G7 Embraces Abortion Language in Communiques as U.S. Reverses Position

By and Alexis I. Fragosa, Esq. | June 10, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 11 (C-Fam) The pro-abortion Biden administration reversed its predecessor’s policy last week during the annual G7 meetings and affirmed the inclusion of “sexual and reproductive health” in a document about global health priorities.

Health ministers from all seven of the largest economies in the world, including the U.S., affirmed their commitment to “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” a formulation that has never been adopted by the UN General Assembly.

Despite pressure from other G7 members, the Trump administration had maintained an unwavering pro-life position in the G7 and successfully blocked the inclusion of “sexual and reproductive health” in G7 documents – a term that has become synonymous with abortion in international negotiations.

The U.S.’s new position on the inclusion of this controversial language is not surprising given the Biden administration’s pro-abortion policy and the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Xavier Becerra as head of the US Department of Health and Human Services, an unapologetic defender of abortion.  Becerra represented the U.S. at the G7 health ministers’ meeting.

Although the G7 communiques are non-binding agreements between the members, they express the members’ shared goals to be promoted at the UN.  For this reason, critics claim that the Biden administration intends to promote abortion abroad, with the cooperation of the other G7 nations.  Nevertheless, abortion continues to be hotly debated in the U.S. with the Supreme Court once again taking up a case examining its constitutionality.

In addition, the U.S., represented by Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, signed onto the G7 Foreign Development Ministers’ Communique that affirmed “universal access to . . . comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, including comprehensive sexuality education.”

The pro-abortion positions of these communiques passed largely unnoticed by the media, which had previously spent four years raising alarm about the Trump administration’s pro-life position at the G7 meetings, even leading to calls for the U.S.’s removal from the G7 by abortion proponents.

The comparative media silence with regard to the U.S.’s policy U-turn illustrates the degree to which the remaining G7 members are in full alignment with the Biden administration’s position—a stance shared by many of the wealthiest nations in the world.  As demonstrated by former president Trump, the U.S. when led by a pro-life administration can block consensus on abortion at the G7.  Nevertheless, it faces an uphill battle among its G7 peers, the mainstream media, and a significant portion of the federal employees charged with carrying out its policies.

The memory of Trump’s policies remains sharp for abortion advocates, who unfavorably compared the U.K.’s recent broad foreign aid cuts—including to sexual and reproductive health programs—to Trump’s pro-life funding restrictions.

In another reversal of the Trump administration’s withdrawal of U.S. funds from the World Health Organization (WHO), the G7 health ministers, including U.S. Representative Xavier Becerra, affirmed the “central role of WHO for preparedness and response to health emergencies” and stressed the need for an “appropriately, sustainably and predictably funded WHO to enable it to fulfill its vital role.”

Going forward, the Communique proposed the development of “a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response.”  During the ongoing pandemic, the WHO has used its position as a world health leader to call for abortion to be prioritized as essential.

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