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.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS