Two reports by advocacy groups say the US government's opposition to abortion and young people's use of condoms infringe on reproductive rights and are out of step with attitudes across Latin America, which is reviewing efforts to slow population growth.
One report, issued Monday by an international group of scholars from New York's Columbia University, criticizes US President George W. Bush's administration for "a sweeping, comprehensive attack on sexual rights."
The Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice issued results of polls in three Latin American countries that indicated the Vatican and the Bush administration are "out of step" for taking stances at Latin American meetings that oppose contraception while the vast majority of Catholics in Latin America support a full range of contraceptive methods.
The reports were published at the start of a five-day conference of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, where delegates including a UN official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the US is pressing Latin Americans to adopt more conservative policies on contraception -- policies they say would slow development.
"There is the worry that if Bush is re-elected these policies will then be pursued even more violently, because politically there isn't anything to lose," said Richard Parker, a Columbia socio-medical sciences professor and co-chairman of the university's International Working Group on Sexuality and Social Policy.
The report also criticized the US government for policies penalizing groups seeking to provide birth control options.
Bush in 2001 reinstated a policy barring aid to foreign nonprofit groups promoting abortions. Since 2002, the US government has blocked US$34 million in annual aid to the UN Population Fund, saying it contributes to coerced abortions in China -- a charge that agency denies.
A senior US delegate said the report was an "unfair attack."
The official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Bush believes strongly that while he wants to support reproductive health, including family planning, abortion can play no part, and that abstinence is a key to preventing sexually transmitted diseases among youths.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS