Catholics for Choice
"Catholic Bishops don't represent the views of Catholics in the United States. they impose their views and church teachings as opposed to majority thinking" lamented David Nalon, the Director of Communications at Catholics for Choice.
Mr Nalson cited recent polls on abortion carried out by Catholic for Choice among catholics as a reflection of people's desire for choice. The polls revealed that 84% of those interviewed favour abortion in circumstances where the life of a mother is threatened, 76% when raped, 73% when there are longterm threats to a woman's life, 66% on detection of foetus abnormality and 50% by woman's own choice.
He said the Bishops have influenced the reluctance by congress to allocate funds to Family planning programmes and by so doing denied the poor their right to healthcare. "When women are denied the right to choose, the biggest impact is felt by the poor".
Participants linked reproductive health to the Millenium Development goal number five that focuses on Maternal Mortality. 536,000 die of pregnancy and childbirth everyday making MDG #5 the one with the least recorded progress over the last 15 years. Marijke of Pan America Health Organization said " MDG # 5 encompasses alot of inequalities that we speak of today when addressing gender inequality" .
Interest in the parallel events organized by NGOs continue to attract large crowds with scenes of participants perched on windows and on the floor witnessed at venues.
