Today at Riga Stradiņš University First Lady of Latvia Mrs Andra Levite addressed health care specialists at the opening of the international conference “Fertility Control into the Hands of Women”, noting that pregnancy and motherhood should be desirable, welcomed events—not something that is feared and imposed by society or unfavourable circumstances.
“No young girl should have to start their life as an adult with an abortion,” Andra Levite said at the conference, calling for an increased emphasis on prevention rather than the management of undesired consequences. “Sadly, in school curricula, learning about the body’s structures and functions—arguably one of the most important subjects with regard to young people—is often forgotten,” Andra Levite went on, adding that as a doctor, she is regularly in contact with teenagers, listening to their questions and misconceptions.
She noted that the demographic problem that unsettles most of the European and Western world will not be solved by forbidding abortions: “Rather, forbidden abortions will lead to illegal, medically unqualified abortions, resulting in entirely avoidable deaths and casualties of young women.”
