Presentation of Ms JANA TUTKOVA, Director of the Center for Bioethical Reform Europe
at the expert public hearing of the European Parliament on sexual and reproductive health
29 Jan 2008

Role of state in SRH
I would like to start with the role of state in sexual and reproductive health, which has increased in spite of calls to avoid any of its interference in intimate matters. Growing up in communist country I experienced state as a nanny for its citizens. Current trend is unfortunately similar. Children have no need of parents, for state is to provide counselling for them. Couples want no children as state will look after them when they get older. Women can rear child without husband thanks to financial support of state. With this approach state encourages particular choice of behaviour which totally undermines family. Last 30 years have brought breakdown of families as never seen. The crime rate has rocketed hundreds times more. People are more independent, but more dependent on state, more individualistic and egoistic. More hearts are broken and lives destroyed.

Civilisation of use vs civilisation of love
Present European culture tends to „use“ in many respects: exploitation of poor countries and of workers at home, legalisation of prostitution and pornography, tolerance of human-trafficking, use of embryos for research, etc. Even at very intimate level people USE each other. Use is opposite of love. People tend to date, cohabitate and marry merely for a benefit, pleasure or popularity. Widely encouraged cohabitation correlates with increase in divorce rate. Studies summarised by UK-based Civitas show that married men earn 10-40 per cent more than those cohabitating or single and they are more successful when they become father. Cohabitating people suffer more from health problems, depression, and domestic violence. Only less than 4 % of cohabitations last for 10 years or more. The more often and the longer cohabitation, the more likely women and men are to divorce later and cheat on each other. Cohabitations with children are more likely to break up than childless ones. 15 % of one-parent families are created through the break-up of cohabiting unions.

Need of love, not merely of sex
Oversexualised environment creates illusion in couple’s mind about the relationship which without permanent commitment collapses. Love means to want the best for the other even at price of my own sacrifice. Sex is definitely a great good but not necessarily anytime. It can be an act of violence if a child, animal, pornography or non-consent is involved. So sex is not always good, but only under certain circumstances when it is seen as a mutual self-giving. Gift is given forever and not to be returned. Gift belongs to the one who receives it and not others, therefore exclusivity is another paramount aspect of sex. It requires full reception, unlike „I want you but without your fertility.“

Neo-Marxist lies
The war against woman’s fertility means war against woman. With contraceptives female body is rejected: her fertility is wrong, she has evolved not well enough. The aspiration to turn woman into man by “freeing her from consequences of sex” has led to enslavement of woman as a sexual object. The neo-Marxist ideology marches under disguise of feminism when promoting revolt of women against men in marriage. The Bolshevik revolt ended in a catastrophe, to which this one is heading, too. The androgen ideal, a bisexual person, free to have sex with whom ever, denies female and male sexuality and turns person into an asexual. Abortion – which was for the first time legalised by Lenin (1920) – is totally non-reproductive and damaging to mental and physical health of woman. Contraceptives cause temporary infertility and sterilisation a permanent one. Infertility, not pregnancy is a disease! What is endorsed to European citizens is asexual and non-reproductive disease and wrongs, not health and rights!!! The mandate of the EU is to promote public health and NOT abortion, contraceptives, sterilisation, hormonal replacement therapy or hormonal hyperstimulation.

Hormonal obsession
While hormones for men are banned almost everywhere in Europe, women are encouraged to overdosed on female steroids. Many studies confirmed that hormonal contraceptives are implicated in breast cancer, cervical cancer and liver cancer. Family planners however (like the tobacco industry with regard to lung cancer) will understandably always try to deny these links and cast doubt on the studies. The latest nonsense from the Planned Parenthood is to promote hormonal pills as a protection against ovarian cancer. It is true that without functioning ovaries the risk of ovarian cancer is 0. Without testicals the risk of testicular cancer is also zero but that does not mean that we promote castration for men. Synthetic hormones substitute natural hormones, production of which is shut in ovaries. They shrink. Wall of uterus gets thinner up to 1mm. Reproductive organs are chemically mutilated, just like hysterectomy used to do mechanically. Till recently hysterectomy was widely spread procedure in the West, but due its health risks it has been condemned. Now we realised it was not a good choice for woman and I hope we will soon come to face it also regarding the hormonal contraceptives. In 2005 the World Health Organisation reclassified estrogen-progesterone birth-control pills as highly carcinogenic to breasts. (http://www.iarc.fr/ENG/Press_Releases/pr167a.html) There is more to be reclassified...

Too long we have been bombarded by advertising and general acceptance of cigarettes because of strong lobby and state support, even EU subsidies to tobacco industry. Now we are overwhelmed by powerful pharmaceutical industry and its propaganda. I dare to propose today that we request producers of hormonal contraceptives to print health risks on packages of their products just like it is on cigarettes. Progestin and oestrogen have various bad effects and risks to be addressed: cancers, thrombosis, heart attack, stroke, depression, etc. The information that progestin-based or combined pills prevent implantation of already conceived child is important in decision-making for many European women to whom it has been deliberately denied. The other mechanism slowing down egg in fallopian tubes has led to enormous increase of ectopic pregnancies in Europe. Relevant is also the fact that women on the pill loose sex-drive. Hardly skin is healed once you get out of the cyproteron-containing pill, hard to speak about regulation of menstruation cycle if there is none on the pill. To sum up, synthetic hormones mess up reproductive system and their endorsement shows total disrespect to female body the way it is designed.

Expensive and dangerous choices
There is no better way than to empower woman by giving her information. Choice can be free only if it is informed. The current talk about choice is narrowed down only to contraceptives, while a choice of an alternative to contraceptives is not accepted by government and EU policies. The pressure is felt everywhere. Let us look at today’s teenager. Her menstruation has omitted now for months and gynaecologist immediately prescribes her hormonal contraceptives, no informing about some natural alternatives, perhaps just agnucaston. Girl follows fashion around her which suggests that infatuation is love and sex part of it. Logically alcoholic parents want alcohol for their child. So if the adult world is corrupted with lust, then it sees in it also the best for children. Contraceptives enable sexual promiscuity which is nowadays very common among teenagers. Being on the pill is therefore handy up to two decades when girl starts worrying about biological clock. In the meantime she is likely to acquire “virus gifts” of HPV, herpes, chlamydia, syphilis just on the skin-to-skin basis. They all together with HIV are non-curable and for years show no symptoms. Neither condom, nor hormonal contraception protects from them. Studies confirmed that HIV is present also in saliva, which may or may not inhibit HIV. At condom failure rate between 17-30% there is no doubt of infection risk even of so called safe-sex. Safe sex is another lie what even family planners admit when they say: because the methods of family planning fail (safe sex fails!) abortion shall be legalised. According to British Medical Journal up to 80% of unwanted pregnancies are due to contraceptive failure. The silly girl is likely to become infected as well as pregnant. Poor woman spends fortunes on contraceptives and now she needs STDs treatment for the rest of her life, to pay for abortion and probably later in life also for expensive and destructive IVF due to paralysed reproductive functions. In some countries all this is provided by state, actually from our taxes. And taxes go up and up so that the state may pay more products with risk to health and life of healthy women and then for repairing damage. The UK has contraceptives for free and big budget on sex-edu though the worst and permanently increasing rate of teenage pregnancies, STDs and abortion in Europe. Alarming situation is in Denmark, Sweden, and other countries. Holland pretends low abortion rate thanks to its liberal legislation. The truth is that Dutch statistics do not include mini-abortion up to two weeks since omitted menstruation, known as menstruation regulation.

Choice of thinking differently
We require so much discipline from young people in developing their talents, in sport, hygiene, diet. It is clear why proponents of profit-making contraceptives claim that teenagers are incapable of self-control. Young people when they understand meaning of love, sex and marriage, can save sex for marriage. It takes only to give them full information and right guidance. When we do not teach them to control their sexual passions, why we wonder that they can neither control anger? Rise of domestic violence just proves this point. I tell you there are millions of different age who value sex as a wedding gift. The US teens who made virginity pledges had far lower outcome in teen pregnancy, out of wedlock birth, STDs infection. American government has funded the real choice in sex education and the abstinence education has become extremely popular and effective. US studies prove that sexually active teenagers are 9 times more depressive than those abstaining, more inclined to use of alcohol, smoking, suicide and abortion. Those who shout Choice! want neither to see choice of purity education, nor allow natural family planning education. They will present and pay for studies to undermine both.

Choice of pure and natural
I was horrified when few years ago the EC communicated to a renowned Belgian development NGO total rejection of projects to teach the scientific methods of natural family planning which now also China uses. Chinese government recently trained 50 000 instructors of Billings method. The EU which is all about tolerance, openness, and cultural diversity remains so narrow-minded! Natural Family Planning methods are highly efficient, healthy, respectful, and marriage-preserving. They encourage passion, love and even generosity with accepting children whom Europe in demographic crisis needs so desperately. It enables amazing planning by both spouses, based on knowledge and respect to how our bodies function. Only 0.3% of couples on natural methods divorce compared to 70% of those on contraceptives. I advocate sex which is open to a gift of child, that means is not actively hindered. It does not mean that every sexual act will lead to procreation, definitely not when couple is infertile or woman has an infertile day. Interventions into fertility deny meaning of sex as a total gift. Infertile day is however not active intervention, but occurs passively in female body which is to be respected. I often compare contraceptive sex to bulimia. Bulimic person maximises pleasure of eating and then prevents its function when vomits the content of stomach. Similar thing happens when one maximises pleasure of sex by obscuring its reproductive function. Of course, sex has pleasurable side-affect just like eating has - without these instincts we would starve and extinct. However, bulimia is a psychological disorder to which evidently the contraceptive sex leads in marriage. You say: but there are difficult marriages and risk of violence, infection etc. which require contraceptive to protect woman. I reply that this is the worst for woman - to let her become a victim of infection or rape - yes, most rapes happen in marriage - instead of helping her marriage? NFP saves marriages and is affordable for all, even for the poor. Costs nothing once instructed.

Freedom is to choose good
New trend is now natural materials, bio or organic food, pure environment, pure water, pure wool and other products... I invite you to extend this to the area of sex and reproduction. Our bodies are not designed for synthetic hormones, neither condom. We can choose them, even if they are not good, but is it in interest of society, states, EU to advocate bad choices? Let me compare it to driving Ferrari in forests while it is designed for motorways. No wonder it will get damaged. Our bodies are infinitely more complicated than any car and we go against nature at our peril. Good choices (which are the only choices the state should be in the business of encouraging) are limited by the way we are designed. I am free to eat wood but my body is not designed for it. Choice of drug, prostitution, pornography does not increase my freedom, it enslaves me.

Abortion = poor choice = act of violence
For decades under IPPF propaganda, the European institutions founded to foster peace, unity and prosperity, have been prompted to export these weapons of destruction to women and their families worldwide. The pharmaceutical industry earns more than arm trade. European leaders must wake up to reality and reject destruction and violence. Abortion is an act of violence which kills child and this violence takes place in the woman's body. EU Institutions are to reject this violence, discrimination on the basis of age, size and genetic makeup and recognise rights of the unborn. The just resolution of the conflict of rights is in temporary limitation of privacy right as pregnancy costs woman only 9 months of comfort. Abortion costs child more - life. Women die of legal abortion, too. Finish study known as STAKES demonstrates that women after abortion are 100% more likely to die within a year than women after delivery, 4 times more likely to commit suicide and be killed.

Destruction for European tax-payers’ money
I join calls upon the EP not to fund organisations spreading violence. IPPF is the biggest abortion provider in the world (with biggest US network) and therefore lobbies for legalisation of its bloody business everywhere. IPPF is slowly shifting to act as a promotion agency of pharmaceutical industry to achieve its goals. But why shall member states or EU support f.e. NGOs promoting beer which leads to alcoholism or sweets causing obesity? They are tempting enough. Consequences expensive to cure. Instead some governments encourage fruits and vegetable 5 times a day. The role of the EU institutions is also to recommend to our citizens healthy choices, not these which give disease to healthy women and men. No way they are medications, which we or the less developed world need. Not all women use contraceptives, but equally all women need hygienic pads, which can hardly be afforded by some poor ladies. In order to improve their job opportunities, health and hygiene, why not to offer this in development aid? Having worked in Africa I can tell you what prevents death of poor pregnant women. It is not access to abortion, but to better hygiene, nutrition and professional care. Even Ireland where abortion is totally banned has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world. Malnutrition paralyses development and intelligence of child. Mothers need to be taught about healthy diet, hygiene and relationships. Often however basic medical aid is lacking, while contraceptives are abundant. Women wish more children than they have, so in Africa what WB research confirmed as in Europe what was published by EC. But primary concern of the UN, IPPF, Marie Stopes International and collaborating planners is somewhere else. In words of former UNFPA president the primary goal is to lower demographic growth. This is a materialist ideology, a new religion which encourages vices, bad habits, egoism, unhappiness, and deviations. It aims at convincing society that child is a burden and consumerism is the meaning of life.

Finally, we are to stop exporting abortion advocacy for EU taxpayers’ money. Worldwide it counts 50 mil abortions a year. The number of victims is far higher than of those who died in WW2 - 40 mil or in comparison to 100 mil crimes of communism. Today we have chance to change tragic picture of the world, where women have suffered and children died under the twisted "women's agenda".

Jana Tutková