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GUATEMALA:
Sex Education, Family Planning Finally
Available
By Danilo Valladares
GUATEMALA (IPS) - Social organisations
in Guatemala are celebrating the entry into
effect of a family planning law that will
usher sex education into the country's
classrooms and facilitate access to birth
control methods, as a victory in the fight
against the country's high birth and
maternal and infant mortality rates.
The law, which was passed in 2005 but only
went into force on Oct. 30, after facing a
number of legal challenges from the Catholic
Church, orders the Health Ministry, the
Guatemalan Social Security Institute and
other public and private health institutions
to make modern contraceptives available.
It also requires the Education Ministry to
include sex education in the primary school
curriculum, with subjects like
self-awareness, personal care, reproduction,
sexual organs, pregnancy, responsible
maternity and paternity, and sexually
transmitted diseases.
"We are the Latin American country with the
third highest level of maternal mortality
and the highest population rate; we are more
comparable to the countries of Africa than
to Latin America," Mirna Montenegro with the
Observatory on Reproductive Health, a local
NGO, told IPS.
And Guatemala forms part of the trio of
countries in the hemisphere - along with
Haiti and Bolivia - with the highest infant
mortality rates: 30 deaths per 1,000 live
births according to the preliminary results
of the fifth maternal-infant health survey
2008-2009 presented this month by local
authorities.
An increase in teen pregnancy, as well as
tens of thousands of illegal, unsafe
abortions committed every year, are other
issues of concern to the Observatory.
The codification and entry into effect of
this law "is very important, because it will
help bring down these figures," said
Montenegro.
Although abortion in Guatemala is only legal
if the pregnant woman's life is in danger,
an estimated 65,000 girls and women a year
in this Central American country of 13
million people get an abortion, often
performed by non-medical personnel under
non-sterile conditions, according to a 2006
study by the Guttmacher Institute.
The report also states that nearly 22,000
women a year are hospitalised for treatment
of abortion-related complications.
Montenegro highlighted two key aspects of
the new family planning law, one of which
was the creation of a national commission on
contraceptives, which will oversee and
guarantee provision and supplies of birth
control through the different health
services.
It has been clearly demonstrated that as a
result of family planning methods, "women
have greater access to sources of income,
and maternal and infant mortality are
reduced," said Montenegro.
The other aspect she underscored was the sex
education curriculum for primary school,
which has two different segments: first
through third grades, and fourth through
sixth grades.
"Because it's complicated to leave the
responsibility only up to the parents, if we
take into consideration that there is no
father figure in 30 percent of households in
Guatemala," she said.
Besides the high maternal and child
mortality rates, Guatemala has the highest
level of chronic malnutrition in Latin
America, and the fourth highest in the
world: nearly 50 percent of children under
five are malnourished, according to UNICEF,
the United Nations children's fund.
"Family planning is not a magic wand, but it
is a health measure that can help save lives
and improve the quality of life of
children," Dalia De La Cruz, with the
Guatemalan Association for Family Welfare (APROFAM),
told IPS.
Guatemala has the second highest annual
population growth rate in Latin America,
averaging 2.1 percent for the 1998-2015
period, only behind Nicaragua's 2.2 percent,
according to World Bank projections.
The new family planning law will make birth
control methods available to both men and
women.
"Sex education is always occurring, whether
correctly or incorrectly, although factors
like silence, machismo and the breakdown of
the family stand in the way of it being done
properly," said De La Cruz.
"It's not just a question of talking about
the sexual organs or contraceptives; it's
about teaching men and women to understand
themselves, to feel satisfied with their
gender and to value the opposite sex," she
added.
But the law continues to face stiff
opposition from different sectors, led by
the powerful Catholic Church. On Nov. 15,
the Archbishop of Guatemala City, Rodolfo
Quezada, announced new legal action against
it.
Since the law was passed in 2005, it was
vetoed by then president Oscar Berger –
Congress later managed to overturn the veto
– and has faced seven different legal
challenges by the Church, none of which were
ultimately successful.
Quezada, who argues that the law violates
academic freedom, freedom of religion, and
the right of parents to teach their children
about sexuality as they deem best, said he
would seek an injunction from the
Constitutional Court.
Earlier this year, Quezada called on parents
to exercise civil disobedience against the
legislation, which he lashed out against in
his sermons as an immoral law, on the
argument that "anything that facilitates
abortion is an aberration."
And when the law was approved, he compared
the effect of contraceptives with that of
"bullets" and said the legislation would
promote "a culture of death."
José Roberto Luna with IncideJoven, a young
people's NGO, said "there is nothing
unconstitutional about the law." The
Catholic Church "may do whatever it wants,
but it is violating Guatemala's character as
a secular state," he maintained.
The 23-year-old activist told IPS that the
family planning law "is aimed at
guaranteeing equal, universal access to
family planning methods, because it has been
demonstrated that there is unmet demand for
birth control services."
The sex education strategy designed by the
law should be seen as an opportunity, he
said. "No one is depriving parents of their
duty to educate their children, but those
who are unable to do so will now have the
opportunity to complement their own
information with what is provided in the
public schools," he said.
The country's doctors have also spoken out
in favour of the law. "We are extremely
concerned about the rise in pregnancies
among girls under the age of 15, and the
high maternal and infant mortality rates,"
the president of the medical association of
Guatemala, Dr. Mario López, said to IPS.
López said the new law could help bring
about a significant reduction in maternal
and infant mortality.
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