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Aug 29, 2011 News
-as Medical Termination of Pregnancy Board spreads awareness in Berbice
By Leon Suseran
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Advisory Board (MTPAB) met with key stakeholders including women, healthcare workers and Region Five officials on Thursday to disseminate information relating to the termination of pregnancies and sexual matters. The meeting was held in the Boardroom of the Region Five Administration at Fort Wellington, West Berbice and saw the attendance of Secretary of MTPAB, Ms Pamela Nauth and Chairman of the Region Five Sub- Committee on the MTPAB, Tameshwar Persaud.
The MTPAB was formed in 1996, after the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill was passed in the National Assembly in June 1995; a Bill that was highly debated.
Its main function is to sensitize and create awareness and disseminate information on the Act. The Board is still without a head since its former Chairman, Frederick Cox, is now deceased.
It reports directly to the Minister of Health on matters regarding abortion. Sub- committees were established across Guyana in all regions (except Region 8). “If a woman so chooses to get an abortion, she can get one done in a legal and safe manner, provided by someone who is authorized and licensed,” an official of the board said.
Ms Nauth stated that numerous reports have been emanating out of Region Five about under-aged girls, as young as 11, having sex and becoming pregnant, thus creating a negative impact on the society.
“It might be that there are other regions that these things are happening, but a lot of times it is not being highlighted or reported,” she noted.
The Board, she said, does not promote abortion, but “we think that women must have choices…She has the right to choose what she wants to do to her body.”
Statistics have shown that “a lot of married women are terminating [pregnancies] more than the young girls, for whatever reasons,” Nauth noted.
“We talk about it; we let them know it is legal and some of the places they can go if they happen to want to use that [abortion].”
Another objective of the Board is to promote family planning methods such as the male and female condoms, injectibles and emergency contraceptives (Plan B).
Nauth explained that young girls are at a disadvantage in society when they get themselves involved in illicit sexual activities with boys. “Their freedom is being taken away; they cannot go to school. The boy may continue his education, but then what happens to the young girl? She doesn’t have that advantage to progress because culturally, traditionally, our value system does not allow for this,” she posited.
The MTPAB Secretary urged the gathering to educate and inform the young girls about the safety messages about HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy.
When a young girl becomes pregnant, she said, her freedom to make certain decisions is curtailed and her education is in jeopardy. “She has to think about marriage or a ‘hurry-up marriage’, and a lot of times we are seeing this in the East Indian families or Hindu families. The girl gets pregnant and they marry them off. There were numerous cases in Region Two where the men were older, much older [than the girl].”
Nauth noted that a lot of women have made a lot of poor choices in life because they have not been sensitized about the options available to them after they become pregnant, such as free contraceptives from the health centres across Guyana. “Go to the health centres, something must work for you,” she said.
Women who are sexually active but do not wish to get pregnant must listen to the facts and not anecdotal information from the communities and areas in which they live, she noted. Nauth also stated that women should explore the option of using ‘Plan B’ also referred to as the Morning -after Pill. “If you know you had unprotected sex, and the night before when you were having sex, you had butterflies in your stomach, you felt good but then next day you wake up and reality hit you, and you said ‘I made a mistake’, there are steps and measures,” she noted.
That pill can be used within a 72-hours timeframe after sex and “that’s there for women who have regrets and they come to their senses the day after or two days after.” She urged women not to abuse emergency contraceptive medication since it is not as effective as a regular contraceptive. “It’s not to be abused. It’s there to protect you in a rare circumstance.”
The female condom, she said, is also effective and dispelled notions many men and women have about it. “We have heard many stories that it’s squeaky, it makes too much noise; the man tells you it’s too ugly.” “I strongly believe both sexes play an important role in family planning. A pregnancy is not an accident. It’s something that you discuss seriously,” she said.
She noted that even though sex makes us feel good, it has consequences which many persons do not think about regularly.
“We just think about the good feeling, and after that good feeling, which is very rare-you get a high for less than a minute-and then what happens…it’s a lifetime decision you have to live with.” She urged young girls to take control of their sexual desires and be responsible and also urged males to use the condom; even though some men say it is not ‘one size fits all’.
She urged men to take greater responsibilities of their sexual organs as well, which can result in “more productive citizens and a more healthy society because we won’t have more young girls becoming pregnant”.
Nauth lauded the Health and Family Life Programme in all the schools, which she said can reinforce the messages the MTPAB is trying to disseminate. She also praised the media and emphasized how integral a role it plays in getting across the messages to young people.
She believes that the Board has been fulfilling its mandate over the past years because statistically, there has been “a decline or a decrease in the termination of pregnancy throughout the regions.”
During the session, numerous social problems of Region Five were brought to the fore, such as alcoholism, domestic violence and peer pressure. Present at the forum was member of the Region Five MTPAB and wife of the Regional Chairman, Mrs Sandra Baldeo, who voiced her concerns about what is happening to the social fabric of her region. She urged the government not only to build schools and roads and hospitals but also to save Region Five from those societal ills of young girls becoming pregnant, among others. “What is the Region doing for the welfare of the people?” she asked.
Also present at the gathering were Education Officer, Chitrekha Rampersaud and Regional Health Officer of Region Five, Ms Sri Devi Jagjit.
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What does it take to make a man wear condom? I don’t know but I am sure girls got the power.
They dont want to use contraceptives but yet when the children come and they crying how it hard to mind them. Steeups. Yet they find money to go to all the Movado and other concerts every month.
The Board, [Ms Pamela Nauth] said, DOES NOT PROMOTE ABORTION, but “we think that women must have choices…She has the right to choose what she wants to do to her body.”
Nauth also stated that women should explore the option of using ‘Plan B’ also referred to as the Morning -after Pill…That pill can be used within a 72-hours timeframe after sex and “that’s there for women who have regrets and they come to their senses the day after or two days after.” AND THIS IS PROMOTING WHAT EXACTLY?