Red Cross promoting abortion as a human right? Shame on WHO

By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D. | December 7, 2011

The latest report on maternal health from the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) will leave some readers thinking IFRC endorses abortion as a human right. That’s because it quotes, in a section on human rights (p.23), a highly controversial report from a UN staff saying all nations must legalize abortion because of women’s right to health.

The American Red Cross told me they would not comment on their international affiliate’s position, so I spoke with the IFRC’s external relations manager. She said the organization “definitely” did not consider abortion a human right. That was a great relief. But today I received an explanation from the manager of IFRC’s community health unit which was supposed to explain why IFRC would include such a controversial passage.

IFRC’s logic goes like this:

1. The World Health Organization says 13% maternal deaths are caused by “unsafe” abortion;
2. UN Millennium Development Goal 5 aims at reducing maternal mortality;
3. “Illegal/unsafe abortion” [direct quote] should be reduced in order to meet MDG5.

This last piece of logic is especially troubling since it equates “unsafe” abortion with illegal abortion. So I asked whether this is an official IFRC position and will post the answer when it arrives. In the mean time, this episode is evidence of just how damaging WHO’s two-faced position on abortion really is.

While WHO staff freely publish scholarly articles asserting abortion is a human right, they do so with fine-print disclaimers saying it is not an offical WHO position.

What is a WHO position is:
–Promotion (in worldwide practice and training of abortionists) of “safe” abortion as part of reproductive health;
–Promotion of reproductive health as a right (and as part of its organizational rights-based approach);
–Equating of “unsafe” abortion to illegal abortion.

All this, and yet WHO officials tell us that WHO does not have an official position on the matter of abortion as a human right. No wonder IFRC is confused.

With countless health organizations referring to WHO on the matter, and with the reputation of a highly respected organization like the Red Cross in the balance, it is only fair and it is high time that WHO executive director Chan clarifies WHO’s position for the record.

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