Vatican Agency Fides Cites U.S. Researcher
VATICAN CITY, NOV. 27, 2001 (Zenit.org).- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is dealing with pregnant Afghan refugees by offering them an abortifacient pill, the Vatican agency Fides reported.
"War trauma and Taliban atrocities now provide the UNFPA with the opportunity to engage in coercive family planning programs in Afghanistan, under the guise of safeguarding women's health," according to Fides.
Fides quoted Steve Mosher, director of the Population Research Institute (PRI), a Virginia-based research center.
According to Mosher, UNFPA agents distribute abortifacient medication and chemical products, which they present as medicines, among Afghan refugees in Pakistani and Iranian camps.
PRI reported that the Afghan refugees, the vast majority of whom are Muslims, reject the offer.
Mosher added that the massive abortifacient campaign recalls another of similar characteristics launched in Kosovo among women victims of Slobodan Milosevic's repressive regime. Women in Pristina described the UNFPA campaign as "a real genocide."
PRI carried out an investigation at that time, which reflected that the operations promoting abortion were carried out without giving women adequate information.
Recently, three pontifical councils (for Family, Health Care Workers, Migrants and Travelers) addressed this question in a published note, in which they criticized the "utilitarian and neo-Malthusian" philosophy of UNFPA's Manual toward the refugees' reproductive health.
By proposing abortion, the manual imposes values that offend the dignity of the poorest and most vulnerable populations, the Vatican note said.
ZE01112720
27. november 2001