Biden Administration Repudiates Unalienable Human Rights, Elevates Sexual Rights Instead

By | April 15, 2021

WASHINGTON D.C., April 16 (C-Fam) U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made two recent moves that will raise alarms among pro-lifers and other conservatives.

First, he “repudiated” the work of the U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights, founded by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and chaired by Harvard Professor Mary Ann Glendon.

At the same time, Blinken promised to elevate “sexual and reproductive rights” in the annual human rights report issued by the State Department. This is also a reversal from the Trump administration that removed abortion from the annual report because abortion is not recognized as a human right.

The moves drew praise from abortion groups and criticism from conservatives.

“Women’s rights – including sexual and reproductive rights – are human rights,” Blinken said, as if to shut down any further debate about the legitimacy of abortion and LGBT issues.

The new focus of the Biden administration on “sexual and reproductive rights”—a term used by the global abortion industry and the LGBT lobby internationally—promises to be broader in scope than the approach to “reproductive rights” under the Obama administration.

Traditionally, reproductive rights were understood to refer to the prevention of coercion in family planning and access to maternal and child health. The new emphasis on “sexual rights” signals the intention of the Biden administration to elevate controversial social policies, including abortion, LGBT issues, and sexual autonomy for children as human rights. And it is consistent with the positions taken by the Biden administration at the United Nations alongside the European Union.

Blinken promised to add a focus on these issues in future years and to publish an addendum on sexual and reproductive rights to the 2020 human rights report later this year.

Blinken chided the Trump administration for seeking to prioritize unalienable civil and political rights that are in line with the U.S. Constitution over social and economic rights, saying there was no “hierarchy” of human rights.

“All people are entitled to these rights, no matter where they’re born, what they believe, whom they love, or any other characteristic,” Blinken emphasized.

He did not call the commission by its proper name. He derogatorily dismissed it as “a recently disbanded State Department advisory committee.” He described the work of the commission as “unbalanced.” And he downplayed the work of the commission as mere “statements” without referring to the landmark report of the commission.

The lobbying arm of the global abortion industry in Washington D.C., a group called CHANGE, praised Blinken’s remarks and launched a social media campaign to support him.

Conservatives expressed confusion and disapproval.

At the Council on Foreign Relations, former Bush and Trump White House advisor Elliot Abrams called Blinken’s characterizations of the U.S. Commission on Unalienable Rights “unfair” and “unworthy of the State Department and the Secretary.” He accused Blinken of bowing to political pressure and questioned whether Blinken had even read the report of the commission.

Members of the “disbanded” commission defended their work. Peter Berkowitz at RealClear Politics and Russell A. Berman at the National Interest accused Blinken of politicizing human rights.

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