“All the deaths occur during the last three months of pregnancy, during labor and delivery, and one week after—so what on earth is a birth control pill or a condom going to do?”
Stressing the urgency of the issue, Walley explained that maternal mortality is “the number one health problem among women of the child bearing age in the world.” A close second is the devastating and socially ostracizing condition of fistulas, which can occur during birth and only be fixed by an operation.
Walley said that in the West, only around 1 in 10,000 women are at risk of death during childbirth, “but in parts of Africa it's 1 in 7.” To ignore the problem or to obstruct others in their attempt to solve it “is a form of violence to women.”
In response, MaterCare International has called for a new “Marshall Plan” for mothers that would see increased investment in health care for mothers and unborn babies in the developing world. The original Marshall Plan saw billions of U.S. dollars used to rebuild Western Europe after the Second World War, in order to combat the “tyranny” of communism, Walley said.
“What we now need—because we've got a tyranny of the culture of death and we're the only ones who are opposing it—is a Marshall Plan for mothers.”
“Motherhood should be of profound significance to us as a Church,” he emphasized. Not only did “Our Lady, Mary, Mother of God, say 'yes'” but “none of us would be here if we didn't have a mother.”
The Marshall Plan for mothers has already received backing by leaders such as Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who gave his support for the effort at a global conference of Catholic health care professionals in Rome Sept. 2.
Rep. Smith argued that abortion advocates are willing to kill off faith-based health care in the developing world, despite the fact that such agencies provide up to 70 percent of all health provision in many of these countries.
Marianne is a journalist with a background in writing and Catholic theology. When not elaborating on the cinematic arts, she enjoys spending time with people, reading thick books and traveling anywhere and everywhere.