Web: nyc-atheists.org
Press contact: 212-879-2687
Humanists Urge Openness to Lifesaving Scientific Progress
New York. Nov. 20—The Religious Right is opposing lifesaving advances in Gynecology and Obstetrics because of its “medieval” attitudes toward sex, says Dr. Ana Lita, a bioethicist and director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union-Appignani Center for Bioethics based in New York City.
Dr. Lita notes that those representing the Religious Right say they are opposed to vaccinating girls between 11 and 26 years of age with the recently developed Human Papilloma Virus vaccine, which can prevent cervical cancer. “These religious fundamentalists, who describe themselves as champions of marriage and the family, speculate that vaccinating young girls will give these girls the idea to engage in sex before marriage,” says Dr. Lita. “This obsession with virginity before marriage is a characteristic of many fundamentalist religious groups.”
She points out that in the U.S., some 10,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and about 3,700 die of the disease.
There is also opposition from the Religious Right to the use of donated or purchased human eggs to help infertile couples have children. "The Religious Right feels that people should not play god and create embryos in vitro," says Dr. Lita, who has a Ph.D. in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy. “We seculars feel that conservative religious values are being imposed on our right to a better life through scientific progress.”
Dr. Lita is also opposed, on the basis of religious traditions that are harmful to women, to the custom of female circumcision, performed in some African tribal rituals and now discovered still being done among Africans who have immigrated to the U.S. This dangerous mutilation of young girls, which often causes health problems, is also based on myths of another era, she points out.
Dr. Lita will speak to New York City Atheists, Inc. on November 30th about the secular community’s struggle to overcome the Religious Right’s obstructive attitudes about scientific gynecological advances and what her organization is doing to inform, educate and enlighten those who use myth, legends and outdated ideas to hold back progress.
WHAT: Impact of Religious Beliefs on Scientific Medical Advances, by Dr. Ana Lita,
Director of The International Humanist and Ethical Union-Appignani
Center for Bioethics.
WHEN: Thursday, November 30 at 6:30 P.M.
WHERE: Editorial Freelancers Association
71 West 23rd Street (6th Ave) – Room 1910
COST: Free. No reservations needed.
For further information, contact:
Jane Everhart, Press Officer
New York City Atheists, Inc.
212-879-2687
or
Kenneth Bronstein, President
New York City Atheists, Inc.
212-535-7425