ABSTRACT
The statistics concerning the reality of women in Latin America demonstrate the interconnection between poverty, the lack of reproductive choices and mortality. The Catholic Church in Latin America is the main social and political institution shaping population policies and values around family, sexuality and women. The stereotypical image of poor women as the passive victims of religious indoctrination is one of the most common. Liberation Theology has always been an ecumenical endeavour, even when the base communities were principally a Catholic phenomenon. By and large, Liberation Theology has not been able to create alliances with new social movements, such as the feminist movement, the gay and lesbian movements the indigenous people's movements, the black movement and the ecological movement. According to the Pan-American Health Organization, relatively little progress has been made in recent years in the reduction of maternal mortality in Latin America, in comparison with reductions in mortality from other causes.
