VILNIUS - Lithuanian society and politicians are still living in the dark ages of reproductive health, influenced by repressive dogmatic beliefs that fail to solve modern problems, MP Marija Ausrine Pavilioniene claimed last week while arguing that Lithuanian women don't have rights to their own bodies.
"A women, and not a man, suffers psychological stress when the church makes her a victim of anti-scientific theories, when the findings of international science are neglected and health institutions refuse to provide services for reproductive health," said the politician.
Esmeralda Kuliesyte, director of the Family Planning and Sexual Health Association, said that women regard the absence of reproductive health as a form of politics, which gives grounds for the violation of women's rights.
"Even though the World Health Organization, the Lithuanian Society of Gynecologists and foreign examples prove that medical abortion is safe, effective and even acceptable for women, the government hesitates to approve the procedure, and therefore violates a woman's right to scientific achievements," said Kuliesyte.
The first attempts to legalize abortive medicine two years ago were met with failure when the health minister arranged a group to oppose the initiative. Soon after, conclusions on the proposal stipulated that the legalization of pharmaceutical abortion was unfavorable.
"Pharmaceutical companies could not register the medicine, which terminates the pregnancy, because this would purportedly be a genocide of the Lithuanian nation," explained Kuliesyte.
The parliamentary commission that discussed the question concluded that chemical abortions could lead to increased psycho-emotional trauma due to the method's peculiarities. The woman was required to observe the remains of the aborted fetus in order to verify the procedure's full sequence. Therefore, the abortion was rejected due to psychological and medical delicacies, on top of social and ethical dilemmas.
However, Kuliesyte asserted that 58 percent of women now willing to have an abortion would approve legalization of the abovementioned chemical procedure. Moreover, 63 percent of the country's residents would answer affirmatively to this initiative.
MP Pavilioniene urged that politicians should refresh legal projects focusing on women's issues, and that society should educate itself and stop blaming women for their choice to have an abortion.
"Uneducated people often condemn even infertile women that want to have babies and make difficult medical decisions to become fertile," the parliamentarian said, claiming that a woman has no rights until she receives the right to her body.
Members of the Conservative Women's Society argued against Pavilione's initiative, saying that she shouldn't become a tool for pharmaceutical companies in Parliament.
"Seimas (Lithuania's parliament), which represents the interests of citizens, should not become an advertising platform for pharmaceutical businesses or interested organizations such as the Family Planning and Sexual Health Association. The latter has been warned a few times for illegal advertising," said Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene, chairwomen of the Conservative Women's Society.
Meanwhile, Kuliesyte said that only 20 percent of Lithuanian women use modern and safe contraception, while this number was three to four times as large in Western countries.
In Lithuania, some 20,000 abortions are conducted each year, 90 percent of which are repeat procedures. Serious concern was raised over the fact that 50 percent of abotions are given to women between the ages of 15 and 19, most of which were second, third- or even fourth- time procedures.
