Top ulema endorses surgery for birth control<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's senior ulema Ali Yafie says he will
\nendorse vasectomies and other surgical practices as legitimate
\nforms of birth control, not that most have been made consistent
\nwith Islam through new technological developments.<\/p>\n
Yafie, the deputy chairman of the influential Indonesian
\nCouncil of Ulemas, said in a seminar on Saturday that advances in
\nmedicine mean that couples using surgery as a means of birth
\ncontrol can still conceive a child later if they change their
\nminds.<\/p>\n
This, he explained, removed the chief objection raised by
\nulemas that sterilization is permanent. He was speaking at a
\nseminar organized by the Indonesian Association for Secure
\nContraception.<\/p>\n
The National Family Planning Board announced last month that
\nthe government is preparing a new campaign to promote surgery as
\na form of birth control, because it is now considered to be the
\nmost effective of all the alternatives.<\/p>\n
The board said the first aim is to convince ulemas of the
\nmerits of surgery, before launching the campaign nationwide.<\/p>\n
Currently, the pill is still the most popular form of
\ncontraception, used by 31.4 percent of the 22.83 million fertile
\ncouples practicing family planning in Indonesia, according to an
\nofficial survey in March 1995. Less popular, but still common,
\nforms are IUDs, implants and surgery, which is the least popular
\nmethod.<\/p>\n
Procedure<\/p>\n
\"Modern technology has made it possible to conduct a
\n(corrective) procedure, allowing couples to have children again
\nin the future if they want to,\" Yafie said.<\/p>\n
Islam requires contraceptives that do not affect the condition
\nof the users, nor their sexual activities, he said.<\/p>\n
PKMI chairman Djoko Rahardjo, who is also a vasectomy expert,
\nsaid a greater number of women are accepting surgery than men. He
\ncited national statistics between April and July that showed
\n26,491 birth control operations were carried out on women,
\nagainst only 3,672 on men.<\/p>\n
Djoko said men are reluctant to have a vasectomy largely due
\nto ignorance but also because, compared to women, they are less
\nopen with their doctors.<\/p>\n
\"Women consult doctors more often than their husbands do
\nbecause they see them when they are sick, and also when they take
\ntheir children in. Men only go when they're sick,\" Djoko said.<\/p>\n
\"Men think vasectomies will make them lose their 'virility'
\nand many still associate a vasectomy with impotence,\" he said,
\nadding that this was totally unfounded because impotence is
\nlargely caused by psychological factors.<\/p>\n
Vasectomy, he said, \"is just a minor surgical procedure\".<\/p>\n
Citing one survey, Djoko reported that of those who had had a
\nvasectomy, 73 percent said their sex life had not been altered,
\n25 percent said it had heightened their sexual activities and two
\npercent said it had led to less sex.<\/p>\n
\"Many couples became more sexually active after surgery
\nbecause they felt they no longer had a burden or fear of
\nconceiving a child,\" he said, adding that the two percent who
\nclaimed that vasectomy had adversely affected their sex life were
\nelderly.<\/p>\n
He said surgery as a means of birth control has not been
\npopular in Indonesia because of opposition from religious leaders
\nand because it was not promoted by the government. (31)<\/p>",
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