holy See that maintained relations
status enjoyed by UN member states, including a
with the United Nations."13
vote on any question that is put to a vote. The
United Nations works hard, especially in
The decision, according to Cardinale, was
conferences, to avoid relying upon votes, preferring
based on the church's desire to stress the pope's
to operate by consensus in adopting documents such
spiritual leadership rather than his temporal
as the programs of action by which UN conferences
sovereignty.14 "This opportune classification
address global issues. The practice of operating by
immensely broadened the perimeter of the papacy's
consensus gives states with minority views- even
interest" in the United Nations' many activities.
lone dissenters- a stronger voice in proceedings
than they would have otherwise.
At the same time, the Permanent Observer
Mission sees to the interests of Vatican City as well
Additionally, recent General Assembly
as those of the Holy See. "It is up to the Holy See to
resolutions have called for all "states" participating
decide whether, in actual fact, the representatives
in conferences to be accorded "full voting rights."19
it sends to international Organisations and meetings
are to act in its own name, or in that of the State of
Taken together, these factors have enabled the
the Vatican City, or even in both at once, according
Holy See to exercise a presence equal to that of any
to the subject matter. In any event the sending
UN member state- including some power to block
authority is the Holy See and not the Vatican City
consensus- at recent conferences such as the 1992
State."15
Conference on the Environment and Development,
in Rio de Janeiro; the 1994 International Conference
WHAT DOES PERMANENT OBSERVER
on Population and Development, in Cairo; and the
STATUS MEAN?
1995 World Summit for Social Development, in
Copenhagen. The same will be the case at the 1995
Permanent Observer status is a matter of custom;
Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing.
there is no provision for it in the United Nations
Charter. The custom originated in 1946, when
HOW DID THE VATICAN GET INVOLVED
Switzerland named a "permanent observer" to the
IN THE UNITED NATIONS?
United Nations and the UN secretary-general
accepted the designation.¹⁶ To become a Permanent
The Holy See owes its participation in the United
Observer, a state must be a member of at least one
Nations to the membership of Vatican City in the
specialized agency of the UN system (such as the
Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the International
International Atomic Energy Agency), must be
Telecommunication Union (ITU), which the city-
"generally recognized" by UN member states, and
state joined because of its operation of postal and
radio services. The United Nations, soon after its
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
formation, invited these organizations and their
extends over one billion persons scattered throughout
members to attend UN sessions on an ad hoc
the world and belonging to the most diverse ethnic
basis.20 The Holy See began attending the General
groups and geographic regions. Its strength
Assembly, the World Health Organization, and the
consists in the respect that its words, its teaching,
UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
and its policies enjoy in the conscience of the
Organization in 1951 as an ad hoc observer.²¹ In
Catholic world-a respect that is widely shared by
1956, the Holy See was elected a member of the UN
many people who do not belong to the Church. The
Economic and Social Council and also became a full
real and only realm of the Holy See is the realm of
member of the International Atomic Energy
conscience.²⁷
Agency.22
When Pope Paul VI arrived in New York in
HOW DID THE VATICAN BECOME A
1965 to address the United Nations, he told the
NON-MEMBER STATE PERMANENT
crowd at Kennedy Airport that he offered "to your
OBSERVER?
terrestrial city of peace the greetings and good
wishes of our spiritual city of peace." Addressing the
While the Holy See was an ad hoc observer, the
General Assembly, he presented the church as an
pope's representative at UN meetings was an
"expert in humanity," and in asking nations to work
auxiliary bishop of New York, who also carried out
together as equals, he referred to himself "as a
other duties in the archdiocese. The relationship
representative of a religion that believes salvation is
between the Vatican and the United Nations was
achieved through the humility of its divine
one of "mutual experimentation," a Catholic
Founder."28
periodical said-at the time.23 Pope John XXIII
moved toward closer relations in 1963 when he
In a papal address to the General Assembly in
endorsed the United Nations in his encyclical Pacem
1979, John Paul II also claimed a special role. "The
in Terris (Peace on Earth) and, as he was dying, sent
nature and aims of the spiritual mission of the
Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens to summarize the
Apostolic See and the church make their
encyclical in an address to the General Assembly.
participation" in UN activities "very different from
that of the states, which are communities in the
In 1964, Pope Paul VI named a permanent
political and temporal sense," he said.29
observer, following Switzerland's precedent. UN
Secretary-General U Thant accepted the designation
Monsignor Diarmuid Martin, a leader of the
and announced it within three weeks.²⁴
Vatican delegations to Cairo and Copenhagen,
referred to "the social teaching of the church" as
Paul VI did not pursue full membership. Under
"the principal inspiration of the positions taken by
the UN Charter, membership entails a state's
the Holy See at the conferences."30
acceptance that it may be required to commit
military power in collective measures to suppress
Archbishop Renato R. Martino, the Vatican's
acts of aggression "or other breaches of the
"Permanent Observer" to the United Nations-as
peace."25 By Lateran Treaty and by choice, the Holy
the ambassador for a Permanent Observer state is
See and Vatican City are committed to neutrality.26
called- also speaks of a religious mission. Asked
about the Vatican role in the United Nations, when
FOR WHOM DOES THE VATICAN SPEAK
there is no "voice" for Protestant religion, Islam, or
AT THE UNITED NATIONS?
Judaism, Martino quoted a Moslem supporter. "The
Vatican has a right to be present" partly because, 'if
Church officials describe their role in the United
you would ask the Moslem to come forward and
Nations as being unique:
speak, we would not know who would be the one to
speak," whereas there is "one voice" for the
As a full member of the international community,
Catholic church. Martino added that the Catholic
the Holy See finds itself in a very particular
church's "one voice is a message of salvation, found
situation, because it is spiritual in nature. Its
in the Scriptures and lived in the tradition of the
authority-which is religious and not political-
Church over the centuries. It is an objective truth
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
4
that remains changeless.
During the month
11. Cardinale, p. 81; CRLP, citing Restatement (Third) of the
preceding the Cairo Conference, Pope John Paul II
Foreign Relations Law of the United States, $201 (1986).
and the world episcopate have applied these eternal
12. Schabas; Cardinale, P. 104.
13. Cardinale, PP. 256-57.
truths to the topics addressed by the conference."31
14. Cardinale, P. 256.
15. Cardinale, P. 257.
What place does a religious body- claiming to
16. UN Public Inquiries Unit, "Information on the Status of
Permanent Observer Missions to the United
possess the universal "objective truth" and to speak
Nations, "Oct. 1994.
infallibly on moral matters-have in an
17.
"Legal Opinions of the Secretariat of the United Nations,"
intergovernmental institution like the United
United Nations Juridical Yearbook, 1962, PP- 236-37; United
Nations?
Nations Public Inquiries Unit "Image and Reality," April
1993.
18. United Nations Public Inquiries Unit, Image & Reality:
NOTES
Questions and Answers about the United Nations, How It Works,
1.
Hyginus Eugene Cardinale, The Holy See and the International
and Who Pays for It, Apr. 30, 1993.
Order (Gerrards Cross, England: Colin Smythe, 1976),
19. CRLP (above, note 8).
PP. 257-59.
20. Cardinale, P. 256.
2.
The Official Catholic Directory, 1995 (New Providence, NJ:
21. Schabas.
P.J. Kenedy & Sons with R.R. Bowker, 1995), p.xix.
22. Cardinale, p. 233.
3.
The Catholic Encydopedia, (New York: Thomas Nelson
23. "Vatican UN Observer," America, Apr. 25, 1964, PP-
Publishers, 1987), p. 268; Cardinale.
560-61.
4.
Cardinale, PP 81-83.
24. Tablet (London), Apr, 18, 1964, P. 447; New York Times,
5.
Cardinale, PP. 82-85; Tryanjana Maluwa, "The Holy See
Apr. 7, 1964; Cardinale, p.232.
and the concept of international legal personality: some
25. United Nations Charter, Articles 1, 4, 43, 45 & 49.
reflections," Comparative and International Law Journal of
26. Schabas; Cardinale, PP. 259-60; Permanent Observer
Southern Africa, Mar. 1986, pp.24-25.
Mission of the Holy See (above, note 6).
6.
Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See, "The Holy
27. Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See
See and the United Nations," undated article, in
(above, note 6).
distribution, June 1995.
28. Peter Hebblethwaite, Paul VI: The First Modern Pope (New
7.
Cardinale, p. 259.
York: Paulist Press, 1993), P. 437-39.
8.
Cardinale, PP. 256-59, William Schabas, "Notes on the
29. Origins, vol. 9 (1979-80), PP. 257-259.
Legal Status of the Varican City and the Holy See," 1994;
30. Msgr. Diarmuid Martin, "What the Church Tries to Do at
diplomatic sources; Center for Reproductive Law and
International Conferences," Origins, vol. 25, no 6 (June 22,
Policy (CRLP) (New York), "Church or State? The Holy
1995), PP- 94-98.
See at the United Nations," July 3, 1994.
31. Dialogue, National Catholic Register, Feb. 5, 1995.
9.
Cardinale, P. 259.
10. Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See
(above, note 6).
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
CAMHOLIC VOICES
WITH THE
INSENSUS
Catholics and Contraception: A Struggle for Control
"If anyone says that it is not better and more godly to live in virginity or in the unmarried state than to marry, let him be
anathema « (From a declaration of the church, Council of Trent, 1545-1563)
Sincere people worldwide are baffled by the Roman
procreation; contraception was implicitly evil.
Catholic prohibition of all contraceptives from
Augustine strongly opposed periodic abstinence, the
condoms to pills. The hierarchy's vehement and
method today's Vatican extols.
absolute opposition to abortion would seemingly
lead it to champion contraception to reduce the need
Medieval Years: Monks Put
for abortion. The church also accepts that
Their Stamp On Sexuality
population pressures exacerbate poverty and
From Augustine's death to the twelfth century,
contribute to human suffering; contraceptives could
writings on sexuality were codified by monks and
help alleviate those pressures as well. Instead, some
monk-bishops. They gave the prohibition of
church leaders, especially Pope John Paul II, have
contraception more of a "corporate stamp.
"1
intensified the opposition to contraception.
Popes and bishops, in turn, promoted monasticism
and clerical celibacy to prevent the clergy from
The above quote exalting chastity points to the
having heirs with claims to church property.
reason: in a church in which all officials are male and
celibate, power and control is maintained when the
1140: First Code Says Contraception a Sin
sexual and reproductive functions are resisted.
Gratian, a monk, compiled the first collection of
Throughout church history, fear of women and
canon law that was accepted as authoritative within
sexuality runs deep. Sexual intercourse, Catholics are
the church. It declared contraception a sin, but not a
told, is not a good if engaged in for pleasure or love
grave one.
alone- it must carry an openness to pregnancy and
childbearing. These "goals" redeem sexuality from
1230-34: A Pope Calls Contraception Murder
time honored notions of evil. More importantly,
The first papal injunction against birth control came
these limits serve to keep distance between the
when Pope Gregory IX, the creator of the
priestly elite and the ordinary Catholic. They serve as
Inquisition, compiled existing authoritative decrees
a form of control over the lives of all, but most
into the universally binding Decretals. The Decretals
tragically of women, who bear the brunt of avoidable
condemned contraception as murder.
mortality and morbidity.
1588: Pope Sixtus V Adopts a Population Policy
St. Augustine (354-430): Sexual Pleasure = Sin
Pope Sixtus V issued the bull Effraenatam (Without
A zealous convert after a lustful youth, Augustine
Restraint), which used the rhetoric of birth control
dominated moral theology for more than a
as murder; the bull applied to contraception the
millennium and has recently re-emerged as a
penalties designated for homicide. The bull was
principal influence on ultraconservative theology.
directed partly against the sexual activity of the
Augustine linked original sin, hust, and sex: he
clergy and served Sixtus's crusade to eradicate
asserted that sexual pleasure was the path by which
adultery and prostitution in Rome. Rome had also
original sin was transmitted from generation to
endured the plague in 1581 and famine in 1578 and
generation. Sexual intercourse, inherently tainted,
1583, providing additional reason for Sixtus's
needed always to be salvaged by the pure motive of
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
condemnation of behavior that would restrain
Nineteenth Century:
population growth.
The Birth Control Movement
1853: The human ovum had been discovered, and
Renaissance and the Counter-Reformation:
with it, scientific support of the belief that women
Fresh Thinking
must be infertile on some days during their
The Renaissance and Counter-Reformation brought
menstrual cycles. In this year, the Roman
fresh thinking and new influences to bear on
Penitentiary said couples who had sex only on days
Catholic ideas about marriage and sexuality. The
they believed the wife was infertile did not need to
theology of Thomas Aquinas was dominant. He had
be disturbed by confessors, if the couple had sound
asserted that contraception violates nature's order
reasons for abstaining from sex.
because sex is clearly nature's way of propagating
species. But he set the stage for moderate reform by
The birth control movement grew through the
saying that marital intercourse is good and therefore
early twentieth century. The idea that overpopulation
so is the pleasure in it. Theologians defended sex as
causes famine and war gained currency. But
legitimate when one used sex to pay the "marriage
declining birthrates threatened to weaken the church,
debt"- that is, to meet the sexual demands of one's
as well as individual nations, and nationalism became
partner.
an instrument of propaganda in the churches fight
against the birth control movement.
Council of Trent (1545-1563):
Religious Rivalry Rules the Day
Bastille Day, 1872: Contraception and War
Catholic-Protestant rivalry fueled competition for
Catholic moralists blamed France's military defeat by
strength in numbers and, therefore, support for the
Prussia on waning fertility and predicted the decline
prohibition of contraception. Similarly, in reaction
and fall of an underpopulated France. In a Bastille
against the Protestant rejection of clerical celibacy,
Day speech in 1872, a Swiss cardinal told a French
Catholicism insisted that celibacy is better than
audience. "You have rejected God, and God has
sexual marriage. The bishops declared at the Council
struck you. You have, by hideous calculation, made
of Trent: "If anyone says that it is not better and
tombs instead of filling cradles with children;
more godly to live in virginity or in the unmarried
therefore you have wanted for soldiers."³ World War
state than to marry, let him be anathema."
I aggravated population related fears, and an alliance
of churchmen and politicians enacted laws against
Yet the church's posture toward contraception
contraception in many countries.
eased in two ways during the Counter-Reformation
Confessors were told to respect penitents' good faith
Late 1800s through 1940s:
and not interrogate them so vigorously as to
Feminism First Seen as a Threat
"disturb" those who were ignorant of the "natural
The birth control movement was seen as part of a
law" and unlikely to mend their ways. Also, it was
broader threat to the church: feminism. Many
deemed lawful for a wife to go along with a husband
Catholic bishops and priests tried to exert influence
who practiced coitus interruptus.
against women's suffrage. In 1944, the chairman of
the US bishops' conference lamented "a new wave
Seventeenth Century:
of perverted feminism that is obviously bent on
Reasons to Limit Births
turning women still more away from the home and
In 1679, Innocent XI renewed the condemnation of
towards extradomestic occupation." Contraception
sex for pleasure, but the condemnation was not
was integral to the problem; the conference
severe. Restricting intercourse to avoid having too
considered planned parenthood a threat to the
many children won theological approval. Poverty
"integrity" of the home.4
and the need to provide for the education of existing
children were accepted as grounds to limit sexual
1930: Pope Attacks "Wicked Childless Parents"
activity, marking new approval for the idea that
Pope Pius XI's 1930 encyclical Casti Connubii
"economic and educational reasons were valid moral
denounced "those wicked parents, who seek to
reasons for not wanting more children."²
remain childless"⁵ or who avoid childbearing "not
through virtuous continence. but by frustrating
the marriage act."6 "Since.
the
conjugal
act
is
destined primarily by nature for the begetting of
children, those who in exercising it deliberately
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
frustrate its natural power and purpose sin against
Human Life), while glorifying the exception made
nature and commit a deed which is shameful and
for rhythm (or periodic abstinence).
intrinsically vicious," the document said.⁷
Dissent loudly greeted the encyclical and
1951: The Church Gets Rhythm
continues more quietly to this day. Theologians note
In 1951, Pope Pius XII declared the rhythm method
that the principle of probabilism gives Catholics the
was available to all couples who for serious motives
right to dissent from doctrine on a moral matter if
- including economic and social ones- wish to
there is a "solid probability" in favor of the
avoid procreation "for a long time, perhaps even for
dissenting opinion. "If
after appropriate study,
the duration of the marriage." The overriding
reflection, and prayer, a person is convinced that his
restriction on which Pius insisted (as does John Paul
or her conscience is correct, in spite of a conflict
II) was that rhythm not be used "habitually" for less
with the moral teachings of the Church, the person
than "grave" reasons; in fact, if a woman's health
not only may but must follow the dictates of
demands that she not become pregnant, she must
conscience rather than the teachings of the Church,"
abstain, not simply use rhythm. Abstinence is
theologian Richard McBrien explains.⁸
possible, Pius XII said; otherwise God would not
require it.
1970s: Elements of Dissent
Scholars criticize Humanae Vitae because it reduces
Earlier fears of inadequate population had been
sexuality to biological or physical facts. Theologians
translated into directives against contraception; now
point out that Humanae Vitae fails to see individual
population pressure seems to have contributed to a
sexual acts in the context of the marriage as a whole
reserved acceptance of a contraceptive practice that
and assesses marriage "exclusively in physical
St. Augustine had damned.
terms"- the production of children— without regard
to its other results or products.9 Theologians criticize
1953: The Appearance of the Pill
as hypocritical the assertion that one can enjoy sex
It fell to Pius XII to respond to "the pill," which
during the infertile period, while fully intending to
emerged in 1953. In 1958, he forbade the use of the
avoid conception by remaining abstinent on fertile
pill if the aim is contraception. But he confirmed
days.
that the pill can be used for therapeutic,
noncontraceptive
purposes-despite
its
1980s: Eruptions and Reaffirmations
contraceptive side-effect-under the principle of
In large part, Catholics in the pews went their own
double effect. The pill was licit to clear up menstrual
way while priests looked the other way. In 1980, a
pain, but not prevent a pregnancy expected to kill
synod of bishops spoke urgently of the prohibition's
the mother: to cure illness, but not to save lives.
non-reception among the laity and called for new
exploration of the issue. Bishop Patrick Iteka of
1963-1966: The Papal Birth Control Commission
Mahenge, Tanzania, said that for socioeconomic
In 1963, Pope John XXIII convened a commission
reasons, African families had to be planned.
on population and birth control, handing the
Indonesian bishop Sudartanto Hadisumatra said the
question to a panel that ultimately included bishops,
church should help couples reduce the number of
theologians, physicians, demographers, and married
children they bore. Archbishop Angelo Fernandes of
couples.
New Delhi asked for a pastoral statement on
contraception that would respond to his people's
July 29, 1968: Pope Paul VI
situation.¹⁰
Reaffirms Prohibition, Inspires Dissent
In 1966, the birth control commission created by
But the synod's closing statement reaffirmed
John XXIII and continued by his successor, Paul VI,
Humanae Vitae, saying that "the transmission of life
issued a majority report in favor of permitting the
is inseparable from the conjugal union."¹¹ John
use of contraception. A minority dissented, arguing
Paul's closing sermon was even more severe. He said
that to change the teaching- admitting error-
immediate compliance is expected.¹²
would undermine the authority and credibility of the
Vatican. After two years of pondering, Paul
Ever since the 1960s:
categorically reaffirmed the prohibition of
The Challenge of Modern Feminism
contraception in his encyclical Humanae Vitae (Of
Feminism has presented an enormous challenge for
the church in the areas of sexual and marital ethics
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
4
and the exclusively male priesthood. Throughout
supreme interpreter of natural law, his fiat is final in
this century, the church has linked contraception and
expressing the Church's moral viewpoint.¹⁴
feminism as intertwined evils. Members of the
hierarchy continue to make statements that indicate
Journalist Robert Kaiser, who wrote the
that one root of the contraception prohibition is a
authoritative chronicle of the birth control
restrictive view of women.
commission and the aftermath of Humanae Vitae,
makes the point compellingly that the issue is power.
"I want to remind young women that
Referring to Jesuit John Ford, one of the four
motherhood is the vocation of women.
It is
theologians behind the minority report of the birth
women's eternal vocation," Pope John Paul II said in
control commission, Kaiser wrote this:
his weekly general audience in January 1979.
Unwittingly, Father Ford gave the
"However, a radical feminism which seeks the
game away when he said the
rights of women by attacking and denying
encyclical reaffirmed "the power of
fundamental, clear and constant moral teaching does
the magisterium to bind
not reflect or promote the full reality and true dignity
consciences." For Ford, the point
of women," the pope explained in a 1989 letter to
was not truth. It was power. The
US bishops.
point was not to teach, but to
rule.¹⁵
1988: Motherhood First and Foremost
In his apostolic letter Mulieris Dignitatem (On the
NOTES
Dignity and Vocation of Women), John Paul again
focused on maternity and virginity. Because men
1.
John T. Noonan, Jr., Contraception: A History of Its Treatment
neither bear nor nurse children, "parenthood
is
by the Catholic Theologians and Canonists, enlarged edition
(Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press/Harvard University
realized much more fully in the woman," the pope
Press, 1986; original edition, 1965), pp. 145 and 143.
wrote. "In many ways [a man] has to learn his own
2.
Noonan, P. 336.
'fatherhood' from the mother."
3.
Noonan, P. 414, quoting Cardinal Gaspar Mermillod, via
B. Deppe, "Théologie pastorale," Nouvelle reven théologique
31 (1899), 455- 456.
The 1990s: Recent Dissent
4.
Quoted in Earl Boyea, The National Catholic Welfare
A few brave souls continue to question and even
Conference: An Experience in Episcopal Leadership, 1935-1945,
disagree with Humanae Vitae. At a meeting of the US
doctoral dissertation, Catholic University of America, 1987
National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop
PP. 359-65.
5.
Casti Connubii, 65.
Kenneth Untener of Saginaw, Michigan, told the
6.
Casti Comubii, 53.
assembly that the logic of the birth control position
7.
Casti Connubii, 54.
is "not compelling" to Catholics, even priests and
8.
Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism, Study Edition
some bishops. If the church's positions were put to a
(Minneapolis, MN: Winston Press, 1981), p. 1004.
9.
Thomas Shannon, Ethical Dilemmas in Population
blind vote, he speculated in a 1991 interview, most
Policy," Conscience, vol. VII, no. 2 (March/April 1986): 1-6,
US bishops would opt to change it.
p.4.
10. Francis X. Murphy, "Of Sex and the Catholic Church,"
A statement on AIDS by France's bishops in
Atlantic Monthly, Feb. 1981, P. 44 ff.
1989 suggested that using a condom may be better
11.
Origins 10:323.
12. Francis X. Murphy, "Catholic Perspectives on Population
than death. "The whole population and especially
Issues II," Population Bulletin, Population Reference Bureau,
the young should be informed of the risks," they
Vol. 35, No. 6 (Feb. 1981).
said. "Prophylactic measures exist." And Cardinal
13. Peter Hebblethwaite, "What the French are not saying
Jean-Marie Lustiger, Archbishop of Paris, told a
about condoms," National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 3, 1989,
television audience, "Chastity is possible," but if
and Origins 18:446.
14. Murphy, Population Bulletin, p. 25.
AIDS-virus carriers fail to abstain from sex, they
15. Robert Blair Kaiser, The Politics of Sex and Religion (Kansas
"should use all known means" to protect others
City, MO: Leaven Press, 1985), P. 219.
from the disease.¹ 13
That contraception is an issue of power can be
seen in Humanae Vitae. Historian Francis X. Murphy,
C.SS.R., writes, "Actually, what the document
amounts to is an assertion by the Pope that, as the
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
CATHOLIC VOICES
WITH THE
AFROICONSENSUS
Abortion and Catholic Thought Through History
Most people believe that the Catholic church's
on abortion within the Catholic church in a historical
position on abortion has remained unchanged for
perspective and show the importance of continued
2000 years. Not true. Church teaching on abortion
debate and open hearts and minds.
has varied continually over the course of its history.
There has been no unanimous opinion on abortion at
THE FIRST SIX CHRISTIAN CENTURIES:
any one time. While there has been constant and
BEFORE 600 AD
general agreement that abortion is almost always evil
and sinful, the church has had difficulty in defining
Early Christianity:
the nature of that evil. Church hierarchy has
Moving Away from Paganism
consistently opposed abortion as evidence of sexual
Pagan religions had a calm acceptance of
sin, but they have not always seen early abortion as
contraception and abortion, including the use of
an act of homicide. Though not commonly known,
barrier methods, coitus interruptus, and various
the "right to life" argument is a relatively recent
medicines that prevented conception or caused
development in church teachings. The debate
abortion.
continues today.
Early Christian leaders, to distinguish
Also contrary to popular belief, the prohibition
Christianity from Pagan beliefs, developed ideas
of abortion is not governed by claims of papal
about contraception and abortion, marriage for
infallibility. This fact leaves much more room for
procreation and the unity of body and soul. They
discussion on abortion than is usually thought, with
taught that even sex for reproduction was bad and
opinion among theologians and the laity differing
sex for pleasure was heinous. Chastity became a
widely. In any case, Catholics may follow their own
virtue in its own right.
conscience on moral matters even when it is in
conflict with hierarchical views. The current pope's
100 AD: The Debate Begins
attempt to make his position on abortion the
One of the earliest church documents, the Didache,
defining one at the ICPD in Cairo is only one stop
condemns abortion, but asks two key questions: 1) Is
on a long journey of shifting majority and minority
abortion being used to conceal the sins of
views within the Catholic church.
fornication and adultery? and 2) Does the fetus have
a rational soul from the moment of conception or
In 400 AD, St. Augustine expressed the
does it become an "ensouled human" at a later
mainstream view that early abortion required
point? This idea of "hominization"- the point at
penance only for the sexual aspect of the sin. Eight
which a developing embryo becomes a human being
hundred years later, St. Thomas Aquinas agreed,
-would become one of the cornerstones of the
saying abortion was not homicide unless the fetus
debate about abortion and remains unsolved even
was "ensouled," which he was sure took place well
today.
after conception. Church teaching that abortion is a
serious sin and grounds for excommunication only
Early 400s: St. Augustine
became established 150 years ago.
Says Abortion is Not Homicide
St. Augustine (354-430) condemns abortion because
The following brief chronology cannot do full
it breaks the connection between the conjugal act
justice to the twists and turns of theological thinking
and procreation. However, in the Enchiridion he says,
over the centuries. However, it can put the debate
"But who is not rather disposed to think that
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
unformed fetuses perish like seeds which have not
While St. Thomas Aquinas opposed abortion as
fructified," clearly seeing actual human life beginning
a form of contraception and a sin against marriage,
at some point after the fetus has begun to grow. He
he maintained that abortion was not a sin of
held that abortion was not an act of homicide. Most
homicide unless the fetus is ensouled, and thus, a
theologians of his era agreed with him.¹
human being.⁵
The general legislative agreement at this time
PRE-MODERN PERIOD: 1500-1750
said abortion was a sin requiring penance if it was
intended to conceal fornication and adultery.
1588: Making the Penalty for Abortion
Excommunication
THE MIDDLE PERIOD: 600-1500
Concerned about prostitution in Rome, Pope
Sixtus V issued the bull Effraenatum (Without
ca. 675: Illicit Intercourse is the Greater Sin
Restraint) and applied to contraception and abortion,
The Irish Canons place the penance for "destruction
at any stage of pregnancy, the penalties designated
of the embryo of a child in the mother's womb [at]
for a homicide. The prescribed penance was now
three and one half years" while the "penance of one
excommunication. There were no exceptions for
who has intercourse with a woman, seven years on
therapeutic abortion.6
bread and water."2
1591: Quickly Relaxing the Rules
ca. 8th Century: Recognizing
Only three years after Pope Sixtus V issued his
Women's Circumstances
Effraenatum, he died and Gregory XIV succeeded
In the Penitential Ascribed by Albers to Bede, the ideal of
him. Gregory felt Sixtus's stand was too harsh and in
delayed hominization is again supported, as well as
conflict with penitential practices and theological
acknowledgment of women's circumstances: "A
views on ensoulment. He issued Sedes apostolica
mother who kills her child before the fortieth day
recommending that, "where no homicide or no
shall do penance for one year. If it is after the child
animated fetus is involved, not to punish more
has become alive, [she shall do penance] as a
strictly than the sacred canons or civil legislation
murderess. But it makes a great difference whether a
does." This papal pronouncement lasted until 1869.7
poor woman does it on account of the difficulty of
supporting [the child] or a harlot for the sake of
1679: Denying Abortion to Pregnant Girls
concealing her wickedness."³
Facing Murder by Their Families
Abortion had consistently been considered wrong if
1140: Gratian Code Holds Abortion Not
used to conceal sexual sins. Pope Innocent XI
Homicide when Fetus Unformed
attempted to define the "outer limits of permissible
In 1140, Gratian compiled the first collection of
teaching" when he rejected the idea that abortion is
canon law- the Gratian code- that was accepted as
permissible even in situations in which the parents of
authoritative within the church. In the canon
a girl would murder her for becoming pregnant. The
Aliquando, Gratian concluded that, "abortion was
church was still teaching delayed hominization, but
homicide only when the fetus was formed.4 If the
said hominization occurred some time before the
fetus was not yet a formed human being, abortion
moment of birth.
was not homicide.
THE MODERN ERA: 1750-PRESENT
1312: Council of Vienne Confirms Aquinas On
"Delayed Hominization"
1869: Requiring Excommunication for
The position of this council, still very influential in
All Abortions
Catholic hierarchical teaching, confirmed the
Pope Pius IX's Apostolicae sedis completely ignores
conception of man put forth by St. Thomas
the question of hominization and requires
Aquinas. He said that the fetus is first endowed with
excommunication for abortion at any stage of
a vegetative soul, then an animal soul, and then
pregnancy.9 He said all abortion was homicide. His
when the body is developed, a rational soul. This
statement was the first implicit endorsement of
theory of "delayed hominization" is the most
immediate hominization by the church.
consistent thread throughout church history on
abortion.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
3
1917: Excommunicating Doctors and Nurses
NOTES
Performing Abortions
1. St. Augustine, De muptis et concupiscentia, 15. 17.
In the Code of Canon Law, the first new edition of
(CSEL 42.229-230).
canon law since Gratian's in 1140, excommunication
2.
John T. McNeill and Helena M. Garner, Medieval
was required for both the woman and any others,
Handbooks of Penance (New York: Octagon books, 1974),
PP. 119-120.
such as doctors and nurses, who take part in an
3.
McNeil and Garner, Medieval Handbooks of Penance, P. 225.
abortion.¹⁰
4.
John Noonan, ed., The Morality of Abortion: Legal and
Historical Perspectives, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
1930: Condemning
University Press, 1970), P. 20.
5.
Joseph F. Donceel, S.J. "Immediate Animation and
Therapeutic Abortions
Delayed Hominization," Theological Studies, Vols. 1 and 2,
Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical Casti Connubii (Of
(New York and London: Columbia University Press,
Chaste Spouses), condemning abortion in general,
1970), P. 86.
6.
and specifically in three instances: in the case of
Codicis iuris fontes, ed. P. Gasparri, vol. 1, (Rome, 1927),
P. 308.
therapeutic abortion, which it is killing an innocent;
7.
Codicis iuris fontes, ed. P. Gasparri, PP. 330-331.
in marriage to prevent offspring; and on social and
8.
Actae Sanctae Sedis,5. 298.
eugenic grounds as practiced by some
9.
Codex iuris canonici, C. 2350.
governments. 11 Pius's stance on abortion continues
10. (AAS 22.539-92).
as the hierarchical view. This document did not
purport to be infallible teaching, but as an address by
the pope to the bishops it carried great moral
authority.
1965: Protecting the Embryo
From the Moment of Conception
Vatican II, Gandium et Spes, section 51 declared: "Life
must be protected with the utmost care from the
moment of conception; abortion and infanticide are
abominable crimes." Here, abortion is now
condemned on the basis of protecting life, not as a
concealment of sexual sin.
1974: Arguing for the "Right to Life"
The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith
issued the "Declaration on Abortion," which argues
against abortion on the grounds that "one can never
claim freedom of opinion as a pretext for attacking
the rights of others, most especially the right to life."
The key to this position is that the fetus is human life
from the moment of conception, if not necessarily a
full human being. The church has now fully changed
the terms of argument.
Today: Abortion Ban is Absolute
The Catholic church hierarchy of today does not
permit abortion in any instance, not even in the case
of rape or to save the life of a pregnant woman.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
#CATHOLIC VOICES
WITH THE
ONSENSUS
Catholics For A Free Choice
An Organizational Summary
Catholics for a Free Choice is the voice of
International Conference on Population and
Catholics worldwide who hold progressive
Development. In partnership with the Park
views on women, reproduction and sexuality.
Ridge Center for Health, Faith and Ethics,
CFFC's work deals with some of today's most
CFFC is also co-sponsor of Religion Counts, an
debated cultural and moral issues in some of the
inter-religious group of scholars, experts, and
most significant forums, including the United
leaders providing a positive, ethically sensitive
Nations conferences on women, the
religious contribution to discourse on issues
environment, and population and development.
surrounding population, reproductive health,
With a skillful and accomplished staff of
and development policies. Its Women, Religion,
researchers, writers, and analysts, CFFC has
and Public Policy project is an effort to extend
become an important source of information and
outreach across faith lines and across national
analysis worldwide on a range of subjects,
borders to examine religion's influence on
including reproductive health and ethics,
public policies related to women.
religious fundamentalism, population policy, and
Catholic church reform. CFFC carries out its
The organization has ECOSOC status at the
work through policy analysis, outreach and
United Nations, and was a prominent NGO
advocacy, and education and communications.
participant in the activities surrounding the 1994
CFFC was established in 1973 and has
ICPD and the 1995 Fourth World Conference
headquarters in Washington, DC, four partner
on Women.
organizations in Latin America, and a US staff
of twenty.
CFFC's positions and activities are backed
by original, accurate research and study of
CFFC articulates sound ethical arguments -
myriad resources, including church documents
based on Catholic teachings - that support the
and references. Publications feature a quarterly
right to follow an informed conscience in
magazine, Conscience, A Newsjounal of Prochoice
making moral decisions about sexual and
Catholic Opinion, and a number of titles including
reproductive matters. CFFC counters the
Catholics and Reproduction: A World View, an
efforts of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to see
unprecedented collection of opinion and
that public policies reflect Vatican positions. In
behavior surveys from around the world; When
one recent campaign, Catholics for
Catholic and Non-Catholic Hospitals Merge:
Contraception, CFFC organized a leadership
Reproductive Health Care Compromised, a
committee of more than 1,000 Catholics in the
groundbreaking study of the loss of
United States to voice support for international
reproductive health services in the United States
family planning assistance.
as a result of consolidations in the health care
industry; Evolution of an Earthly Code, a history of
CFFC creates room in the dialogue on
the changing church position on family planning
reproductive rights for progressive religious
and population; and Catholic Options in the
voices to present their views on an equal footing
Abortion Debate: Reforming Irish Law, a
with religious institutions. A CFFC initiative,
submission to the Irish government's
Catholic Voices, is aimed at lifting up Catholic
Interdepartmental Working Group.
support for the plan of action adopted by the
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
CFFC works nationally in the United States
CFFC has been led since 1982 by Frances
and internationally, particularly in Latin America
Kissling, a leader in both the church reform and
and Europe, to provide materials to Catholics,
the women's rights and health movements
policy makers, and the media. We work in
internationally. CFFC's board of directors
close collaboration with four partner
includes theologians, public health experts, and
organizations in Latin America: Católicas por el
women's' rights leaders. The organization's
Derecho a Decidir (Catholics for the Right to
funding comes from some of the world's most
Decide) in Mexico, Argentina, and Bolivia, and
respected philanthropic foundations, such as the
Católicas pelo Direito de Decidir (Catholics for
Ford Foundation and the MacArthur
the Right to Decide) in Brazil. CFFC is a
Foundation, as well as from individual
respected member of the international reform
Catholics.
and renewal movement in the Catholic church.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
CATHOLIC VOICES
AT ONE WITH THE
INSENSUS
Catholic Voices
Catholic Voices, an initiative of Catholics for a Free
Christianity, nineteenth and twentieth century
Choice, is an international forum on issues of
theology, and modern liberation movements.
population and development. The forum provides
She has been a consultant to the Lily Foundation
a space for progressive Catholic leaders to reflect,
project "What's Left" on the Roman Catholic
research, and participate in national and
left in America. Prof. Briggs is a member of the
international discourse on women's human rights,
steering committee of the Feminist Theology
sexuality, and reproductive health. With special
and Theory Group of the American Academy of
attention to the values and ethics of the Catholic
Religion.
tradition, Catholic Voices supports public policies
and agreements on these issues that promote social
Dina Cormick
justice, respect human dignity, and honor the rights
South Africa
of individual conscience.
Born in Nkana, Zambia, Dina
Cormick is an artist, feminist, and
Begun in 1998, Catholics Voices is in
political activist. She earned a
formation. Membership is in the initial stages;
Masters degree in Feminist
to date, seventeen Catholic leaders, theologians,
Theological Ethics from the University of South
and activists from twelve countries have formed
Africa in 1993. An active participant in the reform
a leadership circle. In December, 1998, Catholic
movement in the Catholic church, Ms. Cormick
Voices issued its first declaration, "Catholic
is a member of the international steering
Voices: Reflections from the Paseo de la Reforma,"
committee of Women's Ordination Worldwide, a
from Mexico City. The declaration examines the
co-founder of Women's Ordination South Africa,
Programme of Action of the International
and a member of the Circle of Concerned African
Conference on Population and Development
Women Theologians.
through a Catholic lens.
Elfriede Harth
Following are brief biographies of the
France
leadership members of Catholic Voices. Each can
Elfriede Harth is a leader in the
be contacted through Catholics for a Free Choice
Roman Catholic church reform
in Washington, DC, at (country
movement. She is spokesperson
code 01) 202/986-6093, or
for the International Movement
email, [email protected].
We Are Church, member of the steering
committee of Women's Ordination Worldwide,
Sheila Briggs
and member of Maria von Magdala, an association
United States
working for women's equal rights in the Catholic
Sheila Briggs is Associate
church. Ms. Harth is currently working on her
Professor in the School of
doctoral dissertation on women, Catholicism, and
Religion at the University of Southern California.
fertility from the Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en
Her feminist theology research interests are early
Sciences Sociales in Paris.
CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
2
Teresia Hinga
Anthony Padovano
Kenya
United States
Teresia Mbari Hinga is Assistant Professor in
A well known theologian, author,
the Department of Religious Studies at DePaul
activist, and commentator on
University in Chicago, Illinois. She has written
Catholic church issues, Anthony
extensively on issues surrounding women and
Padovano holds an S.T.D. from the
religion in Africa. Book chapters have included
Gregorian University in Rome and a Ph.D. from
"Christianity and Female Puberty Rites in Africa:
Fordham University. He was president of
The Agikuyu Case," "Between Colonization and
CORPUS, National Association for Married
Inculturation: Feminist Theologies in Africa,"
Priesthood from 1988 to 1998. He is vice-president
and "Gikuyu Theology of Land and
of the International Federation of Married Catholic
Environmental Justice." Under a research grant
Priests, which has members in thirty countries. Dr.
from the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr. Hinga
Padovano is Professor of American Literature and
produced a research report, The Role of Religious
Religious Studies at Ramapo College of New Jersey.
Networks in the Provision of Education to Women
He has been a summer visiting professor at twenty-
in Africa.
four American universities and has lectured
throughout the Americas and in Asia, Europe,
Joanna Manning
Australia, and New Zealand.
Canada
Joanna Manning is an acclaimed
Rosemary Radford Ruether
teacher and writer; in the 1990s she
United States
won the Canadian Church Press
One of the world's leading
award for theological reflection.
Catholic feminist theologians,
Her book, Is the Pope Catholic? will be published
Rosemary Radford Ruether
by Malcolm Lester Books in March 1999. An
teaches courses on the relationship
activist for justice, peace, and women's equality,
of Christian theology and social justice issues at
Ms. Manning started the Rigoberta Menchu
Garrett Theological Seminary and Northwestern
Centre for Justice, Peace, and Creation, and founded
University. The author or editor of twenty-five
the Coalition of Concerned Canadian Catholics. She
books, among them, Contemporary Catholicism:
has a Masters in Theology from Regis College,
Crises and Challenges (1987) and Gaia and God:
University of Toronto.
An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing, she has
also contributed to eighty-five book symposia. She
Philomena Mwaura
writes regularly for the National Catholic Reporter,
Kenya
Christianity and Crisis, and the Religion News
Philomena N. Mwaura is a lecturer in the
Service. Dr. Ruether is a frequent lecturer at
Department of Religious Studies at Kenyatta
conferences and universities; she has lectured
University in Nairobi, Kenya. She has a Masters
throughout the Americas and Europe, as well as
degree in Religious Studies from the University of
Israel, Egypt, Japan, Korea, India, the Philippines
Nairobi and is currently a Ph.D. candidate. She
and South Africa.
has taught courses on the church in Africa; women
in religion and culture, and development of
Valerie Stroud
Christian doctrine.
United Kingdom
Valerie Stroud has served as a
Mrs. Mwaura is deeply involved in the ongoing
catechist and has been employed in
constitutional review process through the Kenya
parish administration and pastoral
Women Political Caucus. She has organized and
care. She served for several years as
facilitated workshops and conferences for the
Secretary to the Deanery Pastoral Council, a worker
Ecumenical Association of Third World
for the Diocesan Liturgy Commission and is
Theologians and the Circle of Concerned African
currently a member of the Diocesan Christian Unity
Women Theologians.
3
Commission. Mrs. Stroud represented her diocese
in philosophy and letters from the Universidad
at the 1996 Council of Churches of Britain and
Central de Barcelona. She has been involved for
Ireland Assembly. A commissioned Eucharistic
several years in a collective, Mujeres y Teologia
Minister, Mrs. Stroud now works full time in the
(Women and Theology), and in 1997 joined with
reform/renewal movement in the Catholic church.
four other women to form the group Católicas por
She is the UK liaison for the International Movement
el Derecho a Decidir (Catholics for the Right to
We Are Church.
Decide) in Spain. Both groups collaborate on
projects with Somos Iglesia de España (We Are
Isaac Wüst
Church in Spain). For the past two decades, Ms.
The Netherlands
Alfonso has taught children and adults, and
Isaac Wüst works full time in the
currently works in a literacy program with women
renewal/reform movement in the
gitanas (gypsies) in Madrid.
Catholic church. He became a
priest in 1956 in Amsterdam, where
Frances Kissling
he was born. He studied Latin American political
United States
and social sciences at the Catholic University of
Writer, advocate, and policy
Louvain, and subsequently lived and worked in
analyst, Frances Kissling has been
Latin America for many years. Mr. Wüst was
President of Catholics for a Free
executive secretary of the education department of
Choice since 1982. An
CELAM, the Latin American bishops' conference,
internationally recognized non-governmental
for five years before leaving the priesthood. In the
organization, CFFC works to advance reproductive
mid-1970s, he worked as an advisor to a UN project
health, women's rights and the strengthening of
that introduced new methods for health education,
civil society through research, education, and
mother and child care, and family planning in remote
policy analysis. Ms. Kissling is a highly regarded
areas. During the next decade, he was involved in
speaker and thinker on issues of religion,
many development and education projects throughout
reproductive health, women's rights, and
Colombia. Since returning to The Netherlands in
population policy. Ms. Kissling's views on
1986, Mr. Wüst has worked at the service of parishes
reproductive health issues combine a deep respect
in Amstelveen and Amsterdam.
for the spiritual aspect of life-giving with a passionate
commitment to the moral agency of women. Ms.
REPRESENTATIVES OF CATHOLICS FOR A FREE CHOICE
Kissling has briefed parliamentarians and
AND CATHOLICS FOR THE RIGHT TO DECIDE IN THE
development professionals in a number of countries,
LEADERSHIP CIRCLE OF CATHOLIC VOICES:
including Brazil, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the
Philippines, Germany, Ireland, Poland, and
Marta Alanís
throughout the United States. A leading voice
Argentina
promoting international public policy that advances
Marta Alanís is coordinator of Católicas por el Derecho
women's health and rights, Ms. Kissling was a
a Decidir (Catholics for the Right to Decide) in
prominent participant in the United Nations
Córdoba, Argentina. Since 1989, Ms. Alanís has
conferences on Population and Development (Cairo,
worked as a teacher in the Archdiocesan Charities of
1994) and on Women (Beijing, 1995).
Córdoba. She has worked in human rights
communities in Bolivia, France, and Nicaragua,
Teresa Lanza Monje
focusing particularly on indigenous women's literacy.
Bolivia
Committed to both liberation and feminist theologies,
Teresa Lanza is coordinator of Católicas por el
Ms. Alanís has studied with liberation theologian
Derecho a Decidir (Catholics for the Right to
Leonardo Boff and feminist theologian Ivone Gebara.
Decide) in Brazil. A lawyer, Ms. Lanza graduated
from the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in
Paloma Alfonso
La Paz, where she conducted research for her
Spain
thesis on sexual and reproductive rights and the
Angeles Paloma Alfonso Aguirre earned her degree
problem of abortion in Bolivia. She is a founder
4
of Género Y Teología (Gender and Theology),
an ecumenical collective of pastors and
Marysa Navarro-Aranguren
theologians. She has written several opinion
United States
columns on women's rights for major daily
Marysa Navarro is Charles Collis
newspapers. Currently, Ms. Lanza is involved
Professor of History and Chair of
in providing information to legislators, opinion
the Latin American, Latino and
leaders, health providers, and the news media
Caribbean Studies Program of
on the positions of CDD.
Dartmouth College, where she has taught for thirty
years. She is an academic and also an activist. She
María Consuelo Mejía
has been a member of the board of directors of the
Mexico
Ms. Foundation for Women, the Global Fund for
An anthropologist, feminist, and
Women and Catholics for a Free Choice, which
Catholic activist, María
she presently chairs.
Consuelo Mejía directs Católicas
por el Derecho a Decidir
Maria José Rosado Nunes
(Catholics for the Right to Decide) in Mexico.
Brazil
Ms. Mejía was named to Mexico's country
Maria José Nunes is coordinator of
delegation to the International Conference on
Católicas pelo Direito de Decidir
Population and Development in 1994 and
(Catholics for the Right to Decide)
participated in the 1995 Fourth World
in Brazil. She is a graduate Professor
Conference on Women. Born in Bogotá,
in Religious Studies at the Pontifical Catholic
Colombia, she became a naturalized Mexican
University in São Paulo and at the Methodist
citizen in 1984. She received her Masters degree
University of São Paulo. Ms. Nunes is a director and
in Latin American Studies from the National
past vice-president of the Institute for Religious
Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in
Studies in Rio de Janeiro. With a grant from the
1986. Since 1990, she has worked as a researcher
MacArthur Foundation, she managed a research
in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Research
project on the Catholic position on abortion. Ms.
Center and as a consultant for the University
Nunes is an award winning author and frequent
Program on Gender Studies at UNAM.
contributor to national and international magazines.