Abortion and contraception are very common in Cuba, since they are promoted by the State through the media, the school system and the health care system--all of which are controlled by the State. Pro-contraceptive sex education is taught in the schools to our children from an early early age.

Certain statements by Dr. Sosa Marin, President of the Cuban Society for the Development of the Family (SOCUDEF) and of the National Commission for Family Planning, clearly establish that:

"Cuba recognizes and supports since 1959, the sovereign right of women and their partners to the freely decide their reproduction issues. The State guarantees, through our health system, the nesessary attention before and after birth, in cases of infertility or when birth is not desired. In such cases, the State guarantees the right to decide, allowing recurse to contraceptives. Similarly, the right to abort is the right of women and their partners, and that is why they are offered this institutional service with a high level of medical safety."

It is important to remember that the "right to abortion" and "safe abortions" are terms which are used by anti-life organizations such as IPPF in its strategies. According to information from the media this past month of July, births in Cuba have decreased from 250,000 in 1963 to 192,000 in 1975 and 152,000 in 1993.

The media also informs that the rate of reproduction (number of daughters born to women throughout their fertile life) in Cuba, is lower than 1 and this low fertility is reflected by the relative aging of the population. Less children grow up and live longer and this has a repercussion on the economy and society because the school-aged population is low and the working-age population is high. But, for the year 2025 this great mass of people will retire since today 69% of the population is older than 17 years of age and 10% is older than 60 years. However, the same media proposes that if we begin to do something about this today, there will be plenty of time to deal with the socio-political aspect and the economical factors, and continue toward the future. For example, the retirement age of laborers could be redefined. Yet, is simply acts upon the effects and not the real cause, which would be to redefine the actual politics of the population.

The rate of fertility (total number of children women give birth to during their reproductive lives), is at 1.9. This places Cuba as the Latin American country with the lowest rate, as well as, placing it among developed countries which have lowered their rates in the last 20 years. This decrease has been a product of the anti-life institutions and the strategies which they have established. According to the imformation given to the press by Dr. Farnos, a Cuban doctor and the UNPF official in Cuba, UNPF has participated in and financed activities concerning Cuban population politics.

The Cuban goverment proudly proclaims its successful health care system, by citing impressively low rates in child and maternal mortality. But the truth is that such rates are not based only on a real effort to save mothers and their newborn children. Rather, they are mostly based on the abortions performed on all of those pre-born children who are diagnosed with some types of malformations, which are considered to be life-threatening in post-natal life. They are also based on the widespread use of contraceptives for those women who suffer from pathologies, which can put their lives at risk should they become pregnant.

Abortion and contraceptive services of all kinds are given freely and without any requirements to the whole population through the institutions of the national health care system. These services are offered as a way of guaranteeing women's "reproductive health", as well as their "right" to family planning. Today we read in the international press that Cuba is the Latin American country with the highest abortion rate (62%). But we know that figure is not accurate, because it is limited to D & C abortions and does not include the thousands of suction abortions performed daily in ambulatory clinics under the fancy name of "menstrual regulation", and which are not counted as abortions.

Late abortions are also practiced in Cuba with the "Rivanol method", although in limited numbers, given its risk for the mother's life, which endangers the low maternal mortality rate that the Cuban goverment wants to maintain. By means of this method the unborn baby is expelled alive from the uterus. Given his or her prematurity, the baby dies outside the womb without any medical asistance that could have saved him or her.

There have been even worse cases in which some doctors, by their own initiave and invoking "humanitarian" reasons "for the sake of the baby, the baby's relatives and society", have killed newborns suffering from some type of malformation or disease. These doctors have created in this way a so-called "humanitarian" infanticide.

In Cuba, doctors work under great pressure exerted by the different level health offices. They work also under the pressure of statistics. The unfortunate doctor becomes so weary that he/she comes to extreme solutions: in order to lower maternal/infant mortality, he or she increase the use of contraception and abortion. It deals with preserving indicators which are presummed to indicate the country's public health development, while in reality this is a great lie because more children are being eliminated before birth or not saved once born. More mothers die because births are prevented, not because they are treated better. Alltogether, this is the easiest course of action for the unfortunate doctor who wishes to prevent problems.

The lack of contraceptives is not cause of a high rate of abortions in a a country like Cuba, where aspirin is given by quotas and other medicines are controlled by medical prescriptions. However, the only products which are given out for free in the pharmacies are condoms, contraceptive pills, IUDs (which are inserted at no cost and without any requirement), Norplants, and Depo-Provera, which is also administered for free in any SOCUDEF (IPPF's Cuba affiliate) office. It is evident that contraceptives in Cuba are not lacking. Surgical sterilizations are also performed on any woman 30 years of age or older, who has 2 living children.

The alarming high pregnancy rate among adolescents is the result of widespread promiscuity, promoted by purely biological and pro-contraceptive sex education, in which the values of chastity and virginity are unknown to the youth.

Ignorance about NFP methods is so common that most graduating medical students don't know about them.

It is in this hostile atmosphere that a group of Catholic Cubans have decided to announce the Gospel of life to all Cubans. VHI wants to contribute in this way to the building up of the civilization of love and to promote the culture of life in that country.

The founding of a Catholic pro-life organization, Pro Vida Cuba (Pro-Life Cuba), is the end result of a process of hard work which has been carried out by a small group of Catholics, with Vida Humana Internacional's help. It is also the beginning of a new phase in which their work will be no less hard, even though they have increased in numbers due to their expansion to six of the eight diocesis in the island. Actually, such work will be harder because of all kinds of difficulties, due to poverty and the limitations that both that country and the Catholic Church suffer there.

Pro-lifers in Cuba need the greatest possible support to be able to acquire the necessary equipment and training for the preparation and distribution of educational materials to the public. They also need support to carry out pro-life activities and even for the young pro-life/family leaders to have transportation to those places where they give talks to so many Catholic communities, where nowadays pro-life services are so much in demand.