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Volume 14,
Number 21 |
Also in
this section:  Perverts unwelcome Churches lead march against sexual and reproductive health law article by Eric Jackson, photos by the Red Pro Justicia A coalition of groups initiated by the Catholic Church but including Evangelicals and other Protestant denominations took to the streets on October 25 to oppose the Torrijos administration's proposed Law 442, a wide-reaching measure designed to promote sexual and reproductive health. The government and many opposition figures support the law, which includes provisions for instruction about sexual matters in the public schools, among other reasons because more than two-thirds of the babies born in Panama are delivered by teenage mothers and because Panama has a high rate of HIV infections, not only in the urban areas but also in the country's poorest region, the Ngobe-Bugle Comarca. In addition to the lightning rod sex education provisions, Law 442 would also promote the use of condoms to limit the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and regulate the practice of sterilization. The proposal
tacitly acknowledges that adolescents are likely to be sexually active
and would have the schools teach kids that they must resist pressures
and make informed and autonomous decisions about their sex lives. To
the Catholic hierarchy and many other denominations this undermines the
authority of parents and thus the institution of the family.
The argument over the proposal has highlighted fissures among Panamanian Catholics. The founder of the old church-aligned Christian Democratic Party (now the Partido Popular), Ricardo Arias Calderón, and his wife, former legislator Teresita Yaniz de Arias, are outspoken defenders of the proposed law. So are many of Panama's Liberation Theology Catholics. Raul Leis, one of Panama's leading intellectuals and a professor at the nation's Catholic university USMA, also supports the proposal. Law 442 opponent Silvio Guerra, an attorney, argues that the proposal could be interpreted to legalize abortion. Abortion is a crime in Panama and the proposal does not mention the practice. A series of radio commercials of mysterious provenance alleged that the proposal would legalize abortion, which elicited a warning from Attorney General Ana Matilde Gómez that the broadcasting of anonymous misrepresentations of a proposal before the National Assembly is illegal. The issue of
homosexuality has been brought into the argument, with opponents
alleging that sex education in the schools would include discussion of
homosexuality without its forthright condemnation. Gay rights
activists, on the other hand, have long criticized the Catholic
Church's de facto veto power over sex education in the public schools.
A compromise that allows sex education in the schools but gives the Catholic hierarchy veto power over its content probably isn't viable, given both the split among Catholics and differences between Catholic and Protestant attitudes about birth control. Meanwhile, there are splits among non-religious and anti-religious people about the proposal. The Nurses Association is strongly for it, while doctors' organizations are divided. Panameñista presidential candidate Juan Carlos Varela is against the proposal, but he is unable to unite his own party, which prides itself in having led and won the battle for women's suffrage in the 1940s and has a feminist current within it, on this issue. Then there are people on the left side of the political spectrum who are for strictly secular government, but on the other hand point out the complicated personal lives of PRD founder General Omar Torrijos and many of the party's current leading lights and argue that the ruling party is in no position to teach youngsters or anyone else about healthy sexuality. One of the arguments raised against the proposal takes on a nationalist hue. Law 442 is by and large in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization, a United Nations agency. Thus it is claimed that an international organization is attempting to override the national culture of Panama, some 80 percent of whose citizens are Catholic. In the face of opposition that cuts across the government / opposition divide in the National Assembly, the proposed law has been referred to a special subcommittee.          Also in
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