
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 2, 1994                   TAG: 9408250057
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FAMILY PLANNING

FUNNY how the same message can have exact opposite meanings to different people. Take, for example, the premise of the upcoming International Conference on Population and Development, and how differently it is viewed by Pope John Paul II and, oh, any of millions of other people around the world.

The pope is fearful that the draft document to be considered at the U.N. conference, to be held in Cairo in September, seeks to deprive couples of the right to determine the size of their families. But, the church teaches and he firmly believes, they should be restricted from doing this by anything other than natural means, abstaining from sex when a woman is fertile. That is a narrowly defined right, indeed.

The pill, an easy-to-use means of artificial contraception, can prevent pregnancy 99.9 percent of the time and, as typically used, is 97 percent effective. Natural family-planning, less simple, in theory is effective an impressive 97 percent of the time - but only 80 percent as typically used.

The Vatican is concerned that governmental policies promoting population control - and an elevation of the status of women - will result in coercive measures by the governments of poor, overpopulated countries. That fear seems misplaced in a document that stresses women's dignity and the right of families to control their numbers.

Church leaders who decry the draft plan say it encourages sterilizations and will lead governments to mandate abortions. Yet Catholics for a Free Choice, a group challenging the Vatican's efforts to discredit the policy, says there is no mention of sterilization in the document. It does not suggest that any country legalize abortion where it is now illegal, though it does suggest that they review those laws, taking into account women's health and well-being.

A transparent suggestion that abortion be legalized, abortion foes will say - but a suggestion any country could choose to ignore. The draft does state: "Sexual and reproductive health-care programs ... must provide the widest possible freedom of choice." However, it continues: "Coercion in those programs, whether physical, economic or psychological, is a breach of human rights and can never be acceptable."

The draft urges governments to reduce abortions by making available a full range of contraceptives and better education, and states explicitly that abortion "in no case should be promoted as a method of family planning."

That seems a hopeful, loving, life-affirming policy to pursue.

by CNB