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June 9, 2006 | Volume 9, Number 25

Dear Colleague,

UN Member States have consistently rejected including "reproductive health" within the Millennium Development Goals. Even so, the World Bank is ignoring their express wishes.

Sincerely,

Austin Ruse
President

World Bank Ignores Governments and Promotes
'Reproductive Health' in Millennium Development Goals

By Samantha Singson

     (NEW YORK — C-FAM) The World Bank and other international institutions are promoting "reproductive health" as a part of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) even though "reproductive health" was completely absent from the MDGs which were negotiated in 2000 by the largest gathering of heads of state in history. "Reproductive health" was also rejected as part of the Millennium Declaration, a five year review of the MDGs, negotiated last summer in New York even though the international community came under severe pressure by UN agencies and powerful NGOs to include it.

     Though the controversial notion of "reproductive health" has twice been rejected by heads of state, the World Bank and other institutions continue to claim it is part of the Millennium Development Goals.

     The Millennium Development Goals are a list of eight targets that government should strive for in decreasing poverty, increasing education and other largely non-controversial topics. Governments have decided to exclude "reproductive health" because of its controversial nature. The nature of the debate centers on its definition. Does it include access to abortion? Except for a convoluted definition at the Cairo Conference the UN General Assembly has never officially defined "reproductive heath" as including abortion, but UN agencies such as UNFPA, international treaty compliance committees and powerful non-government organizations consistently interpret the term as including abortion and use it to pressure governments to change their laws.

     Recently, the World Bank announced that it has sponsored a global course to teach participants how to initiate health sector reforms in the area of "reproductive health." The seminar, entitled "Achieving the Millennium Development Goals: Poverty Reduction, Reproductive Health and the Health Sector Reform" was conducted in Ethiopia earlier this year and another session is scheduled to take place in Thailand in August. The seminar brochure boasts that the World Bank has 'a mandate to complement its lending programs with effective learning programs'.

     The World Bank has been a long-time proponent of "reproductive health." The World Bank website claims, "Reproductive health is not merely the absence of disease or disability. It is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in all matters related to the reproductive system and to its functions and processes. Reproductive health therefore implies that women and men have a right to a safe sex life, and to reproduce if and when they wish. This includes the right of men and women to be informed about and to have access to safe, effective, affordable, and acceptable methods of regulating childbearing."