Do Pro-Lifers Commit Crimes Against Humanity?

By | October 17, 2024

NEW YORK, October 18 (C-Fam) A new treaty on crimes against humanity is proving more controversial than expected, as it hit roadblocks in the General Assembly. The treaty could make denial of abortion a crime against humanity and expand the international crime of “gender persecution” to cover advocacy, laws and policies that protect man-woman marriage and deny transgender policies.

The draft of the treaty enshrines an open definition of “gender” as a social construct that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. This opens the possibility of new crimes against humanity based on opposition to liberal policies regarding “sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The Holy See expressed its concern with the omission of the biological definition of gender that has been the definition in international law since the creation of the International Criminal Court. “Neither State practice nor opinio iuris supports a definition of gender different from that found in the Rome Statute.” The Holy See delegate also warned that “lack of a clear definition of gender rooted in the biological reality of the two sexes would undermine our efforts to prevent and prosecute those crimes that disproportionately affect women, such as rape, sexual slavery and forced prostitution.” The Holy See also objected to attempts to change the definition of “forced pregnancy” to include denial of abortion.

UN agencies have been transparent in promoting sexual orientation and gender identity as a protected class internationally, including by threatening to treat pro-family lobbying and political activity in opposition of homosexual/transgender policies as a crime against humanity.

According to a 2022 Policy on Gender Persecution of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, gender persecution can broadly include any “severe deprivation of fundamental rights on their own or when considered cumulatively.” Such deprivations may take place both through violence or through any “regulations that can impact persons in every aspect of life.” This includes “their reproductive and family options, who they can marry, whether they can attend school, where they can work, how they can dress and whether they are simply allowed to exist.”

Western delegations and UN agencies have also been open about their intention to promote “denial of abortion” as a new crime against humanity. According to a recent UN Women report, prepared together with the pro-abortion group Global Justice Center, denial of abortion is a form of “reproductive violence” and “gender persecution” that can rise to the level of a crime against humanity.

The controversy regarding social issues was added to the treaty when the International Law Commission unilaterally decided to remove a definition of “gender” as referring solely to men and women according to their biological sex. That definition, which is still currently part of international criminal law through the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, is on the chopping block if future negotiations are based on the new draft treaty.

The draft treaty has been stuck in the General Assembly since 2019, when it was first prepared by the International Law Commission. Progressive Western countries threatened to steamroll over objections to move forward to a final stage of negotiations this week. African, Arab and Asian, including India, China, the Russian Federation, and the entire Arab Group insisted that the General Assembly should take more time in order to reach a decision unanimously, as is the custom when it comes to new binding international treaties.

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