Peruvian expert explains deceit behind concept of ‘reproductive health’

Lima, Peru, Aug 6, 2008 / 15:11 pm

A renowned expert on sexuality and the family in Peru has explained the deceit behind the concept of “reproductive health,” after the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, denounced the existence of ideologically-driven groups that use the concept to promote new forms of abortion.

According to psychiatrist Rene Flores, the cardinal’s comments simply “coincide with the reservations expressed by Peru about this term at the international conferences of Cairo and Beijing.”

“It is not exactly known who created the concept of reproductive health and how,” he said, but the term was explicitly mentioned for the first time in the 1994 World Conference on Population and Development.

Flores said that in Peru, “the concept of ‘reproductive health’ is becoming accepted by leaders, politicians and doctors, without any basis or further questioning.”

He warned that the use of term is part of an effort to re-interpret the traditional understanding of human rights as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.

“Other intentions are hidden under the umbrella of ‘reproductive health’,” he said, “such as forced sterilizations, the hiding of information about the abortifacient nature and side-effects of some contraceptives, the arguing that pregnancy begins with the implantation of the fertilized egg and not a conception (for example, in order to approve the morning-after pill), and the passage of heath care laws that prevent doctors from having recourse to conscientious objection,” Flores explained.

He noted that the treatment given to “reproductive health” in parliaments and the media is very similar to that give to other issues related to it, such as “sexual rights, reproductive rights, sexual health, the legalization of abortion, gender, gender perspective, sexual diversity, homosexual marriage and emergency contraception.”

Initiatives based on all of these concepts are aimed at passing laws and norms and promoting policies and programs adhered to by governments and political leaders “in order to give social and legal legitimacy to the idea of ‘reproductive health’,” Flores stated.

To carry out their intentions, he explained, governments from the developed countries and large philanthropic foundations located there carry out multiple actions at the worldwide level by politically and financially supporting organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the UN Population Fund.