Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSiteNews.com

BOLIVIA, April 2, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Supporters of contraception and population control are deeply concerned that indigenous people in Bolivia are aware that using the birth control pill causes cancer and other diseases.

According to the Bolivian newspaper La Razon, "among the inhabitants of the high plains there exists the belief that contraceptive methods, with the exception of the condom and the rhythm [method], cause cancer and other illnesses in those who use them."

The newspaper says that it did a "tour" of various communities situated on the road to Oruro, asking the people what they believed about birth control, and claims they know "very little."

However, numerous scientific studies published in peer-reviewed journals have shown a statistical link between the use of the pill and various diseases, including breast cancer, cervical cancer, bladder cancer, heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, hardening of the arteries, suppressed sex drive, and sterility.

The La Paz representative of the abortionist and pro-contraceptive organization Marie Stopes International, Patricia Suaznabar, reportedly claims that the beliefs of the Bolivian indigenous are "myths" that she says are spread by "religious groups."

La Razon says that Suaznabar told them that "ignorance about sex education topics and contraceptive methods create myths fomented by machismo," in the words of the newspaper. "Added to this is the position of some religious groups that see contraceptive methods as something bad and indicate that they are abortifacient or that they have very negative secondary effects," she said.

However, scientists and physicians openly acknowledge that one of the mechanisms of the contraceptive pill is to prevent implantation of the zygote in the wall of the uterus, thereby destroying a newly-conceived human life.

Several indigenous people interviewed by La Razon indicated they were using Natural Family Planning (NFP), although the newspaper erroneously referred to it as the "rhythm method," an outdated system no longer in use. NFP is approved by the Catholic Church as a natural way of avoiding pregnancy by avoiding sexual intercourse at certain times of the month.

Adolfo Castañeda of Human Life International commented to LifeSiteNews that, "The supposed ‘ignorance’ of the indigenous people shows the actual ignorance of those who call them ‘ignorant,’ who not only do not know the facts about hormonal contraceptives but not even about NFP as they reduce it to the rhythm method."