Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

Conclusionbetween population control groups, pharmaceutical andmedical researchers, and women’s groups—all of whom havecoalesced to support the development and distribution ofthe abortifacient, especially in the United States. This recentco-operation between population policy and planning groupsand feminists sparked a heated and acrimonious debate atthe 6th International Women and Health Meeting, held inthe Philippines in November 1990. Many women,particularly those from developing countries, question thiscollaboration as not in women’s health and political interests.‘I fear that we are just going to share in a power which usesour speeches, but does not change the practices and the realitywhich that power imposes, and which, coincidentally, arewhat we started out fighting against, from the standpoint ofreprodu ctive rights’ (de la Fuente, 1989:3).One of the historical legacies of the women’s healthmovement of the 60s and 70s was the de-medicalization of awide range of health practices. The emphasis was put ontechniques/technology which reduced the need for medicalsupervision. Self-help was not merely a slogan but wastranslated into examining one’s own cervix, developingmenstrual extraction methods, and treating yeast infections,to name but a few of the procedures. Obviously, self-helpwas not enough when confronted with the fact that manywomen have no access to self-help education and dependupon institutionalized medicine. But the feminist critiqueknew the difference between a procedure which gave womenreal control of their bodies and a chemical cocktail attendedby all the accoutrements of extensive medical-technicalintervention.Abortion is one of the simplest of presently medicalizedgynecological procedures, requiring less expertise, training,and skill than attending births. Trained paramedics in thirdworld countries perform abortions safely and competently.Why then cannot trained lay women do abortions in westernnon-medical contexts? Rather than advocating for one more117