Family planning still proses problem

Family planning still proses problem

JAKARTA (JP): The family planning (KB) program in Indonesia
has long been perceived as a birth control measure, but ignores
the reproductive health of women, who are the backbone of the
nationwide movement.

Speaking at a seminar on family planning, State Minister of
the Empowerment of Women and chief of the National Family
Planning Board Khofifah Indar Parawansa hailed the success of the
program in significantly reducing the growth rate to 2.79
children per family from 5.6 since its inception 30 years ago.

"Ironically, the program lacks attention to the reproductive
health of women, resulting in a towering maternal mortality rate
and abortion cases," said Khofifah, who is expecting her fourth
child in October.

According to the Ministry of Health's Director General of
Community Health, Azrul Azwar, the maternal mortality rate in
Indonesia had reached 373 women per 100,000 births, topping the
list among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN).

"Another problem is abortion. There are about 2.3 million
abortions performed each year in Indonesia," said Azrul, who also
spoke at the seminar.

He said most of the abortions were unsafe, resulting in a
death rate of between 35 percent and 50 percent.

Abortion is generally illegal in the country, but article 15
of Health Law No. 23/1992 stipulates that "a certain medical
measure", which could mean abortion, can be performed in an
emergency situation to save the life of a woman and/or her fetus.

That emergency medical act, however, must be approved by a
team of health experts, performed by authorized specialists and
use medical facilities which are approved by the mother or her
family.

"But what about cases of incest, rape or contraceptive
failure? We should consider that," Azrul said.

A team at the Ministry of Health was now working on a proposal
to "legalize" abortion, he said.

"But it's not exactly legalization, we don't encourage
abortion at all. It means that we have to provide safe abortion,"
Azrul said, adding that an abortion procedure costs up to Rp 3
million (US$375).

When asked if the proposal would go against religious values,
Azrul said that even in Islamic countries like Tunisia and Turkey
abortion was justified under certain conditions.

"Malaysia also allows abortion in case of incest and rape," he
said. In countries that legalize abortion like the Netherlands,
there is almost a zero case of death due to good quality service,
monitoring and supervision, he added. (09)