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Threat of a Ban on Abortion In Poland -Call for Action

category international | gender and sexuality | other press author Friday October 27, 2006 13:29author by Chris Murray Report this post to the editors

Nicaragua Votes to end all Abortions.

This is a copy of a letter sent to Women's Activist's Groups re: Reproductive Rights in Poland.
At the same time the Nicaraguan Government has voted to ban all abortions on the threat
of thirty years imprisonment, after a campaign by the Catholic Church in that country.

The Nicaragua Story is in Today's Guardian. The Polish Letter is printed here.

The Email was sent out by a Reproductive Rights campaigner from Poland.
http://www.federa.org.pl/signatures

307 Votes are needed to Pass this ban into Law.The Parliament consists of 460 seats.

"Polish Vice Prime Minister calls for the Constitional protection of unborn life.
A real threat of further restrictions on the anti-abortion law In Poland is present.
According to the existing bill, termination of pregnancy is legal to save women's
life and health, when the fetus is badly deformed or when the pregnancy is
a result of a crime.

Although the law is already restrictive, there is a political initiative to make abortion
fully illegal. Roman Giertych, the Polish Vice Prime Minister also at the position
of Minister of National Education and the President of the League of Polish Families
(LPR) political party appealed on Saturday to all parliamentarians for their support for
the amendment of the article 38 of the Polish Constitution. Article 38 states that
"The Republic of Poland shall ensure the legal protection of the life of every human
being" the LPR's Proposal is to add the phrase "from the moment of Conception" at the
end of the sentence. Giertych claims that the introduction of the constitutional protection of
unborn life will be a milestone in realising John Paul II Testament. He also dared to
compare killing unborn babies with Holocaust.

The arguments began today (http://www.guardian.co.uk)

Giertych has already been assured by the second vice prime minister, Andrzej Lepper
that his party, Self -Defence (Samoobrona) will support the amendment. Both parties,
The League of Polish Families andSelf-Defence stay in power with the the last winning
winning party Law and Justice (PiS) One of the Prominent members of the PiS and the
Parliamentarian speaker, Marek Jurek stated on Tuesday that indeed there is such a
need to guarantee the protection of life from the moment of conception in the constitution.

Polish Federation for Women and Family Planning is organising action against LPR's
initiative. If you would like to support the protest against totally banning abortion in
Poland please sign up our open Letter (ends)

http://www.federa.org.pl/signatures.

In Nicaragua, Doctors who perform abortions face up to 6-30 years.
All Political parties voted for the ban ahead of the next month election.
Nicaragua is 85% Catholic.

The decision would endanger women's lives and criminalise doctors who tried to save patients
http://www.guardian.co.uk

Related Link: http://www.federa.org.pl/signatures
author by Charlie Kerinspublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 15:30author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This is excellent news for Human Rights -the right of the unborn to life!

Here's the link for the Nicaraguan story:

"However, leaders of the ruling conservative Liberal Alliance and the opposition leftwing Sandinistas, which control all but one of parliament's 92 seats, voted in favour. Permitting abortions in exceptional cases, they said, gave pregnant women and sympathetic doctors a loophole by citing risk to health."

"A pro-choice march drew just a few hundred people."

"Daniel Ortega, the Sandinista leader and former president who has a strong chance of getting his job back, has backed the ban. Last year he was married by a Catholic cardinal and in recent months has quoted the Pope and been photographed attending Mass."

Related Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1932576,00.html
author by pat cpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 15:36author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Sandinista faction led by Ortega gave up any pretence to being socialists a logtime ago. Ortegas running mate for Vice-President is a former Contra leader. Well, Charlie you are a rum guy, you look forwartd to seeing women die. And women will die because of this law. It outlaws all of what the "Pro-Life" movement here regard as being acceptable procedures which (in their opinion) do not amount to abortion.

author by Stevenpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 15:55author address author phone Report this post to the editors

If a majority of the Polish people are opposed to abortion that means they can ban abortion in their country.
It is up to pro-abortion groups and supporters to persuade the Polish people to allow abortion.
If the majority still oppose abortion that is their democratic will.
Abortion groups can continue to attempt to persuade them to change their minds.

That's how parliamentary democracy works.

One day the Poles might change their mind. One day trhey might not.

That's democracy.

They should not be forced to accept what they don't want.

author by pat cpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 16:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Heres a piece that estimates this bill sentences 400 Nicaraguan women to death per annum who develop ectopic pregnancies. Thats not taking into consideration other complications. Will the Catholic Church organise a party to celebrate the death of each woman?

Reuters news agency reports that hundreds of people protested outside the National Assembly in the capital Managua on Wednesday night, saying the law would be a death sentence for the some 400 women who suffer ectopic pregnancies in Nicaragua each year.

"They are forcing women and girls to die. They are not pro-life, they are pro-death," protester Xiomara Luna told the agency.

Related Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6089718.stm
author by Chris Murraypublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 16:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

A lot of women are alienated from the Church and the State- wherever they live,
because neither of these institutions represent adequately the issue of women
through dialogue or representation. In Montevideo, a caucas of women from
all parties right and left and every colour of the spectrum has joined together to push for
basic democratic rights to have issues such as violence and social welfare rights
attended to because they are not top of the political agenda.

The lack of dialogue with women on basic reproductive rights, such as therapeutic
abortion and access to maternity care , if chosen, is completely scandalous
and a growing problem in Western 'Democracies'. It is well and good to be
tearing each other on the issue of reproduction but the perception, whatever
(your stance on abortion) amongst women is that these choices- which criminalise
us through legislation are made above our heads and without consultation.

The difficulty with infantilising a section of the human race to achieve controls over
population-which is currently happening in Iran too, are a product of sexual repression
and inequality. The Late Pope did little to advance the issue of dialogue when he
proclaimed that "feminism is abortionism".

The Iranian leader seeks to defeat the West by encouraging a population boom!
Excuse me but whatever plans regarding a woman's right to bodily integrity
are made , should be made in consultation with woman and not foisted upon her
by someone who does not have the necessary equipment to experience what it
actually means to start/abort/complete a pregnancy.

Stop Politicising On Women's Bodies.

Related Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34852
author by tom finegan - nonepublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 17:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Regarding ectopic pregnancies, the removal of the embryo form the woman's follopian tube is not regarded as an abortion, rather it is a medical intervention to save the life of one human being in a situation where, if no intervention was made, two human beings would die.

With relation to Poland, the Poles spent many years subjugated by a regime advocating the sacrificie of individual human life for the betterment of an ideology. It is clear they see parallels between their former oppression and the ideological attacks on unborn human life. Feminism, in many respects good and even necessary, undermines its credibility when it exhorts societies to destroy human life when particular human lives pose a threat to the autonomy of women. A feminism that understands freedom is not an absolute (neither practically nor metaphysically) and remembers its true historical origens as a voice for the vulnerable and powerless will be a feminism acutely aware that history's darkest days are herladed when one group of human being's autonomy assumes precedence over another group of human being's right to life.

author by pat cpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 17:10author address author phone Report this post to the editors

You might not see ectopic pregnancy termination as abortion (nor do most of the Irish "Pro Life" movement) but it Nicaragua it is now classified as abortion. Thats whats at issue in the Nicaraguan case.

author by JFHpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 18:23author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Many European countries are scared stiff that their future livelihood is threatened by an Aged Society. This has repercussions for defense, the economy (Putin ripping us off by charging the EU top price for energy knowing that we have no young army to do anything about it). Some countries such as Sweden are throwing money at the problem: a grant of a few thousand euro for each baby; enhanced child care facilities; father or mother given paid leave for a year etc, but all these are only having a very marginal effect on the birthrate.

Poland has a Total Fertility Rate of 1.25 (Replacement Rate is 2.1); their economy will never take off as in Ireland, ergo the reason why their few youth are coming here. They have to do something to increase the birthrate. Abortion has being used as a type of contraceptive to a far greater extent in the once Communist dominated countries of Eastern Europe. If one thinks that we in Ireland don't have or will not have a similar problem; you are ignoring the fact that we are living in an irreligious society where everything is judged on how successfully you can exploit your fellow Human Being. The reality is that Abortion is used nowadays to cover up a lot of cracks in modern society. Maybe the Poles will get a rude awakener of the actual ills in current society; if they ban abortion. Will they have the bottle to follow through with more reforms?

author by xpublication date Fri Oct 27, 2006 19:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

"In the past three years only 24 abortions have been performed, including one in 2004
on a nine year old rape victim, but it is an open secret that many well off families send
women relatives to Cuba for the Procedure. A third of new mothers are aged 16 or
younger and in opinion polls women cite domestic abuse as their biggest problem.
Tens of thousands of women are estimated to have ilegal abortions in Nicaragua
every year."

(source:-Rory Carroll/Latin American Correspondent-The Guardian)

Shame on Ortega and his established Catholic cohorts.

author by John Meehanpublication date Tue Oct 31, 2006 01:05author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Details below on what is happening in Poland, and how to make contacts with pro-choice groups opposing the threatened ban on abortion - it would be good if Irish public representatives gave their support to the 3 November 2006 Tribunal for the Right to Choose

http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article1153

author by Frank Flynnpublication date Tue Oct 31, 2006 02:48author email frankflynn2006 at yahoo dot ieauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

What an absurd headline. What kind of person is even enthusiastic about abortion?

author by RU-486publication date Tue Oct 31, 2006 22:26author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Ortega , last seen voting against women's right to bodily integrity will face the poll on the
4th of November, a happy coincidence , on the same day the Polish women are demonstrating
against LPR's attempt to amend the Polish Constitution to remove abortion rights.

Ortega voted with all the parties in Nicaragua to remove abortion rights- including
those for rape and incest victims, Ectopic pregnancy is included.

http://www.federa.org.pl/signatures

The Polish debate and vote will possibly continue into January, when Merckel
will head up the EU, last seen voting against stem cell research and meeting with
Pope Benedict to discuss putting 'God' into the EU constitution.

The Ortega decision to vote for the removal of abortion rights was , as we all know the result
of a catholic lobby and direct interference in the political processes of that country by the church.

The Polish demonstration against the LPR will co-incide neatly with Ortega's re-election
hopes -which he has pinned on betrayal of the principle of Women's Right to Choose, very neatly.

Lets hope he is not re-elected. The 24 Legal Abortions in Nicaragua did, as we and
Daniel Ortega Know include a nine year old rape victim.

author by Ru_486publication date Wed Nov 01, 2006 19:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The ability of a mature and grown up society to deal with issues such as incest, rape, deformation/cance
r/brain damge of infant/death in utero are side-tracked by
people who do not understand that the mother's life is important too.

We get 'abortion is wrong- its cannibalism'.

Abortificents have been used for thousands of years. They can be cultivated in your Garden.
The point of the argument is to provide an atmosphere where a young woman can go
and safely abort without having to leave her country or get the uneducated moralists
sending her off in her shame to die in a churchyard because she got pregnant and is
therefore transgressing. sexual enjoyment is universal- it sometimes ends in pregnancy.

women are not the sacred feminine; we are living human beings.
and I for one am extremely tired of the inanity of the arguments.

Be pro-life. do not canibalise etc- but you do not have the right to tell anyone else
how to live their life. not does anyone have the right to legislate on the issue.
The morlaity of a personal choice is just that.

and while you are at it- look at gene therapy for expectant mothers. It helps
to isolate the conditions that can cause applalling handicaps to foetus.

we are a third world society with too much money. riddled with religion and
guilt.

author by pat cpublication date Fri Nov 03, 2006 16:46author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Rights, Safety Of Nicaraguan Women Took 'Giant Step Backward' With Passage Of Abortion Ban.

The "rights and safety of Nicaragua's women took a giant step backward" last week when the country's Legislature passed a bill that would ban abortion in all cases, a New York Times editorial says (. Nicaragua's Asamblea Nacional, the national Legislature, on Thursday voted 52-0 with nine abstentions and 29 not present to pass the bill, and Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolanos is expected to sign the measure into law.

If Bolanos signs the measure, it would eliminate a century-old exception to the country's abortion ban allowing procedures in which three physicians certify a woman's health is at risk. The country's current abortion ban also allows legal medical abortions in cases of rape or when a woman's life is at risk. The new abortion ban is a "clear bid to curry support from the Catholic Church" before the presidential elections next week, the editorial says, concluding that the "only good news out of Nicaragua" last week was that lawmakers "declined to take up a proposal that would drastically increase prison sentences for women who have abortions and people who perform them".

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/opinion/29sun3.html?_...login

PRI's "The World" -- a production of BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston -- on Friday included an interview with Carlos Chamorro, a Nicaraguan journalist, about the country's new law (Bader, "The World," PRI, 10/27). The complete segment is available online in Windows Media.
http://www.theworld.org/wma.php?id=10276

author by C Murraypublication date Fri Nov 03, 2006 17:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Guardian is profiling the presidential hopeful Daniel Ortega , it's kind of wishy-washy
and does not make reference to the anti-women vote which led to the call for total
ban on abortion in nicaragua. He is casting himself as a shrewd operator and the
US is watching the poll closely. His preaching of catholicism and his ability to
cast himself as a moderate belie the situation with regard to women's reproductive
rights.

Tis not worth the read really-given the current situation , wherin 1/3 of new Nicaraguan
mothers are 16 or younger and domestic abuse is cited as part of women's struggle in
Nicaragua.

On the 4th of november there is a rally in Poland against the proposed amendment to
Article 38 of the polish Constitution wherin the LPR have called for parliamentary
support for total ban on abortion.

Guardian Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,193826....html

Related Link: http://www.federa.org.pl/signatures
author by Cogsy-ML - Hare Krishna War Machinepublication date Fri Nov 03, 2006 18:15author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Pastor Valle-Garay represented the Sandinista National Liberation Front
in Canada before and after the triumph of the Sandinista revolution in 1979,

when he was appointed Ambassador and Consul General of Nicaragua in
Canada, where he served his country until 1989. Today Valle-Garay teaches
at York University in Toronto, Canada, and writes opinion columns for Cuban
publications Granma International and La Jiribilla as well as El Nuevo
Diario (Nicaragua), Toronto Hispano and Correo Canadiense in Toronto.
I asked him his views on the upcoming presidential elections in Nicaragua.
Here is his response.

Walter Lippmann
==============

Some comments on the Nicaraguan elections
by Pastor Valle-Garay
October 31, 2006

What do you think about the Nicaraguan elections?

What elections? Nicaragua wallows in political quicksand and heads
into a bottomless pit. Ortega's candidacy is a farcical operetta
characterized by pacts with the devils. He has now completed the turn
around from revolutionary fighter to consummate, wealthy oligarch.
His supporters are a Who's Who of the worse reactionary element in
the nation, precisely the element that the original FSLN and the
Nicaraguan revolution fought to destroy. Ortega and the oligarchy are
now one and the same. Undistinguishable from one another and twice as
corrupt as before the revolution.

How do you explain that turn of events?

It's quite simple indeed. Just look at some of the most
prominent Ortega supporters. One of them is Arnoldo Alemán, the ex
president and leader of the Constitutional Liberal Party (Somoza´s
political party). Alemán was condemned to jail 20 years for robbing
Nicaragua blind during his presidency but thanks to Ortega's
generosity he now serves his sentence in his palatial home. Ortega's
candidacy has been also blessed, literally, by Cardenal Miguel Obando
y Bravo, an ignorant minion of the Vatican who became Nicaragua's
first Cardenal as a Papal reward for his hatred of Ortega and the
FSLN. Both of these vociferous, sworn enemies of the FSLN now support
Ortega's presidential bid. How long will the honeymoon last is hard
to tell. Perhaps for as long as Ortega remains President. It's the
way of the jackals. Once they clean the carcass, they move on to
another kill.

How can Ortega win the elections?

Unfortunately for Nicaragua, Ortega will probably win. It's
practically guaranteed by the Ortega-Alemán pact which presently
allows both of them to govern Nicaragua from below. They are de
facto the powers behind the throne, as it were. This
devils' pact allowed them to divide among themselves the absolute
control of the Supreme Court, of the National Assembly (Parliament)
and of the Supreme Electoral Council and, just as importantly, the
pact established that in order to win the elections the successful
candidate would only require a laughable, absurd 35% "majority" at
the polls. Ortega is not going to get that majority from the majority
of Nicaraguans or from the rank-and-file of the FSLN. He'll get it
from the desperate poor, from the fanatically committed and
from people who are afraid for their jobs and their future if they
vote for anyone but Ortega.

Has Ortega divided the FSLN?

Single-handedly, Ortega has managed to destroy the FSLN. In his
maniacal obsession to become Nicaragua's president after losing
three consecutive elections, Ortega ignored all advise not to run
again. Instead he expelled from the FSLN every reasonable, sensible,
honest militant of the FSLN who dared announce himself as a viable
alternative to Ortega This irrational move left the FSLN badly
fractured and profoundly divided. It has attracted unwanted attention
from the White House and only token support from the Latin American
left while the Nicaraguan private sector detests him more than ever.
Under these circumstances, it is difficult to tell who is Ortega
going to govern. That´s what happens when a beautiful revolution is
hijacked by individuals without principles.

Who could have ran instead of Ortega?

The most unfortunate thing, next to his chances of winning, is the
sudden death of Herty Lewites, leader of the MRS (the Movement of
Sandinista Renovation). Lewites could have won the elections and
would have reunified the Sandinista family. Edmundo Jarquin, a world
renowned economist succeeded Lewites. Jarquin is clean, nice,
brilliant and ugly however he also joined the electoral campaign too
late to be a successful contender. The other candidates are elitist
trash. Like Ortega. Funny thing. The more I think about this guy, the
more he resembles George W. Bush. Power mad. No brains. Just brawn.

What's the choice for Nicaraguans?

What do I think of the elections? It's like choosing between an
earthquake, a hurricane and a tsunami. Nicaragua has been hit by all
three with a vengeance. This one will be of catastrophic proportions
and the people in the second poorest nation in the Hemisphere have no
protection at all. This time Ortega won't be able to blame the
Washington. He has no one to blame but himself and this presidential
obsession which has become a political death wish. That will be the
tragedy of Nicaragua on November 5, 2006.

Has the FSLN truly gone to hell?

In regards to your observation about the FSLN going to hell, you are
absolutely right. As a result of Ortega's megalomania the best of the
FSLN militancy left or was expelled by Ortega. Some were top members
of the original FSLN leadership such as Comandante Guerrilleros
Victor Tirado, Luis Carrion and Henry Ruiz; other commanders of the
Sandinista revolution that have left include Dora Maria Tellez; Hugo
Torres; Joaquin Cuadra and Monica Baltodano. Among other top
Sandinista militants no longer with the FSLN, thanks to Ortega, are
Nicaraguan writer Sergio Ramirez Mercado, former vice president of
Nicaragua; Dr. Alejandro Martinez Cuenca, an economist and a former
Minister of Foreign Trade; Nicaraguan poet and write Ernesto
Cardenal, former Minister of Culture; father Fernando Cardenal,
director of Nicaragua's successful Literacy Crusade and former
Minister of Education; Carlos Tunnerman, former Minister of Education
and Sandinista Ambassador to Washington; Dr. Alejandro Bendaña,
former Director of Internatio nal Relations at the Ministry of
External Affairs and ex son-in-law of Ortega. (Bendaña was married to
Zoilamerica, Ortega's step daughter who still accuses him of
sexually molesting her for many years while still a child); Victor
Hugo Tinoco, former Deputy Minister of External Affairs; writers
Daisy Zamora, Gioconda Belli and Claribel Alegria; Carlos and Luis
Enrique Mejia Godoy, singers and songwriters whose music carried the
revolution all over the world and of course the late Herty Lewites,
former Chief of Protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister
of Tourism and Mayor of Managua.

This is a relative short but impressive list of valuable members of
the FSLN who were forced out by Ortega's power grab as Secretary
General of the party. His brother General Humberto Ortega, another of
the founders of the FSLN, has distanced himself from Daniel Ortega.

Why did Ortega support the new anti-abortion bill?

It's politics at its worse, another of Ortega's pathetic, vicious
efforts to win votes by stupidly siding with the conservative,
powerful Catholic church and with the most reactionary members of
Nicaragua´s society who, by the way, when they want abortion on
demand just simple hop a plane and get an abortion in Miami or
Canada. For hundreds of poor, single women and for minors as young as
12 years old who, as victims of rape have no legal recourse for
theraupeutic abortions, it is a death sentence. Nicaragua is back to
the dark ages of the Inquisition. Doctors who practice abortions will
be sentenced to as many as 30 years in jail, this in a country were
there is a famine of medical doctors. It is just plain criminal.

How does the left in Cuba or Venezuela regard Ortega? Should the
socialists feel sorry for this state of affairs?

Don't feel sorry for anything. Ortega gets limited coverage in
Cuba´s media. To be fair, some of my articles critical of Ortega's
mishandling of the FSLN affairs have been published in Granma and in
La Jiribilla, Cuba's newspapers. I believe that Cuba and Venezuela
support the ideals of the FSLN. In this spirit they
also tolerate Ortega's shenanigans but he gets scant media
coverage in either country. In fact, when President Fidel
Castro became ill Ortega went to La Habana to visit the Cuban
President. It coincided with the visit to the illustrious patient by
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. However Ortega's visit went largely
ignored by the Cuban media. I truly believe that Cuba's and
Venezuela's solidarity remain solidly behind the revolution
while paying lip service to Ortega's erratic leadership for the sake
of socialist solidarity.

Is Ortega in the same leadership category as Castro or Chavez?

Not by a long shot. One thing remains certain in my mind: Ortega is
no Hugo Chavez. Nor is he another Evo Morales or a Lula. He will
never be a Fidel Castro, not by any wild stretch of the
imagination. Neither Nicaragua nor the Latin American left will
accept individuals who sacrifice revolutionary principles for the
proverbial 30 silver pieces. Ortega has done that. His days as a
popular Sandinista fighter (a misnomer since he never fired a shot or
fought in the revolution) are over.

One more observation. You're right about Cuba's support of Ortega. It
is definitely there. However, it's my feeling that the support is
lukewarm, a matter of solidarity with the socialist camp rather than
with the individual. It's a matter of optics and my Cuban friends are
masters of it. Otherwise any criticism of Ortega's behaviour would
play nicely into the hands of Bush and of the right wing elements in
Latin America. They would showcase it as a failure of socialism in
the Hemisphere. Just imagine the White House's triumphal glee if it
became public that Latin American socialists started washing their
dirty laundry in public. We would never hear the end of it.
Nevertheless privately Ortega is an embarrassment to socialism and
socialists everywhere.

Why?

It's difficult for even the most committed of socialists to support
individuals whose blind greed for power transform them into abject
capitalists and the betrayal of the basic principles of a beautiful
revolution. It is unforgivable. Ortega has done that in buckets. He
betrayed the Nicaraguan people and those of us who supported him.
Just look at his newest partner in crime Jaime Morales Carazo,
Ortega's choice for vice president. Some alliance! Morales Carazo
still considers himself a member of Somoza's old Liberal Party. He
said it the media in Nicaragua only last week. And, who is Morales
Carazo? No less than a wealthy member of Nicaragua's elite, a
personal advisor and a godfather of Aleman's wedding and the owner of
the mansion where Ortega has lived since the early 1980's. Ortega
confiscated Morales Carazo's mansion for himself and it was not until
early this year that Morales withdrew his claim to have the home
returne. Of course, Ortega assured everyone that he had paid Morales
for the property and t hat everything was just heavenly between the
two of them. Then he pick Morales Carazo as his vice presidential
candidate. A wise political strategy by Ortega? No way. Without the
slightest doubt, Ortega has now embraced the worse traits of
Nicaragua's oligarchy.

Is there any chance that you could be wrong in your assessment of
Ortega?

Perhaps but there is enough proof to the contrary. It is practically
impossible that so many of the bright, clean, valuable, passionate,
still-militant Sandinistas who left the FSLN because of Ortega could
be so wrong. There are just too many to dismiss them as mere
dissidents. On the other hand, there are too few legitimate brains
supporting Ortega. His political support comes from a loyal
but power-mad, greedy bunch who are now suddenly just as wealthy and
as as ruthless as Ortega himself.

How do you explain this turn of events to Canadians and to people
outside Nicaragua who have supported the FSLN for so many years?

It's not an easy task. On Monday, November 6, the day after the
elections in Nicaraguan, I'll be on national television in Canada.
Old stuff. In the past two months I have been interviewed on Che
Guevara´s continous impact on young people, the merchandising of a
photograph!!! Recently I also discussed President Hugo Chavez's
speech at the UN as well as his trips to the Middle east. Reporters
often ask silly questions which they consider earth-shattering
questions such as "Why did Chavez travel to Iran?" as if he had to
ask permisssion from Washington to go anywhere he pleases. My reply
was "Because he can." It'll be much more difficult to explain a
victory by Ortega but being a Monday morning quarter back is a lot
easier than predicting the weather.

This time around CBC-TV, Canada's national television network, has
asked me to comment on the result of Nicaragua's elections and what
the future will bring. Damn it! It's awful that the North American
media actually believes that we are so damn predictable. I'll
probably come up with something outrageous. Just in case, have you
got a crystal ball? Any suggestions?

author by C Murraypublication date Fri Nov 03, 2006 19:10author address author phone Report this post to the editors

We are in a situation where a revolutionary leader is basing his presidential bid on
the morality of the Catholic Church in relation to Poverty and women's reproductive
rights - at the exact time that the debate on the same issue is going on in Europe
under the auspices of the ultra-right LPR. The mass rally planned on saturday in
Poland will coincide closely with the Nicaraguan election.

The campaigns are not disparate- again we see the effect of an undemocratised
church interefering directly into the legislatures of two cultures and the moral
force of that church which is not in dialogue with feminist theologians pushing
the issue of female reproductive rights as a short-armed grasp for temporal power.

The issues pertaining specifically to women are used as tools to access power
by a male hierarchical structure which objectifies women as 'morally passive'
and biologically pre-determined. The push by Ortega and the LPR is seeking
to criminalise women for stepping outside of the narrow definition of what a
woman is and how she should act. The Nicaraguan situation is appalling, because
the sexual violence and abortion figures suggest that children are getting pregnant
and because a nine year old rape victim has a womb she is considered
a woman and therefore destined to go on with a pregnancy. nothing outside
of this narrow definiton of woman is acceptable and criminalisation is the result
of attempted abortion. The undemocratic church - has not addressed the issues
of poverty alienation or dialogue with women,just her morality and how it is judged
and perceived-

author by catherine sarapublication date Sat Dec 23, 2006 23:22author email universalchild27 at hotmail dot co dot ukauthor address author phone Report this post to the editors

Well, here we go...backwards to the old days when women were demonised.
If we are free then we choose, not some idiot in a dress who is never going to be pregnant or raped either.
Women must be put in their place again then.Mmmmmm not enough children being born then as FODDER for wars.
Remember war = money. Even between two religions..all good for business.
Personally as a woman I have the power to bring a child onto this planet or not.I choose not to because it is too violent and people have little freedom.
I was raised a Catholic and the torment it caused me for 40 years should never have to be endured by another woman.
As a child I was tortured and exorcised for being too advanced and therefore a witch.They made sure to leave no physical marks though.I was made to wash the shoes of a priest because he was too fat to bend down.I was told by Judge in Catholic glasses to go home and obey my violent husband or go homeless.
I choose homeless and found freedom.

author by C Murraypublication date Wed Jan 31, 2007 19:17author address author phone Report this post to the editors


http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/361116.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/361102.html

bcn;-

Solidarity letter to Portugeuse re the Referndum on 12th Feburary, will post
link later.

author by C Murraypublication date Fri Feb 02, 2007 19:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors


Copyable poster and leaflet (downloadable) are attached to this story on Indymedia UK:

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/361329.html

The March is on the third of March 07 ;and the organisers have issued a call-out for
support and solidarity.

Related Link: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/361329.html
author by C Murraypublication date Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:08author address author phone Report this post to the editors

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81591

The Polish Far right government has lost it's bid to amend the constitution
(article 38) to protect life from the moment of conception.

The links to the campaign Launch and the petition are in this article.
The above link is to the Tysiac case which resulted in the polish Government
being found in breach of Ms Tysiac's human right to abortion in a medical
situation, wherein she was not given the proper advice or permission to abort
under already restrictive laws in Poland.

Will add in links to the statements by the campaign later.

author by C Murraypublication date Sun Apr 15, 2007 12:26author address author phone Report this post to the editors


http://www.masterpage.com.pl/outlook/200704/losesvote.html

The coalition has lost the attempt to change the wording of article 38 of the
Polish constitution, which would have meant a total ban on all abortions including
medical and therapeutic abortions. Ortega used such a facility to boost his
Presidential campaign which has mitigated against women and girls.

The Roa case in Columbia had succeeded in reversing similar laws through
constitutional challenge and added important rights:-

1. The right to abortion in the case of enforced IVF.
2. The right to an opt-out by a medical practioner on the basis of religion, balanced
against the responsibility of the State to provide free safe and legal abortion to women through
the state hospital system- therby removing the governing ethos of the Church from the medical
decision of the doctor/Gynae.

The Roa case should be studied in it's detail with regard to the human rights
of women and girls who require abortion as a human right.

author by C Murraypublication date Thu Oct 04, 2007 18:37author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This was forwarded to the Choice Ireland List and updates on the one year abortion ban in Nicaragua
which is in the article and links above:-
http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?i...10564

The total ban on abortion came within the Presidential election Campaign with candidates
agreeing to fight abortion rights, it was an exemplar of direct RC interference in the electoral process.
It coincided at the time with the Polish LPR attempt to amend article38 of the Polish Constitution
to Protect life from the moment of conception which saw a conservative coalition push for the vote
which ultimately split the Polish cabinet, both stories are in the article above. Womens Rights
to medical abortion are an issue in many South and Central American States, including
Argentina, Colombia and Mexico City.

author by tedpublication date Thu Oct 04, 2007 20:41author address author phone Report this post to the editors

So the RC 'interferes' in a country that is 90%+ RC. So much for free speech!
We witness the illiberal liberals at work.

author by C Murraypublication date Fri Oct 05, 2007 10:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

The Roman Catholic Church in Central America , like the Roman Catholic Church in other
countries is subject to a centralised bureaucratic nexus of control. The local expertise and
power that Archbishops had enjoyed and had led to a more hands on awareness of poverty
gave them a political power that threatened Rome.This is explored in many books and
essays; but particularly in relation to Leonard Boff . There were also some strong advocates of
the Christ message- such as Archbishop Oscar Romero , who dealt with issues of extreme
poverty and alienation.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/81650

I do not have an available link for the Book:- 'The Silencing of Leonard Boff' , which goes into
great detail in regard to the political organisation of the RC Church in relation specifically
to Central and Southern America. He was silenced in his criticism of the RC church's inaction
on poverty and accepted the silencing in obedience. ( His essays and the history of Boff
is probably accessible through google).The person dealing with the order to silence
was Cardinal Joesph Ratzinger.

The Church is an entity and it is political, it would be very naive to reduce the complexities
of the Southern and Central American states to the fact that 90% of the country (Nicaragua)
is RC without understanding the issues of a political church. Many RC's fashion their
own lives away from the dogmatism inherent in Canon Law, however, at the time of the
Presidential election in Nicaragua a campaign was initiated by the RC Church which asked
candidates to take a pro-life stance (which meant a ban on all abortion including
therapeutic abortion in the cases of ectopic pregnancy), which Daniel Ortega did and he
won the election. Similar issues have arisen in the African states with regard to church teaching
on contraception with similar consequences (silencing) for those who have challenged
the teachings on issues that they are working with on a daily basis.

(This is explored in the John Cornwell Book ;- The Pope In Winter' which has chapters
on Aids/Women/ The Chruch and Sexology)

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