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No Sex for Two Years, Moi Urges Kenyan People

NAIROBI July 12 (Reuters)--President Daniel Arap Moi has urged Kenyans to abstain from sex for at least two years to try to curb the spread of HIV, newspapers reported on Thursday.

Moi was speaking after the government announced plans on Wednesday to import 300 million condoms to fight AIDS, a move which has already run into opposition from religious leaders.

"As a president, I am shy that I am spending millions of shillings importing those things," Moi told a meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya on Wednesday.

As a further preventive measure, Moi pleaded with Kenyans to refrain from sex "even for only two years," saying that was the best way to check the epidemic. Kenyan Health Ministry experts estimate that 700 Kenyans die every day of AIDS, and a further 2.2 million are infected with HIV in a population of 30 million.

The government's plans to import the condoms ran into swift opposition from both Christian and Muslim religious leaders who believe the government should be more actively promoting abstinence.

"Committing adultery is against the laws of God and importing condoms will mean that more people will be actively engaged in sex," the Catholic Archbishop of the port city of Mombasa, John Njenga, told the East African Standard.

The Secretary-General of the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya, Sheikh Mohamed Dor, said the country was "committing suicide" importing so many condoms, a move he said would encourage young people to have premature sex. After a slow start, Kenya's government is finally beginning to wake up to the scale of the disaster confronting the East African country as a result of AIDS.
 

As a president, I am shy that I am spending millions of shillings importing those things.

In late 1999, Moi declared the epidemic a national disaster and set up a National AIDS Control Council.

Last month, Kenya's parliament became only the second in Africa to pass legislation that would allow the country to import and manufacture cheap generic medicines.

The Industrial Properties Bill 2001 loosens the patent rights of the global pharmaceutical companies in Kenya in a bid to lower the price of the anti-retroviral drugs used to treat HIV-positive patients.

Copyright (c) 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
 
 

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Pathfinder International's President Testifies Before Senate Hearing On The Global Gag Rule

Watertown, MA, July, 2001--On July 19th, the U.S. Senate held its first-ever hearing to examine the impact of the global gag rule on the provision of family planning services in developing countries. The Senate heard testimony from several panels, including a four member group made up of Daniel Pellegrom, President of Pathfinder International; Nicholas Eberstadt, Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute; Aryeh Neier, President of the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation; and Cathy Cleaver, Director of Planning for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The global gag rule, which was first implemented by President Reagan's administration as the Mexico City Policy, withholds U.S. government funds from international non-governmental organizations that in any way support abortion rights. In order to continue receiving U.S. government funding to support their family planning and reproductive health work, foreign non-governmental organizations must agree not to use their own private funds to provide legal abortions or abortion counseling, and in countries where abortion is illegal, these organizations are banned from lobbying for abortion-law reform. The gag rule was lifted by the Clinton administration, but was reinstated by President Bush as one of his first official acts in office.
 

I know of no one who attributes any decline in abortion rates to the American gag rule of the 1980s.

During his testimony, Mr. Pellegrom said "President Reagan's original version of the gag rule ... was ineffective in doing what its proponents sought. Over the ensuing years in which it was in place, I observed no decline in abortion rates and know of no one who attributes any decline to the American gag rule of the 1980s ... The gag rule has had serious consequences in delivery of family planning services in less developed countries ... The penalty that the U.S. imposes, the loss of family planning funds, is inclined to increase unintended pregnancies, which logically will result in increasing reliance on abortion as well as an increase in maternal deaths ... This harm is to organizations, and finally, to the patients the organizations serve. Usually the patients are women, mostly very poor, young, and anything but independent."

Pathfinder is a U.S.-based organization that accepts USAID funding. Under the gag rule, several of Pathfinder's international partners are unable to continue their work with Pathfinder on projects that receive U.S. government support. In Bangladesh, the gag rule has forced the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), a large non-governmental organization that provides family planning services to more than three million families, to end its partnership with Pathfinder because BRAC provides women with access to early term abortions that are a legal component of the Government of Bangladesh's national health care package.

Pathfinder International provides women, men, and adolescents throughout the developing world with access to quality family planning information and services. Pathfinder works to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS, to provide care to women suffering from the complications of unsafe abortion, and to advocate for sound reproductive health policies in the U.S. and abroad.

For more information, contact:

Rachael Morgan
Communications Manager
Pathfinder International
9 Galen Street, Suite 217
Watertown, MA 02472
Phone: (617) 924-7200
Fax: (617) 924-3833
E-mail: rmorgan@pathfind.org

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White House Rejects Powell's Choice to Run Refugee Bureau

By Jane Perlez
May 24, 2001

WASHINGTON, May 23--The White House has overruled Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on his choice to run an important refugee bureau at the State Department and has insisted on a nominee who represents the Vatican's diplomatic mission at the United Nations.

The White House decided last week that the nominee would be John M. Klink, who holds dual Irish and American citizenship and represents the Vatican at United Nations conferences on social issues, senior administration officials said. If confirmed by Congress, Mr. Klink would head the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

Mr. Klink, 51, represented the Vatican on the executive board of Unicef from 1988 to 1999 and worked for Catholic Relief Services from 1976 to 1986. His résumé lists his current job as adviser to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. It also says he is a member of the Republican National Committee's Catholic Task Force.
 

The White House has insisted on a nominee who represents the Vatican.

His selection is seen as a setback for General Powell who, unlike Mr. Klink, supports abortion rights. More broadly, the nomination of Mr. Klink comes at a time when the White House is assiduously courting Roman Catholic voters, a group President Bush's political advisers believe may be pivotal in the next election.

Ever since Mr. Bush angered many Catholics during last year's primary campaign by appearing at Bob Jones University, a conservative university with a history of anti-Catholic bias, his political advisers have placed a special emphasis on wooing Catholic voters.

President Bush has dined at least twice with groups of bishops and cardinals. He has met Catholic prelates on trips to Missouri and Pennsylvania. He also spoke last week at the University of Notre Dame and is scheduled to address a group of Catholics in Cleveland on Thursday.

The nomination of Mr. Klink also marks the second time the White House has taken an anti-abortion stance in the area of foreign policy and international population efforts. Shortly after his inauguration, Mr. Bush issued an executive order banning American aid to international organizations that use their own money to provide or promote abortions in any way.

General Powell, after considering a number of candidates to head the population, refugee and migration bureau--including at least one candidate with views similar to Mr. Klink's--had decided on Alan Kreczko, a career civil servant, who is the acting assistant secretary at the bureau, administration officials said.

But the White House never formally approved Mr. Kreczko and decided last week on what one administration official called the "Holy See's choice."

Mr. Klink would oversee an annual budget of more than $800 million that is chiefly distributed to international agencies like the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The United States is the largest single donor to the U.N.H.C.R. and a top donor to the Red Cross.

While the title of the bureau suggests an emphasis on population issues, its work has been mostly dedicated to refugees and ensuring that American financial assistance reaches refugees forced from their homes by conflicts like the war in Kosovo and civil wars in Africa.

Mr. Klink's nomination is expected to please conservatives who have been concerned about the distribution of what are known as emergency contraceptive pills to some women in refugee camps. The availability of such pills, which are included in some health kits provided by some of U.N.H.C.R.'s health clinics, has been vehemently opposed by right-to-life advocates on Capitol Hill. The pills, if taken 72 hours after sex, prevent implantation and are considered by the Catholic Church to be the equivalent of abortion.

Mr. Klink, who now oversees a family investment fund based in California, did not return phone calls to his office. A spokesman for Mr. Klink said he had no comment, but that Mr. Klink was "honored to be considered to serve his country."
 

Mr. Klink is an advocate for the Vatican's positions against family planning.

Before joining the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations, Mr. Klink worked for Catholic Relief Services, an agency financed in large part by the Catholic Church in the United States and the United States government, and which specializes in running refugee camps overseas. From 1978 to 1986, Mr. Klink served in Morocco, Yemen, Thailand and Haiti.

Ken Hackett, executive director of Catholic Relief Services, described Mr. Klink as dedicated to refugee work and as an official who had chosen to serve in "hardship posts" and who had overseen important projects in the agency's headquarters. Mr. Hackett added that Mr. Klink worked in Thailand in camps along the Thai-Cambodia border, during a period when the number of refugees was particularly high.

But of major concern to refugee specialists is Mr. Klink's background as an advocate for the Vatican's positions against family planning and against the use of condoms for protection against H.I.V. infection. This could steer the bureau away from its primary responsibility, they said.

Kenneth W. Bacon, a former Pentagon spokesman who is now the president of Refugees International, expressed reservations about the choice.

"Clearly he has done some refugee work," Mr. Bacon said. "My concern is putting someone in this because of his views on population issues. This could distort the work of the bureau. If this represents a redirection away from refugees towards population issues it could hurt American leadership in refugee issues around the world."

Mr. Klink has attended 17 United Nations conferences on issues dealing with women and social problems as a member of Vatican delegations.

At some of the conferences, notably in Cairo in 1994 where the use of condoms against H.I.V. infection was a major issue, he played an active role as the architect of the Vatican's strategies and served as the delegation's floor manager.

Catholics for a Free Choice, a group that opposes the church's stand on abortion, said last year that Mr. Klink was involved in the Vatican's decision to stop supporting UNICEF because it promoted a manual for refugees that included information about emergency contraception.

Groups supporting family planning services abroad were concerned about Mr. Klink's joining the State Department. "Mr. Klink is well known at the United Nations as a representative of the Holy See," said Amy Coen, the president of Population Action International, a nongovernmental agency. "But if confirmed he would be the representative of the United States and we are worried about the message that would send."

Copyright (c) 2001 The New York Times Company

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Klink, Or Clunk?

Sharon Wilcox
ZPG/Boston Co-Chair

The Bush White House has selected John Kink to be the new head of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. This office oversees an annual budget of more than $800 million that is sent mostly to the United Nations and the Red Cross.  It is like appointing the Pope to be head of Planned Parenthood.

Secretary of State Colin Powell had chosen Alan Kreczko for this post.  Kreczko, who is a career diplomat and the acting assistant Secretary at the Bureau, shares Powell's abortion rights stance. But Powell was overruled by the White House. The move "comes at a time when the White House is assiduously courting Roman Catholic voters", according to The New York Times. [See previous article--Editor]
 

It's like appointing the Pope to be head of Planned Parenthood.

Some highlights of Mr. Klink's resume include working for Catholic Relief Services, serving as a Representative of the Vatican at the U.N., and as a member of the Republican National Committee's Catholic Task force.

We can count on Mr. Klink to assume his duties with the mindset of the Vatican's position on birth control, which is not to use any.  "Just Say No" will take on new meaning to disenfranchised women from Third World countries, who are the recipients of most U.N. aid. His appointment, with his brand of non-progressive thinking, would be quite a sinister twist for the population policies of the U.N.

Mr. Klink has been an advocate for the Vatican and their position against family planning.  These viewpoints would jeopardize some existing population policies, such as distribution of emergency contraceptive pills to women in refugee camps and the use of condoms to prevent H.I.V. infection.

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Bush Gag Rule Bad Global Policy

To the Editor:

George W. Bush's "global gag rule" is one of the most insidious national policies to ever be enacted. It doesn't actually outlaw abortion abroad, but it might as well do so.

This policy denies U.S. population assistance funding to organizations that 1) provide legal abortion services using their own, non-U.S. funds or 2) participate in public debates about abortion, again, using their own non-U.S. funds.
 

If we don't do something soon, we'll have far worse problems than rolling blackouts and high gas prices.

Now, I've heard arguments for and against this rule. The ones that are for it are invariably tainted by the spell of religion; those against are often too emotional and rely on opinion rather than fact. Here is a fact: Our global population is preparing to exceed the seven billion mark. If we don't do something soon, we're going to have far worse problems on our hands than rolling blackouts and price gouging at the gas pumps.

We've got to act now. Support legislation that gives women the right to do whatever they want to with their bodies. Support lawmakers who will do the same. Vote all of these idiotic incumbents out of office in 2002, and let's get together. Our futures depend upon it.

Sammy James
Nashua, NH

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Special Section: The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

• Facts About Health Insurance Coverage of Prescription Contraceptives and HRT
• About the RCRC

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Facts About Health Insurance Coverage of Prescription Contraceptives and HRT

This article is from the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Massachusetts, the local affiliate of the RCRC. Last issue, we featured an interview with Rep. Anne Paulson's legislative aid about the contraceptive coverage bill (formally called the Contraceptives And Hormone Replacement Therapy Bill). This article provides more information on the subject.

Failure to Cover Contraception and Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is an Act of Gender Inequality

• Fifty percent (50%) of large group plans and preferred provider organizations, 20% of point-of-service networks, and 7% of HMOs do not cover any reversible contraceptive methods. [i]
• The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a ruling in December 2000 that an employer's failure to include insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives in an employee health benefits plan, when it covers other preventative drugs and devices, constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Women, on average, pay 68% more in out-of-pocket health care expenses than men. That translates to costs of $7,000 to $10,000 over a woman's reproductive lifetime. Reproductive health care services account for much of the cost differential. [ii]
• An August 1998 study found that insurers were nearly three times as likely to exclude coverage of the birth control pill than Viagra, the high-priced male potency pill. [iii]
• Massachusetts ranks 36th in the provision of contraceptive services to women in need. [iv]

The Public Supports Contraceptive Coverage

• Seventy-five (75%) percent of Americans surveyed stated that they favor private health insurance companies covering the cost of contraceptives and would be willing to pay slightly more in monthly premiums to ensure this coverage. [v]

There is a Great Need for Coverage of Contraceptives and HRT

• * Women on average are in need of contraception for three-fourths of their reproductive lifetime. Yet, each year, approximately 3.6 million pregnancies, nearly 60% of all pregnancies, are unintended.  Half of these 3.6 million unintended pregnancies end in abortion. [vi]
• An Institute of Medicine Committee study of unintended pregnancy concluded in 1995 that lack of contraceptive coverage by private insurers was one reason for the high rate of unintended pregnancies. [vii]
• HRT, which is required for a range of medical conditions, is commonly prescribed to women following menopause to prevent severe bone loss and to prevent heart disease.
• In the absence of insurance coverage, purchasing contraceptives can be expensive--often costing hundreds of dollars at the outset of patient use.  For instance, the average cost of Norplant (which lasts up to five years) exceeds $700.  The cost of an IUD is about $500.  The average cost of the birth control pill is $21 per month.  While these costs can be prohibitive for women, the cost of covering contraceptive drugs and devices within an insurance plan is insignificant.

The Cost of Contraceptives and HRT Coverage is Minimal

• Cost estimates from the federally funded family planning program Title X find that for every dollar spent on contraception, three dollars are saved in other costs.
• The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission does not foresee any significant cost ramification from this mandate.  The Group Insurance Commission estimates that the yearly cost per insured is $16.63 ($1.39 per month) for coverage of HRT and contraceptive drugs, devices and services.  This falls below a 1998 Kaiser Family Foundation national survey that found an average of $21.40 per insured per year.  The evidence also indicates that improved access to and use of contraception would save insurers money by preventing unintended pregnancies.

The Laws and Current Practice

• Federal legislation was passed on October 20, 1998 that gives federal employees equitable coverage of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved prescription contraceptives and contraceptive services under their health plans.
• Thirteen states now have laws requiring comprehensive coverage of contraceptives by insurance plans regulated by the state: CA, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, ME, MD, NV, NH, NC, RI, VT.  Six other states have some legal requirement for insurance coverage of contraceptives by insurance plans regulated by the state: ID, MN, TX, NJ, KY, WY.
• The Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission already provides full benefits for coverage of HRT and contraceptive drugs, devices and services, as does the federal government.

The Contraceptives Coverage Bill would require private health insurance plans to cover HRT and FDA approved contraceptive drugs, devices and services to the same extent that they cover other prescription drugs and devices.

References:

• [i]. The Alan Guttmacher Institute.  Uneven & Unequal: Insurance Coverage and Reproductive Health Services.  The Alan Guttmacher Institute, New York.  1994.
• [ii].  Dooley B. Women's Health Insurance Costs and Experiences.  Women's Research Institute. 1994.
• [iii].  Ziegler J. A. The Gender Gap: Health Care's Next Frontier. @ Business and Health.  November 1998.
• [iv].  J.D. Forrest and R. Samara, A.  Impact of Publicly Funded Contraceptive Services on Unintended Pregnancies and Implications for Medicaid Expenditures.  Family Planning Perspectives, 28: 188-195; 1986. [On-Line].  Available: http://www.agi-usa.org/state_facts/massachusetts.html.
• [v].  Kaiser Family Foundation.  National Survey on Insurance Coverage of Contraception.  Conducted May 22-26, 1998.
• [vi]. Family Planning Perspectives
• [vii]. Ibid.

Massachusetts Coalition For Choice

c/o Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts
1055 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215

American Association of University Women of Massachusetts
ACLU of Massachusetts
Mass. League of Women Voters
Mass. NARAL
Mass. NOW
Mass. Women's Political Caucus
Planned ParenthoodLeague of Massachusetts
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Massachusetts

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About the RCRC

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice works to ensure reproductive choice through the moral power of religious communities. The Coalition seeks to give clear voice to the reproductive issues of people of color, those living in the poverty, and other underserved populations.

Comprised of national Christian, Jewish and other religious organizations, the Religious Coalition provides opportunities for religious people to examine and articulate their own pro-choice positions. We assist clergy in educating their congregations, communities, and elected officials about the theological and ethical dimensions of reproductive choice.

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Book Reviews

AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment

By Paul Harrison, Fred Pearce, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Reviewed by Amazon.com

Book Description

The AAAS Atlas of Population and Environment is an important analysis of the relationships between human population and the environment. Illustrating through text, maps, and diagrams how population factors such as rates of growth, density, movement, and resource consumption, along with the use of certain technologies, affect the world's ecosystems and natural resources both in the short and long term, the Atlas brings together a wealth of information from the most up-to-date sources. In view of the profound significance of these issues as we enter the new century, this accessible resource will be an invaluable tool for individuals, academics, governments, and corporations.
 

This pathbreaking book provides a thorough analysis of the interplay between population and the environment.

The Atlas draws on research and data from a number of academic institutions and international organizations, including the United Nations, its specialist organizations and agencies; the World Resources Institute; the Center for Sciences Information Network; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; U.S. Geological Survey; and the UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Using sophisticated mapping and graphic techniques, it provides quantitative analyses of the important links between such factors as human population density, rates of growth, migration, resource consumption, and technologies, and the state of the global environment. While the impact of people on the environment may have seemed intuitively obvious in the past, the Atlas makes accessible a wealth of badly needed empirical evidence that will be invaluable for both specialists and general readers.

This pathbreaking book tackles the difficult job of connecting the social and natural sciences to provide a thorough analysis of the interplay between population and the environment. Its interdisciplinary approach brings a unique comparative perspective to the discussion and makes it pertinent to a broad range of disciplines.

About the Author

Paul Harrison's publications include The Greening of Africa (1987) and The Third Revolution (1992). He has also written extensively for various United Nations agencies. In 1998 he was awarded the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Award for outstanding contributions to the environment. Fred Pearce's work appears regularly in New Scientist, The Independent, and The Times Higher Education Supplement. His publications include Turning Up the Heat (1989) and The Dammed (1994). He has also written frequently for international agencies including UNEP and UNESCO. Peter Raven is Director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens and President of the AAAS.
 

Green Paradise Lost

By Elizabeth Dodson Gray
Reviewed by Gregory Wilcox for Amazon.com

The green paradise that was Earth has given way to the needs of over six billion humans. Collectively, we use 40% of the planet's Net Primary Productivity (biological output). We are the protoplasm champs: our total mass is greater than for any other species. And we have terraformed a large fraction of the Earth, leaving precious little space for those other species. The resulting habitat loss has triggered the sixth extinction crisis, which is occurring so rapidly that it makes the prehistoric ones look anemic. If we are to save what's left, we must somehow learn to reduce our numbers.

The population movement has long advocated the use of humane and compassionate methods to slow growth rates.  Their main tools are education and empowerment, and they work.  As long as they do, the movement will focus on them.  At the same time, however, it would help to understand how we got here in the first place.  Unless we do, we run the clear risk of having it happen all over again.  As George Santayana famously said, "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it."
 

The extinction crisis is due to our hierarchical model for the spiritual and physical world.

Elizabeth Dodson Gray, in her book Green Paradise Lost, suggests that much of the reason has to do with our hierarchical model for the spiritual and physical world.  She draws a pyramid depicting the following categories, in descending order:  God, men, women, children, animals, plants, and nature.  Each category has dominion over the ones below.

Whether we realize it or not, most of us are still operating by this worldview.  We fail to recognize that it is outmoded, dangerous, and fundamentally incorrect.  Men continue to exploit women, expecting unlimited fertility and obedience.  Men also continue to treat their children as personal property, to be used for whatever ends fit their desires.  Men raise animals for food under unspeakably inhumane conditions, and nonchalantly murder their wild cousins in the name of sport.  Men have even learned to manipulate plants, first by hybridization and monoculture, and now with biotechnology.  Nature itself forms the ignominious base of this pyramid:  the most contemptible and defenseless of all.

We need to understand that we are all parts of a whole, and all interconnected.  Everything depends in a literal and immediate way on everything else.  Nothing is inherently "above" or "below"; the hierarchical ordering is an artificial intellectual construct.  Any hierarchies exist only in limited contexts.  For any given hierarchy, a countervailing context can be found in which the order is different, and perhaps even reversed.

Gray claims that the fall from grace related in Genesis has no textual basis in the original Hebrew. To quote from the book (page 157), "Bruce Birch has commented to me in private conversation that 'Never have we hung such a large doctrine on such a slender thread of biblical material.'" She theorizes that Original Sin allows us to treat Eden as an unattainable Utopia that we can never return to. Therefore we no longer need to worry about stewardship (or even the consequences of our actions in the world), and our real salvation lies only in the Hereafter.
 

Nothing is inherently "above" or "below"; the hierarchical ordering is an artificial intellectual construct.

Rev. Gray makes a strong argument for the case that it's we males who have really made a mess of things. There are several reasons for this, she says: 1) men lack the biological connection to the earth that women have through menstruation and childbearing, 2.) we are born of and nurtured by women, who are our first source of comfort and identity--but in creating a male identity we must subordinate or reject all that is female, and 3) we are culturally conditioned to compete and dominate, while ignoring feelings of emotion or pain. The result is that we see ourselves as superior, enlightened beings who live in an abstract, intellectual world. Women are perceived as inferior and 'other': present only in the dark, mystical world of intuition and nature. We are civilized; they are not.

In reality, it's the reverse. Our analytical, logical view of the world is extremely limited in scope. We only see the linear relations, the simple mappings, the direct correspondences. Women, in contrast, are much better at 'feeling' the connections between all things. These connections are extremely complicated, interdependent, and dynamic. It is for all intents impossible to comprehend them logically. Only the intuitive approach (actually a highly sophisticated but non-analytic form of logic) can grok the totality of it.

Green Paradise Lost is a profound book. It deserves to be read by anyone who cares about the natural world and their continued existence in it.

From the back cover:

"Superb! A unique feminine cosmology!"

"A vivid, readable expression of the feminist ecological concern now flowering at the live edge of the Judeo-Christian religious tradition."

"A beautiful, moving, sensitive, and insightful book."

"Margaret Mead worried that phrases like 'soft energy' would arouse axiety in the middle-aged white males who run the world: 'hard energy' would seem more reassuring.

Now Elizabeth Dodson Gray's evocative fusion of ecological, spiritual, and feminist values shows why. She helps us all to liberate ourselves from projecting sexual dominance onto other people--and onto the natural world of which we are a part.

A vision of human life--from the cell to the household to the whole human society--caught up in the symbiotic dance of cosmic energy and sensual beauty, throbbed by a rhythm that is greater than our own, which births us into being and decays into dying, yet whose gifts of life are incredibly good though mortal and fleeting.

Perhaps the limits of our finite planet are like the biblical angel with the flaming sword, ready to cast into outer darkness those unable to perceive and live within the mixed blessing of creation.

Roundtable Press
Four Linden Square
Wellesley, Mass. 02181 USA

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U.S. Congress Begins Summer Recess

Take Advantage and Meet with Your Members at Home

By Jay Keller
ZPG National Field Director

Most members of Congress will be home for the August recess. This is a great time for you as a ZPG member or supporter to meet with your member of Congress to personally urge him/her to support population-related legislation. It is especially important that you voice your opposition to any cuts in funding for domestic and international family planning programs.  Call their local office to find out their schedule, and if possible make an appointment to meet with them.  If you schedule a meeting, remember to:

• Plan ahead: Prepare an agenda for your meeting and any materials you want to distribute.  Choose only a few issues to focus on at the meeting--particularly issues that are most relevant to your community or for which you feel most strongly.   If you need assistance and/or materials, please contact ZPG's Government Relations Department at 1 (800) POP-1956.
• Do your homework: Research your member's voting record and positions on population issues.  Find out about recent legislation that has been introduced, where it is in the legislative process, and the bill's co-sponsors, supporters, and opponents.  For more information on key population-related legislation introduced in Congress, visit our Legislative Action Center on the ZPG website at http://www.zpg.org or call us at 1 (800) POP-1956.
• Present your case: Don't argue; if your member strongly disagrees with your point of view, simply hand him/her materials you prepared and ask him/her to look them over and consider your point of view.  Be specific about what you want your member to do.  Leave fact sheets and other materials reinforcing your position with your member or appropriate staff person.
• Follow up:  Send a thank you note as soon as possible. Continue to keep your member informed about new developments in the community, as well as actions you would like him/her to take in Washington.  Stay in touch with the appropriate staff person.

It is especially important that you voice your opposition to any cuts in funding for family planning programs.

Also, many members of Congress will be scheduling town meetings that are open to all constituents during the August congressional recess.  Town meetings are a great opportunity for you to raise your concerns.  Check out your local newspapers for town meeting listings, or call your Representative's and Senators' offices to find out their meeting schedule.

Don't miss this important opportunity to educate your members of Congress about programs that are working to address population pressures--schedule a visit and attend town meetings during the August recess!

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The Blame Game

Jay Keller

These are tough times for Americans. Jobs get exported south of the border, unemployment is up, wages are stagnating, cities and towns get more crowded, traffic snarls worsen, and urban sprawl is on the march everywhere. Many people point the finger of blame at immigrants. But a little reflection will show this belief to be misguided.  In fact, there are less obvious--but much more significant--causes. For many years, Congress has attempted to cut funding for contraceptive coverage. And now our president has joined in the battle. As one of his first acts in office, Bush re-imposed the "Global Gag Rule", which places severe restrictions on international family planning.

Other causes: 49% of pregnancies in the US are unplanned; this situation cries out desperately for increased funding of domestic family planning services and education. Suburban growth is subsidized, at the expense of the cities. Contraceptive availability is limited, due to pressure from religious groups who feel it's a sin. And even what is available is often unaffordable: sexual health care needs typically receive much less insurance coverage for women than for men.

To summarize: the charge that environmental and social problems are caused by immigration is very thin.  For example, Pennsylvania is at ZPG and has had great problems with sprawl.
 

If we don't support voluntary family planning around the world, then we will most certainly have bulldozers.

People need to understand that if we don't support voluntary family planning around the world, if we don't encourage the redevelopment of cities and don't discourage people from moving out of the cities with subsidized roads and subsidized gas prices, then we will most certainly have bulldozers.  To place the blame on immigrants is so easy, but yet so wrong ("Its not our fault... it's those people!").  If we seal the border and yet continue our sprawling development and neglect of the cities, our reliance on cars, and our assumption that we can waste resources willy-nilly, we will face a bleak future indeed.  Don't give in to the finger pointing, the "it's those people's fault" approach.  We can do much better than that!

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The Ill Effects of Forced Family Planning

Sharon Wilcox, ZPG/Boston Co-Chair

A major problem has arisen in many Asian countries that revere males over females.  Many families are getting rid of girl babies by infanticide, abortions, abandonment and/or adoptions.  It seems none of these families using this process of selection has been interested in what future problems this practice will create.   However, in many Asian countries the population is already unbalanced, with an acute shortage of females.  This has led to criminal activities like kidnapping women and selling them as brides against their will.

All these problems stem from the Asian tendency to prefer males to females. These problems are extremely apparent in China because of the one child per family policy. If one can only have one child, and males are more valued, it follows that families are finding ways to make sure that child is a boy.  If one wants to see how misusing technological advances can wreak havoc on a society, one only needs to look to China's use of the ultrasound.  This medical tool is being used to determine gender, and selective abortions follow when the child is female.

In rural areas of China, the ratio of male to female is most cockeyed: 140 to 100.  With a total population of 1.2 billion, there are 41 million more males than females in China today.  Obviously, if there aren't enough females to go around, there will be fewer births. This is a kind of freaky population control no one foresaw.

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Nigerian President Urges Condom Use

Sunday August 5 3:04 PM ET

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)--Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo urged his country's military brass to distribute free condoms to the armed forces to help fight the spread of AIDS, a newspaper reported Sunday.

"We must not allow HIV-AIDS to ravage our armed forces," the independent Guardian newspaper quoted Obasanjo as telling military commanders and troops Saturday in the southwestern city of Ibadan.

An estimated 5.4 percent of Nigeria's 120 million people are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The figure is believed to be far higher in the military.

"When I joined the army it was an offense to have or to be infected by sexually transmitted diseases," Obasanjo, a retired army general, said. "Now it is only an offense to ... to conceal it."

Obasanjo also urged authorities to draw up a code of conduct for the military and step up AIDS education and awareness programs to educate soldiers about "illicit and unprotected sex."

Nigerian soldiers returning from peacekeeping operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone are believed to have been at particular risk of contracting the virus.

Of 36 million people infected with HIV around the world, 26 million live in Africa. Globally, the virus has killed 23 million people, including 17 million in sub-Saharan Africa.

Copyright (c) 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[Maybe Presidents Obasanjo and Moi should compare notes (see story on page 1). --Editor]

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Leaving the Planet

This will be my last issue of the Crowded Planet. I have tentatively accepted a position as chief editor of the WENOCA Sierran, the monthly newsletter of the Western North Carolina Group of the Sierra Club. You can find us on the web at http://main.nc.us/SierraClub/

However, I would like to continue spreading the population message. I have proposed a new focus to the newsletter. It would continue to be about all the traditional Sierra Club issues, but it would weave the theme of overpopulation through the articles.  In addition, I intend to change the newsletter’s name to The Growing Concern.
I have discussed these ideas with the Executive Committee of the group, as well as several of the members, and the Sierra Club national office. They all endorse my plan, many of them enthusiastically.

This should come as no surprise, since the Sierra Club actively supports population education. It even has a Global Population and Environment Program (http://www.sierraclub.org/population/). In fact, Sierra and the National Audubon Society are the only two major environmental organizations that address this issue seriously.

Much thanks to my fellow co-editors Lee Strauss and Sharon Wilcox.  Their creativity and commitment are great assets to this newsletter. I leave it in their capable hands.

I have greatly enjoyed my tenure as co-editor of the Crowded Planet. I'm sorry to have to leave, and I wish the both it and ZPG Boston chapter a long and successful future.

Gregory C. Wilcox
Co-Editor
http://webpages.charter.net/gwilcox/
gwilcox@charter.net

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Lumbering Lizard

America lumbers along, a huge beast almost too heavy to walk. Yet, step by step, we carry on. What determi-nation in these rippling haunches! O America, we’ve become larger than anything the world has ever seen, and clumsier than anyone could have imagined, dragging our tail along the ruined ground.

—from Sy Safransky’s Notebook, The Sun magazine, April 2001

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