In an article titled "Reproductive Health: A euphemism Used to Promote Abortion",1 Vida Humana Internacional (VHI - Human Life International's Hispanic Division, www.vidahumana.org), denounced this clever strategy being used to try to legalize abortion in Latin America. A number of countries in the Eastern hemisphere have already approved "reproductive health" legislation which includes abortion rights. 2 Recently the Bolivian congress fell into the same trap, when a "reproductive health" bill was secretely approved. Although it does not directly mention abortion, the legalization of abortion is now being promoted by the anti-life movement worldwide, as "a reproductive health need" and it is obvious that type of legislation would pave the way for abortion legalization in Bolivia and elsewhere.

The president of Bolivia vetoed the bill and sent it back to the congress for public and open discussion. However, pro-lifers in that country believe, that the cards are already stacked in favor of its approval. Aided by UNFPA (United Nations' Fund for Population Activities, a close ally), the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development (IAPG), which is International Planned Parenthood Federation's (IPPF'S) "legislative arm", established its branch in Bolivia November 19, 2003, just before the final vote on the "reproductive health" bill took place. There are 14 Senators and 34 representatives, who confirmed in writing their membership in this anti-life organization last November in the Senate Hall. 3 A Bolivian legislator is a member of the IAPG board of directors, along with legislators from Uruguay, Brazil and Panama. 4 Another Bolivian legislator, Dr. Javier Torres Goitia, a founding president of IPPF's other political outreach, the Medical Parlamentarians, was appointed to IAGP's Advisory Committee. He represented the Minister of Health of Bolivia, at the International Conference of Parlamentarians on the Implementation of the ICPD Program of Action, celebrated in Ottawa, Canada in 2003. That conference was attended by over 100 parliamentarians, representing 70 countries. 5 IAPG parliamentarians from Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, met with Bolivian parliamentarians to discuss legislation in that country, before the reproductive health bill was approved. 6

According to its website at http://iapg.org, the "IAPG works with individual members of parliament, all-party national parliamentary groups and decision makers from different countries in the Americas." At the regional level, they work in partnership with three parliamentary regional bodies: the Latin American Parliament (PARLATINO), the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN), and the Andean Parliament (PARLANDINO). At the United Nations, the IAPG monitors the United Nations international conferences and preparatory committees to promote the participation of parliamentarians and to ensure that their role is included in the language of the UN outcome documents." They also "seek to foster the links between parliamentarians, intergovernmental agencies, and local NGOs working on sexual and reproductive health and rights issues and women's empowerment." The " IAPG is composed of legislators from all the countries of the Americas in which there is a legislative body" , and their main objective is to re-inforce the role that parliamentarians have in getting the 1994 Cairo U.N. Conference agreements adopted by all the governments in the region. 7 In fact, that was the main reason given for the approval of the above mentioned legislation in Bolivia. The people of that country were not consulted or even informed about it before it was approved.

In December of 2000, Alvaro Alonso, the Minister of Labor and Social Security of Uruguay, accompanied by Hernan Sanhueza (who until recently was IPPF WHR's Regional Director and IAPG's Executive Coordinator), attended the launching in Paris of the Inter-European Parlamentary Forum on Population and Development. 8 In December, 2002, abortion on demand during the first three months was legalized in Uruguay's House of Representatives. June 12 of 2003, before the aforementioned proposed legislation was voted on by the Senate, IAPG organized "an informative session" on emergency contraception (EC) in the Uruguayan congress, in order "to make legislators and participating agencies aware of the importance of emergency contraception for women's reproductive and sexual health", and to "generate a favorable attitude among legislators, in order to carry out new parliamentary activities where it concerns these issues." 9 Fortunately, because of the work of the pro-life movement in that country (which is mainly composed of the two Human Life International affiliates), the Uruguayan Senate rejected the bill.

One of IAPG's objectives is "to have emergency contraception (EC) officially included" in the official government programs. 10 IAPG has been very successful in getting this objective achieved in a number of Latin American countries. Big battles against the distribution and use of EC are taking place in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. On January 21, 2004, the Mexican Secretary of Health introduced EC in the government family planning programs, and the National Pro-Life Committee is suing the Mexican government. 11

Argentinian, Mexican and Peruvian IAPG parliamentarians traveled to Colombia to discuss with Profamilia, the IPPF affiliate, "sexual health programs for youth" and specifically EC. They also met with Colombian government officials. Colombia approved a "National Sexual and Reproductive Health Policy" in 2003, of which EC is an essential part.12

Since at least 1995, IPPF's Inter-American Parliamentary Group parliamentarians have been boldly lobbying the governments of many countries. 13 If that's not '"foreign intervention", what is?

Note: Mrs. Llaguno is exective director of Vida Humana Internacional (VHI), Human Life International's Hispanic Division in Miami. If you would like to read about other anti-life activities in Latin America, please visit the English language section of VHI's website : http://www.vidahumana.org/index.html.

Bibliography :

l. "Reproductive Health: A Euphemism Used to Promote Abortion", Adolfo J. Castañeda, www.vidahumana.org/english/family/reproductive-health.html.

2. "Governments in Action: Reproductive Health and Rights", Center for Reproductive Rights website, at http://www.crlp.org/ww_iss_gia_health.html.

3. "Fue constituido el grupo parlamentario interamericano sobre poblacion y desarrollo - version Bolivia", BolPress, June 7, 2004, www.bolpress.com/?Cod=2002058811.

4. "El Caribe reafirma su compromiso con la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos", "Dialogo Parlamentario", newsletter of the IAPG, December, 2003, http://gparlamentario.org/pdf/IAPG_NewsLetter_Dec03_s.pdf .

5."Edición Especial: Conferencia Internacional de Parlamentarios sobre la Implementación del Programa de Acción de la CIPD", "Diálogo Parlamentario" newsletter of the IAPG, http://gparlamentario.org/pdf/IAPG_NewsLetter_Spanish.pdf. (Also, BolPress, June 7, 2004, www.bolpress.com/?Cod=2002058811.)

6.Ibid.

7. "Fue constituido el grupo parlamentario interamericano sobre poblacion y desarrollo - version Bolivia", BolPress, June 7, 2004, www.bolpress.com/?Cod=2002058811.

8. "Anticoncepción de emergencia : Un secreto no compartido", "Dialogo Parlamentario" newsletter of the IAPG, January/March , 2001, www.clae.info.info/archivo/investigaciones/articulos/Bolet%C3%ADn%20del%20Grupo%20Parlimentario%20Interamericano%2C%20IPPF.pdf.

9. . "El Caribe reafirma su compromiso con la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos", "Dialogo Parlamentario", newsletter of the IAPG, December, 2003, http://gparlamentario.org/pdf/IAPG_NewsLetter_Dec03_s.pdf .

10. "Anticoncepción de emergencia : Un secreto no compartido", "Dialogo Parlamentario" newsletter of the IAPG, January/March , 2001, www.clae.info.info/archivo/investigaciones/articulos/Bolet%C3%ADn%20del%20Grupo%20Parlimentario%20Interamericano%2C%20IPPF.pdf.

11. "Regional News, Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development website, http://iapg.org/news/regional.htm.

12. "El Caribe reafirma su compromiso con la salud y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos", "Dialogo Parlamentario", newsletter of the IAPG, December, 2003, http://gparlamentario.org/pdf/IAPG_NewsLetter_Dec03_s.pdf .

13. "How to Work Together", IPPF/WHR Reports, Forum Magazine, July 1995.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Note: The Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development's was founded in 1983 - as per their website at http://iapg.org/ :

The IAPG was formed as a result of the Brasilia Declaration of the Western Hemisphere Conference of Parliamentarians on Population and Development held in Brazil in 1982, which at the time was the regional initiative of a worldwide parliamentary movement on population and development. Today, this movement has expanded into four regional networks of parliamentary groups on population and development that work together to raise awareness about the links between population and sustainable development and to advance the Cairo agenda.

The IAPG was established as a neutral forum for the exchange of information and experiences and to stimulate an open dialogue in areas such as reproductive health and rights, including family planning, migration, environment, gender equity and equality, women's empowerment and population policies with a rights-based approach.

Strategies

The IAPG articulates human rights and gender equity principles within a broad human development agenda that includes reproductive health and rights issues and takes into consideration population variables. The IAPG is guided in its work by international human rights instruments and commitments adopted by governments at the various United Nations World Conferences, in particular those held in Cairo and Beijing.

The IAPG works with legislators and other elected officials and decision makers across party lines to raise awareness through advocacy, information dissemination, networking, capacity building, and technical assistance. We currently focus on five key issues approved by our Board of Directors: Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV/AIDS, Adolescents and Gender-based Violence.

Their Spanish language website is at http://gparlamentario.org/.

Medical Students for Choice Website at http://www.ms4c.org/update/1199lead.htm , "Abortion: A Global, Public Health Issue", MSFC Update- November 1999 :

"Parliamentarian groups have been active in many regions, including the International Medical Parliamentarians Organization which met in Bolivia in September 1998 to discuss abortion in Latin America; Latin American and Caribbean parliamentarians who met in October 1998 in Colombia to discuss abortion legislation and its consequences in the region; the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health which prepared recommendations for the development of a Commonwealth Heads of Governments Women's Agenda in 1997; and parliamentarians in Nepal who have met several times since 1995 to consider legislation to liberalize the abortion law.

Despite the increase in donor support for abortion and post-abortion care training and service delivery programs, it is still difficult to find funding for the technology used to provide these services. Donors and governments alike must prioritize manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) instruments as key reproductive health commodities and plan to supply them as they would any other medical consumable.

"A reproductive health and rights strategy designed to improve women's lives must include both full access to a range of contraceptives and safe legal abortion. While access to contraception is a key factor in women's ability to manage their fertility and protect their health, a focus on expanded family planning services alone as the solution is simplistic. Major donor and implementing agencies have promoted messages that encourage behaviors that can prevent unwanted pregnancy but avoid mentioning the possibility of contraceptive failure and abortion. History shows that family planning will never eliminate abortion."

The gender agenda: role of parliamentarians in the establishment of gender-sensitive health policies by Susanna Rance, Ipas-Bolivia : http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/rance.htm, Women Watch Website, United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality :

"I am contributing to this meeting as researcher and activist with the women's health movement in Bolivia. Laws, policies and their application are key to the exercise of women's rights in all fields, including sexual and reproductive life. Advocacy in these areas and others involves working collaboratively with decision-makers such as parliamentarians who se activities influence national legislation and policy.

This paper is based on the recent experience of coordinating with Dr. Javier Torres-Goitia, Vicepresident of the International Medical Parliamentarians Organization (IMPO), the Interamerican Symposium on Legislation in Sexual and Reproductive Health. Representatives of six countries participated in the event held in La Paz on 7 and 8 September 1998. Presentations from experienced legislators were followed by group work sessions and plenaries. Insights were shared from national advocacy initiatives on legal, health and gender issues affecting the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights. "

"Initiatives in Reproductive Health Policy bulletin", "Abortion Laws into Action: Implementing Legal Reform", January 1997, IPAS , at http://www.ipas.org/english/publications/initiatives_in_reproductive_health_policy/volume2_number1.pdf:

"Action Update - The International Organization of Medical Parliamentarians (IMPO), a group of physicians serving in their national parliaments - held its First Panamerican Conference in Bolivia in October 1996. The group issued a lengthy resolution regarding sexual and reproductive health, including the recognition that unsafe abortion is a public health problem in the region, that women seeking treatment for abortion complications deserve humane and respectful care, and that the general public needs to be educated about the magnitude of the maternal health problems caused by unsafe abortion. The IMPO members also pledged to support debates about the decriminalilzation of abortion as a strategy for addressing these problems. "

Note: The list of parlimantarians in Latin America who are members of this anti-life organization (IMPO), which is connected with IPPF, is in http://165.158.1.110/spanish/hdp/hddimlis.htm.

IMPO printed Brochure : "Primera Conferencia Panamericana de Medicos Parlamentarios" ( First Panamerican Conference of Medical Parliamentarians) - International Medical Parliamentarians Organization, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, 2-5 October, 1996 :

"IMPO was established in February 1994 in Bangkok, Thailand, during the First International Medical Parliamentarians Conference, organized by the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development, in close collaboration with the World Health Organization."

Bolivian Senator Dr. Javier Torres-Goitia was elected vice-president of the organization and president of IMPO's Latin America Region. In 1997 he became president of the Inter-American Parliamentarians for Population and Development ("Dialogo Iberoamericano", newsletter of the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, April 1997.) (Note: See the connection between this organization and IMPO?) Hernan Sanhueza was the Executive coordinator for the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development until recently (in the same newsletter) and also until recently, IPPF/WHR Regional Director. See the connection with IPPF?

"Boletin Informativo IMPO" (IMPO newsletter on the First Panamerican Conference, June 1996, La Paz, Bolivia), The (at that time) WHO general director Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima gave a talk during the founding of IMPO at the Japan (8 February, 1996) conference. Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, AID etc. helped fund the event.

According to the list in Internet at http://165.158.1.110/spanish/hdp/hddcomis.htm , Senator Javier Torres Goitia, founding member of IMPO, is president of the Senate Committee on Social Development. (I am waiting for confirmation from Bolivia.)