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PROMSEX Centro de promoción y defensa de los derechos sexuales y reproductivos

Free Choise Restricted: USAID´S reactionary policies and the case of emergency contraception in Perú

Martes, 23 de Octubre de 2007 19:19 Promsex
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For 30 years the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been the primary foreign donor to health programs in Peru. In 1998 alone it provided $21 million to Peru’s public health sector, making up approximately one fourth of the bi- and multilateral financial aid in this area. 1 A significant portion of USAID’s funding has been directed to reproductive health, with a focus on family planning. For example, between 1994 and 1998, USAID provided $85 million to family planning activities,2 or three quarters of all of its reproductive health aid to Peru. USAID’s support has contributed significantly to improving the reproductive health and rights of people living in poverty in Peru, particularly women.

Nevertheless, politically driven U.S. policies governing USAID’s programs have at times inhibited reproductive rights and adversely affected the health and wellbeing of individuals. Depending on the goals of successive U.S. administrations, USAID’s support for family planning programs in Peru has shifted since it began working there in the 1960s. Initially, it focused on meeting demographic goals, with a mindset toward simply slowing rapid population growth. After the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, USAID sought to implement that agreement, shifting to a rights-based approach to population policy, which emphasized women’s needs and context, rather than fertility targets. Today, under the conservative Bush administration, USAID’s position on emergency contraception in Peru negates fundamental human rights, including the right to informed and voluntary decisions over one’s body, reproduction, and contraceptive use.

USAID’s interference in provision of and access to emergency contraception occurs despite the fact that the method is legal in Peru. Emergency contraception, which is also legal in the United States, is used immediately after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. In 2005, USAID requested that its partner organizations in Peru “maintain a neutral position” on emergency contraception, “not giving preference to any position in any circumstances that involves USAID financing, for example, information materials or planned events.” This restriction is not an isolated incident, but rather reflects a culmination of U.S. policies and programs seeking to restrict reproductive rights globally.

USAID’s current policies toward sexual and reproductive health are consistent with perspectives held by the Catholic Church and many evangelical churches that are politically active in Peru and the United States. There are signs that far-right organizations in the United States, as well as Peru, are having an unprecedented influence on U.S. public policy, guided by the following aims:

1. Impede access to a wide range of contraceptive methods, including emergency contraception.
2. Counter efforts to ensure access to safe and legal abortion.

This approach directly contravenes international consensus documents signed by the Peruvian government that recognize reproductive rights as affirming individual freedom regarding the body, fertility, and the use of contraceptive methods.

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