Thanks be to God and to the pro-life movement, assisted by Vida Humana Internacional's educational efforts, the "culture of death" promoters have not been able to advance their plans to legalize abortion in the Hispanic countries, where for the most part it is illegal.

However, the anti-life movement is carrying out a clever plan, in order to get general acceptance for early abortion right after conception, and thus eventually obtain its legalization. This plan includes the promotion of chemical abortion in the first stages of pregnancy, using so-called "emergency contraception" (EC).

Artificial birth control promoters have been able to make the massive use of contraceptives very common, even in Hispanic countries which have a majority of Catholic populations. Many of these drugs and gadgets such as the pill, Norplant, Depo Provera and the IUD (intrauterine device), are really abortifacient, at least part of the time. The acceptance by governments of these so-called "contraceptives" that are partially abortifacient in Hispanic countries, has opened the door to the shameless practice of chemical abortion by EC.

Family Health International (FHI), an anti-life organization which is very active in Latin America, states in its magazine Network : "The most widely used emergency contraceptives are regimens of birth control pills, which use the same hormonal ingredients found in regular oral contraceptives but in higher doses. The intrauterine device can also be used for emergency contraception, as well as other products..."l It also states that women who need EC can use the oral contraceptives they already have on hand.2

EC promoters admit that "emergency contraceptive pills...may interfere with implantation of the fertilized egg in the uterus".3 Abortion is illegal in most of the Hispanic countries where EC is being promoted, so in order to bend or break the law with impunity, its promoters claim that pregnancy does not begin until the fertilized ovum implants in the uterus and thus the use of EC does not constitute an abortion.4 However, when the fertilized ovum or newly conceived human being cannot implant in his or her mother's uterus, it dies. And this is nothing short of abortion.

Because they know that no abortifacient succeeds 100% of the time in killing the new developing human life, EC promoters will eventually openly demand the legalization of surgical abortion in every country. For now, the anti-life movement's main objective seems to be world wide use of EC. IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), the World Health Organization, the Population Council, Pathfinder International, Family Health International and other anti-life organizations, have joined together to promote early abortion around the world, through EC.5 The EC Consortium, of which the above mentioned organizations are members, was able to establish in Mexico "a telephone hotline" in 1999, in order to promote EC. 6 This "service" receives "approximately 10,000 calls per month", and "is part of a larger initiative that includes a website" about EC, which is also distributed in "other ways".7

The following are additional strategies being used to promote EC around the world:

l. "Removing the prescription requirement and allowing women to purchase pills directly..."8

2. "Providing emergency contraception pills directly through pharmacists". 9

3. Providing EC "through schools and other places where youth congregate rather than only through a physician or clinic..."10

4. "Emergency contraceptive pills - and the knowledge about their use - should be accessible to adolescents in school-based clinics, pharmacies, convenience stores or other environments where youth are comfortable seeking health care services and products", according to Dr. Charlotte Ellertson, the Population Council's director of reproductive health for Latin America and the Caribbean..." 11

5. There are already a number of websites which offer information in English and Spanish on EC. 12 U.S. bishops are concerned about the promotion of EC, and have issued a statement asking the American Association of OB GYN's, to tell the truth: that EC is abortifacient because it prevents the implantation of a fertilized ovum; that is, a newly conceived human being. 13 Oddly enough, Margaret Sanger, founder of International Planned Parenthood Federation - main EC promoter - would have agreed with the bishops. She affirmed that when the sperm fertilizes the ovum and development begins, any attempt to destroy it or keep it from growing constitutes abortion. 14

Adolescents and other young people seem to be the main objective of EC promoters. Sandra Garcia, a regional program associate with the Population Council in Mexico, which collaborates with a local NGO (non-governmental organization) called "Fronteras Unidas Pro Salud", stated : "Many workers are young, and youth may be more likely than older people to have spontaneous, unprotected sex."15

EC will most certainly try to reach an even greater number of young people (including adolescents), through hedonistic sex "education" programs being implemented throughout the world, including the Hispanic countries. That so called "education" is immoral; it promotes promiscuity and is the perfect vehicle for reaching the young and getting them to "depend" on harmful drugs and devices, all in the name of "safe sex". This "dependance" will of course translate into many more dollars for its promoters.

I believe that in order to protect our children (including those that are yet to be born), as well as other youth, we must first pray for guidance and then go to work. Other suggestions follow:

l. Inform as many people as possible about the EC anti-life plan, especially parents and public officials. VHI offers a great deal of information on EC in its Spanish website, www.vidahumana.org.

2. File suits in the courts, in countries where abortion is illegal, in order to prove that the use of abortifacients should also be considered illegal. The Chilean Supreme Court recently prohibited the sale and distribution of the "morning after pill", used as EC. Its sale had been approved by the Chilean government, and an attorney called Jorge Reyes, acting on behalf of three NGO's, stopped it.16

3. Encourage parents to be informed where it concerns what their children are being taught in school and to unite and oppose any sex "education" courses and defend their parental rights. The responsibility for educating our children where it concerns sexuality, should be the duty and the privilege of the parents. They should be informed that contraception and abortion promoters are trying to "liberate" their children from their influence.

4. Contact doctors, pharmacists and other health personnel, about the EC anti-life plot, and ask them to join together in issuing scientific statements where it concerns the beginning of human life and the abortifacient effect of EC. They should also try to get "conscience clauses" approved.

5. Promote laws that demand that literature on contraceptive and abortifacient drugs and devices state in terms that anyone can understand, not just their health risks but also their mode of action.

6. Actively promote natural family planning and try to get government funding to do so massively.

Parents - especially those in Latin America - beware, your children and your youth are in danger!

Mrs.Llaguno is executive director of Vida Humana Internacional, HLI's Hispanic Division in Miami. This article was printed in HLI Reports November, 2001.

l. "Contraception After Intercourse", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, 200l , p.4.

2. "Seeking Ways to Improve Emergency Contraception", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, 2001, p.11.

3. "Mechanism of Action",Network, Volume 21, Number 1, p.8.

4. "Contraception After Intercourse", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, 2001, p.4.

5. "Confabulacion mundial para promover el aborto por medio de la anticoncepcion de emergencia", by Vida Humana Internacional.

6. "Revealing the ‘Secrets' of Emergency Contraception", Network, Volume 21, Number 1. 2001, p.13.

7. "Revealing the ‘Secrets' of Emergency Contraception", Network, Volume 21, Number l, p.15.

8. "Easy Access to Pills Helps Method Succeed", Network, Volume 21, Number l, p. 18.

9. "Easy Access to Pills Helps Method Succeed", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, p. 18.

10. "Easy Access to Pills Helps Method Succeed", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, p.19.

11. Ibid.

12. "Internet Offers Information About Emergency Contraception", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, p. 20.

13. "Conscience", CFFC magazine, Summer 2001, p.34,35.

14. Birth Control Review, December, 1918.

15. "Revealing the ‘Secrets' of Emergency Contraception", Network, Volume 21, Number 1, p.15.