On 7/21/06, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Yoshie:
>Iran's family planning has been better than many others in the
>developing world, as I explained at
><http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/furuhashi130706.html>. The fertility
>rate in Iran has declined from 5 in 1989 to 2 in 2002. Women who have
>just two children have more time for their own development than women
>who have five or more.
>
>That's the sort of social modernization that makes a difference for women.
What is the big deal about "family planning" in light of the fact that
Iranian women can't get an abortion unless the foetus is mentally or
physically handicapped. Your article does not even contain the word abortion.
I have already examined abortion in Iran in one of my blog entries:
<blockquote>[O]ne of the similarities between Iran and Venezuela,
alas, is conservatism: women in both societies lack the right to
abortion, except the right to abortion performed to save the mother's
life (women in El Salvador do not enjoy even this limited right, as
even most MPs of the ostensibly secular FMLN eventually voted for
total criminalization [Jack Hitt, "Pro-Life Nation," New York Times, 9
April 2006]).
In 2005, the Iranian parliament -- dominated by "conservatives" many
of whom backed Ahmadinejad in the election in the same year -- "voted
to liberalise the country's abortion laws" (Frances Harrison, "Iran
Liberalises Laws on Abortion," BBC, 12 April 2005). It was the same
clerical gerontocrats who blocked Ahmadinejad's oil ministry reform,
decree to allow women to attend sports events at stadiums, etc. that
vetoed the liberalized abortion law. Unless the basic structure of the
Islamic Republic is undone, either through a passive revolution or
other means, a fundamental change is not possible. Iran desperately
needs a populist political force capable of pursuing its own social
and economic agenda and sweeping away all -- including the
mullah–bazaari nexus -- who stand in the way. Such a force, given the
fact that a majority of Iranians -- including most of neoliberal
"reformists" -- are religious in one way or another, won't and can't
be secular at this point in history.
A couple of weeks ago, "Pope Benedict XVI told Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez in a meeting at the Vatican . . . that he doesn't want him
to weaken the abortion ban the South American nation currently has in
place. The meeting came on the same day that news broke about a
court's decision in Colombia to allow abortions in certain rare cases"
(Steven Ertelt, "Pope Tells Venezuela President Hugo Chavez Don't
Weaken Abortion Ban," LifeNews, 12 May 2006). It is frustrating to see
that Colombia is ahead of Venezuela on the right to abortion. I
understand that there is a chance to put the issue on a referendum in
2007, but Chavez probably won't move on this till he succeeds in
removing the term limits.
<http://montages.blogspot.com/2006/05/abortion-in-iran-and-venezuela.html></blockquote>
How can FSLN vote for a policy more conservative than Iran's?
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
