xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT For Week ending September 10, 1994 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, gopher.WELL.com, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, distribute and TAKE ACTION. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx OPERATION RESCUE ALUMNI ARRESTED IN CAIRO Rev. Keith Tucci, former director of Operation Rescue, was detained at a Cairo hotel after the U.N. authorities withdrew his press credentials Friday evening. He was released after being detained almost 24 hours. A member of Undersecretary of State Timothy Wirth's security detail challenged Tucci's credentials and arranged for U.N. security to have Tucci detained for a security check, witnesses said. A U.S. non-governmental organization had named Tucci in connection with acts of violence near abortion clinics in Florida. Tucci denied that he or his current group, Life Coalition International, had broken the law. Tucci was accompanied by two "journalists", Sharon Turner of True Majority and David Haddon, accredited to a publication named the SCP Journal. (source: San Jose Mercury News) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx VATICAN RELEASES ITS GRIP ON U.N. CONFERENCE The Vatican said on Friday Sept. 9, that although it rejected legal abortion it would no longer hold up a U.N. population conference over the subject. A senior Vatican delegate said the Holy See also dropped its objections to the phrase "family planning" because it was satisfied that a new text stipulated that family planning should not include abortion. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters that Martin also told the assembly that as a result the Vatican was dropping its objections to the phrase "family planning" wherever it appears in the declaration. The decision enables the U.N. conference in Cairo to leave aside abortion, which has bogged down the meeting for five days, at least until the final stages. A U.S. delegate welcomed the Vatican statement as "extremely conciliatory." (Source: Reuter) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx U.N. CONFERENCE AND ADOLESCENT SEX The International Conference on Population and Development is now tackling teen-age pregnancy, AIDS in young people and, most delicate of all, sex education and confidential reproductive-health services for adolescents all over the world. ''These are sensitive issues that have to be addressed, and they are out in a U.N. conference discussion perhaps for the first time,'' said Nafis Sadik, secretary-general of the conference, which is expected to adopt a wide-ranging plan for slowing population growth before it closes Tuesday. ''We'll have, I'm sure, a heated discussion on the how, and the how may be different for different regions,'' she said. ''Perhaps not all countries are going to accept these practices because it does not fit in with their cultures and goals.'' The Vatican and several Islamic countries have expressed fears that offering teen-agers confidential access to contraception and possibly abortion could undermine the important role that parents should play in educating their children about sex. On the other side is a large group of nations that believe that only better education can protect adolescents from the potential dangers of sex. The debate is critical for many reasons, the greatest of which is that the world is growing younger. -- One-third of the world's population is between the ages of 10 and 24, about 500 million of them teen-agers. -- Young women between 15 and 19 account for at least 5 million abortions every year -- 1 million of them in the United States. Indeed, one of every five pregnancies happens to a teen-age girl, and the increased risk to young mothers has led to the disturbing fact that pregnancy is now the leading cause of death for women under the age of 18. -- An estimated two-thirds of all people who acquire AIDS are infected by the age of 25, and one in 20 adolescents is infected with some kind of sexually transmitted disease. ''More people than ever in history will be reaching reproductive age over the next few years. This signifies that much of the work of the (conference) is ultimately directed at influencing the behavior, improving the lives and widening the choices of that critical segment of the population,'' said James Grant, executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund. The proposed U.N. plan calls for a wide variety of programs and actions aimed at discouraging teen-age pregnancy and marriage, protecting children from sexual and economic exploitation and providing them with access to education about sex and reproductive health. In its most controversial section, the plan urges countries to remove barriers -- legal, regulatory and social -- to information about sex. ''Services for adolescents must safeguard their rights to privacy, confidentiality, informed consent and respect,'' the section reads. (source: Los Angeles Times) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The official (and unofficial) documents from the Cairo Conference are available via gopher at: gopher://gopher.undp.org:/70/11/ungophers/popin/icpd/egypt and gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom News, Voters for Choice, Culture Watch, Political Woman, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, C-Span, CNN, Reuters, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, Administrative Director, CARAL-North email: dtv@well.com .