Catholic hospitals in Kerala recanalise sterilized women
(Aug.04,2009): The Church in southern India’s Kerala State is worried about the anti-birth
campaign run by the government and about the decrease in the Catholic population.
The State wants to penalise those who have more than two children with fines, exclusion
from schools and medical cure. The Bishops in Kerala will extend support to women
who want to undergo reversal of tubectomy or recanalisation., said Fr Jose Kottayil,
secretary to Kerala Catholic Bishops Conference (KCBC) Commission for Family. He
added that they want to bring down the cost from Rs 40.000 to Rs 10.000 in church-run
hospitals. The same population is repeatedly targeted by the State - the poorest,
the minorities, the Muslims and Christians. The possibility of reversing the sterilization,
offered by KCBC, is one of the methods which the Keralite church wants to use, to
encourage Christian families to have more children. In the last 50 years, the Keralite
Catholic population has decreased from 24% to 19% .