Harper’s G8 “maternal health” plan: 0 for 3 and counting
Karen
Maclean's Blog
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/03/17/harpers-g8-maternal-health-plan/
See, the thing about the Harper government’s plan to present a
maternal and child health initiative at the G8 that wouldn’t include
any provision for family planning (let us call it by its names: access
to abortion and contraception) is that the Harper government would be
presenting it at the G8. Which means that, if they are looking for
anything but a fight, the Conservatives need to present a plan that
would be compatible with the policies of other G8 countries.
So this morning I called around. Three G8 partners have responded so
far: the U.S., the United Kingdom and the European Union (France, the
UK, Italy and Germany all attend as individual G8 members and the
European Commission kind of hangs around too). I’m waiting on another
country to get back to me, but I’m struck by the uniform response of
the first three: each declined to put up a government spokesperson or
diplomat to speak directly to this morning’s Globe story, but each
referred me to specific documents outlining their own policy on
maternal and child health. And the documents they pointed to were…
eloquent. Here’s the roundup:
• United Kingdom
Through a spokesperson, the Brown government in London sent this
comment:
“We welcome the focus Canada is placing on the Millennium Development
Goals during its Chairmanship of the G8. The [British] PM in
Parliament today said: “Five hundred thousand mothers die avoidable
deaths each year… This is one of the policy themes of the G8 summit.
It is important that we support whatever action can be taken. We as a
Government are doing more than most to try to reduce this appalling
level of suffering, which can be avoided.” We look forward to working
with G8 partners at the Summit to ensure further progress is made
towards meeting the MDG on maternal health.”
The spokesperson also directed me to a White Paper from 2009 and
specified that the discussion beginning at Section 5.45 in particular
would be germane. That section calls, in part, for “safe abortion
services (where abortion is legal)” and “a rise by one-third in the
number of contraceptive users.”
• United States
If you Google the phrase “Global Gag Rule,” you’ll see that a policy
very closely resembling the Harper/Cannon no-condoms-for-Africa
doctrine has been a political ping-pong ball in the United States for
a generation. Reagan implemented the rule and Bush 41 kept it in
place. Clinton revoked it during his first week as President. Bush 43
re-introduced it during his first week as President. Obama re-revoked
it during his first week as President.
Obama is still President.
Ambassador David Jacobson was travelling and unavailable for comment
today. A U.S. government spokesperson told me, “USAID has been a
leader in support for voluntary population planning in developing
countries for four decades” and pointed me to these documents:
Barack Obama’s Ghana speech is the least specific, but talks about
mothers dying in childbirth. This blog post by an advisor to UN
Ambassador Susan Rice is more specific, with its call for “increased
resources and access to women’s sexual and reproductive health
services.” And this fact sheet from USAID (link loads a .pdf) breaks
it all down for anyone who’s still confused:
Global Importance of Family Planning
• Saves lives of mothers and children: Births that are too close
together, too early, or too late in a woman’s life decrease both the
mother’s and the infant’s chances for survival. By helping women space
births at least three years apart, bear children during their
healthiest years, and avoid unplanned pregnancies, family planning
could prevent 25 percent of maternal and child deaths in the
developing world.
• Reduces abortion rates: Unintended pregnancy can result in
abortion.An estimated 35 million abortions take place each year in the
developing world.Wider availability of family planning programs could
prevent many of these abortions.
• Important in fight against HIV/AIDS, particularly mother-to-child
HIV transmission: Family planning allows HIV-positive women to space
births for optimal health and contributes to programs providing
voluntary counseling and testing and pre vention of mother-to-child
transmission (PMTCT) services. Family planning services also help
reduce stigma, improve referral networks for HIV-related services, and
prevent unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, and other sexually
transmitted infections.
I could go on. The fact sheet sure does. It dates from December, 2009
— three months ago.
• European Union
Again, nobody at the Delegation of the European Commission in Ottawa
would comment on the Globe report, or offer anyone in Brussels to
comment for the record. But a spokesman sent this note, which in some
ways is the most specific of the three I’ve so far received:
The content of G8 initiatives is still under discussion. Initiatives
will have to be agreed by all G8 leaders.
Initiatives will be, as always, in line with internationally agreed
commitments, in this case the “Cairo declaration” (International
conference on population and development, ICPD 1994), which binds all
UN members.
This declaration includes all the necessary elements to promote
responsible parenthood, counseling and family planning activities in
support of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs 4 and 5, and in
accordance with national legislation.
(a) The links to ICPD Program of Action:
A summary of the ICPD Program of Action: http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/summary.cfm
The full text: http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/icpd-programme.cfm
(b) The link to the Millennium Development Goals: MDG 5 on Maternal
Health. The second target under Millennium Development Goals 5 relates
to universal access to reproductive health, including family planning.
It is often referred to as the ‘unmet need’, pointing at the
difference between the number of women who would like to avoid a
pregnancy and the number of women having access to modern
contraceptives. http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/maternal.shtml