Six Problems with “Women Deliver:” Why the UN Should Not Change MDG 5

By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D | November 5, 2007

UN agencies and members of the UN Secretariat partnered in a conference promoting, among other things, abortion rights as the only way to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, improving maternal health. The conference, called “Women Deliver,” was held in London from 18 – 20 October 2007. The radically new approach is gravely flawed for many reasons. This paper addresses the six primary problems with the controversial approach promoted at the conference, herein termed the “abortion first” approach.