KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — Sitting in her office in Kabul, Abass Rashidi, the director of the Afghan Family Planning Association (AFPA), has had little to do these past few years. Afghan women, burkas or no, value motherhood and children too much. But
with the help of Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), the local affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)(1) has begun to push for abortion and other "family planning" services inside Afghanistan.
Already, AFPA is working hand-in-glove with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in refugee camps in Quetta and Peshawar, Pakistan, promoting abortion under the guise of "saving women’s lives." While it is true that maternal mortality rates among Afghan women are among the highest in the world – an estimated 20 women out of 1,000 die in childbirth – the solution is not abortion, but basic aid and adequate pre- and postnatal health care.