NOV 23, 2004

The Third World War



By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.
 


The war in Afghanistan
was a victory for international morality, not only for taking away a
haven for terrorists, but also for ending the brutal suppression of the
rights of women that the Taliban had imposed.



Yet
before we congratulate ourselves too much, consider the tens of
thousands of women and men who have died as a result of a misguided
U.S. policy (the “gag rule”) that denies family planning funds to any
organization that, in countries where abortion is legal, 
provides abortion-related information or services (using private
funds), along with other reproductive health services. In some
countries, a third of the family planning clinics have closed as a
result of the withdrawal of U.S. funds.



Some
special interest groups are attempting to bring about a total ban on
U.S. funding for family planning services even by organizations
that abide by the gag rule by pumping out phony statistics and
misleading press releases implying that world population growth has
nearly stopped and is about to go into decline. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Net growth has slowed slightly, but the world's
population is still growing by 76 million per year – the equivalent of
adding a new U.S. population every four years.



The human suffering caused by these misguided policies and inadequate funding is staggering:



•    600,000 women and girls die worldwide every year from pregnancy and childbirth.



•    140,000 women bleed to death each year during childbirth.



•  
 75,000 women die each year trying to end their pregnancies. The
U.N. estimates that worldwide, 50,000 women and girls try to induce
abortions on themselves each day (18.3 million per year). Many of those
who survive face life-long, disabling pain.



•  
 Approximately 100,000 women die each year from infection, and
another 40,000 women die from the agony of prolonged labor. And those
are only the fatalities. UNICEF's statistics show that for every woman
who dies, 30 survive with gruesome injuries and disabilities. That's
more than 17 million women per year.



Add to
that the exhausting burden of repeated pregnancies and births, and you
have a global picture of suffering that demands global response.

(click here to read the entire story)