Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-282"
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"en.20030212.9.3-282"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the Commission and Mrs Sandbæk have my support when they propose that the European Union should seek greater involvement in the areas of contraception, the fight against sexually-transmitted diseases and improved gynaecological provision in developing countries.
I myself spent some time working as a doctor in Guatemala, an impoverished developing country, where I could see how necessary such aid is. Throughout these discussions, I have had in my mind's eye a woman who was one of my patients at the time and who had her eighth child at the age of twenty-four. I believe that we are under an obligation to bring to these women's attention what options are available by way of contraception. We are also, for example, under an obligation to increase the availability of condoms.
Let me remind you, Commissioner, of how Mr Schmid of the Group of the Party of European Socialists proposed – all of two years ago – the establishment in Africa of a factory to manufacture condoms, enabling these to be made available there at low prices. I would ask the Commissioner to reconsider that.
It is also my belief that ‘contraception and birth control’ is not just an issue of concern to women alone. I do believe that we have to give more support to science in its search for contraceptives for men. An international consortium has submitted an application in this area to the 6th research framework programme, but the Commission has, unfortunately, not considered it yet. One example of why I consider this very important is the medical fact that many women have an intolerance to the contraceptive pill, so alternatives are a matter of necessity, and this is one area where men cannot go on holding back.
I do believe, though, that we have to make a very clear distinction between the issue of abortion and that of birth control, as well as the other issues discussed in the report. Abortion is a sensitive subject, and rightly so. I do not think it would be a good thing for the European Union to allocate to something like that any of the limited resources we have at our disposal for the support of people in developing countries.
When I was, for five years, a member of the Committee on Development and Cooperation, I constantly heard the Commission saying that there was not enough money. That was why they rejected many projects put before us by NGOs – projects that were not in the least controversial, and which everyone said we should support. As a result, I would have preferred it if this report had expressed, more clearly than it had done, that we support a great number of things – things that Parliament does not regard as controversial – but not abortion. I think Amendment No 53 expresses this very appropriately.
I am glad that this report has been successfully focussed on the prevention of unwanted pregnancy and on the provision of real help for women. Above all, I wish to thank Mrs Martens for her great commitment. I would have liked us, however, to have put things in more precise terms – and perhaps tomorrow will find us managing to do that – so that we can indeed be united in our endorsement of this programme and of this report."@en1
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