MOTHERHOOD SAFER AROUND THE WORLD
We are pleased to bring to your attention a study issued by the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet. The Lancet is reporting that worldwide maternal mortality rates (women dying from conditions related to pregnancy and child birth) have fallen. According to the journal, the number of women worldwide dying from maternal complications has dropped from 526,300 in 1980 to 342,900 in 2008; a decline of nearly one-third.
A New York Times article quotes Dr. Richard Horton, the journal’s editor, stating that this new data dispels the widespread belief that the statistics on maternal mortality have been stuck in one dismal place for decades. There is improvement. The billions of dollars that have been allocated internationally to women’s health is actually accomplishing something and is not being wasted.
United Families has a special interest in the results of this study and we welcome news of life-saving health care improvements for women around the world. We have long argued that the numbers of deaths of women becoming mothers were intentionally exaggeratedin order to serve the pro-abortion agenda. Our assumption appears to be fact.
What is the best way to reduce maternal mortality?
Pro-abortion groups at the UN and in the international community continue to insist that the best way to reduce maternal mortality is to push “family planning” (contraception) and to legalize abortion. These groups contend that if you never get pregnant (contraception) and if you don’t have to carry a baby to term, then you won’t die from complications related to childbirth. They treat pregnancy as a disease to be vaccinated against; a disease to be eradicated.
It’s a pretty slick scheme, actually. The abortion and population control advocates get “family planning” and abortion promoted around the world and they get to tap into all of the money that is being allocated to reduce maternal mortality. Our opposition in the international community has been loudly beating the drum with the line that “reproductive health services (which includes “safe” abortion and “family planning”) reduces maternal mortality.” In actually, improved nutrition, increased education for women, proper prenatal care, and skilled birth attendants, save women’s’ lives. It’s important to note that The Lancet study does not even mention abortion, let alone note that it was a factor in the decline in maternal mortality rates.
Our Opponents are upset
The Lancet study really has our opposition upset. In fact, they contacted The Lancet and asked them to delay releasing this study until after the completion of a series of international meetings addressing ways to reduce maternal mortality. These groups aren’t eager to have the world know that their methods are unnecessary and even dangerous””harming life rather than helping life– and that improved maternal mortality rates can be achieved through the most obvious means: providing better nutrition, education, and appropriate health care to mothers throughout their pregnancies.
We saw the positive impact of the The Lancet study last week at the UN’s Commission on Population and Development, where pro-family representatives were able to use the study’s statistics to curtail the inclusion of reproductive health services language””code words for abortion””in the negotiated document entitled “Health, Morbidity, Mortality and Development.”
Conclusion
Around the world, fewer pregnant women are suffering and dying from complications related to motherhood. Science has once again validated the obvious: proper health and medical care saves lives. There is still much to be done to help families, particularly mothers and their children. United Families International will continue in our efforts to put in place appropriate and effective public policy; but for now, we’ll pause and be grateful for some positive trends and some good news.
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