To the Family of George Tiller, M.D.
September 25, 2009

The IPPF has a statement entitled “What We Believe”. It reads:

“We believe that sexual and reproductive rights should be internationally recognized as human rights and therefore guaranteed for everyone. We encourage individuals, women in particular, to take control of their reproductive lives. We promote equality between men and women, aiming to eliminate gender biases, especially those that threaten the wellbeing of women and girls. Above all, we promote choices.”

Around the world, approximately 14 million girls and women under 20 years of age give birth each year.[2] Many of these pregnancies are unwanted and cause serious health risks.

To speak about Pepe, as he was known to his friends, is to speak about the history of reproductive health and rights. After a distinguished career as a medical professor in his native Chile, he advanced to positions of great international influence, including director of the Special Program in Human Reproduction at the World Health Organization, in Geneva, when I first met him in the late eighties. Back then he was already a trailblazer, taking the WHO to bold new initiatives which were simply unimaginable before him.

The International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, was a watershed event that recognized that the world's most pressing challenges—poverty, ill health and environmental destruction—could be considerably eased by addressing the needs and rights of every girl and woman. In addition, the Cairo Conference confirmed each individual's right to health, education and, of course, to control her or his sexuality and reproduction.

Since George W. Bush became President of the United States in 2001, his administration has presided over what is likely the most far-reaching campaign attacking sexual and reproductive rights that has yet been seen in this country.

I’m very happy to be speaking to all of you at this important event today. Before beginning, I would like to congratulate the Inter-Institutional Group on Reproductive Health on its ten years of existence and the effective collaboration they have successfully established between the government and civil society in an area that is truly in need this kind of dialogue.

I am honored to have been invited to speak to you today. Since we will be talking about religion, I will start with a confession.  I will not follow the guidelines I received. I will talk about religion only. Culture is too broad and the main aspects of culture that affect sexuality are usually linked to religion anyway.

HIV/AIDS and gender based violence (GBV) are global emergencies with a devastating impact on women’s health. Today, more than half of the 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS are women. The feminization of the epidemic is caused not only by women’s physiological vulnerability, but also by gender inequality and social factors such as discrimination and low socio-economic status that limit women’s access to information, education, health care and treatment.

Mr. Chairman,