Letter Revealed Announcing U.S. Withdrawal from Pro-Life Declaration
NEW YORK, April 30 (C-Fam) The Biden administration sent a letter to UN ambassadors announcing U.S. withdrawal from an historic pro-life declaration initiated by the Trump administration and co-sponsored by countries representing regions all over the world.
In the letter obtained by the Friday Fax, the Biden administration said it “has the honor to inform that the United States has rescinded its co-sponsorship and endorsement of the Geneva Consensus Declaration.” It was sent to the declaration’s 34 signatories ahead of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
“Last fall your country signed on to the Geneva Consensus Declaration, an initiative of the United States dealing with women’s health, abortion and the family.”
“Upon reviewing the Declaration, we have reservations that aspects of the document are not consistent with our current Administration’s policies, including those relating to women’s health, LGBTQI equality, and gender equality.”
“Accordingly, the United States hereby discontinues our participation in the Geneva Consensus Declaration.”
The letter cites the presidential memorandum signed by President Biden on January 28, 2021 that directed the Secretaries of State and Health and Human Services to “withdraw co-sponsorship and signature from the Geneva Consensus Declaration” and “notify other co-sponsors and signatories to the Declaration and other appropriate parties of the United States’ withdrawal.”
This same executive action dubbed the “Memorandum on Protecting Women’s Health at Home and Abroad” restored U.S. taxpayer funding to international abortion groups and multilateral agencies that promote abortion. President Biden announced funding would be restored to the UN Population Fund, rescinded the Mexico City Policy and committed to adequately fund “women’s health needs globally, including sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights.” U.S. law still prohibits the direct funding of abortion overseas.
Despite the U.S. letter and the pro-abortion positions taken by U.S. negotiators during the Commission 4-week debate —more conservative countries, including signatories of the Declaration rejected the sexual rights agenda promoted by the U.S and European Union under the guise of women’s equality and empowerment.
The Geneva Consensus Declaration was officially launched in October of 2020 in Washington DC at a Department of State event with Secretary Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar presiding. Ministers from around the world committed to the expansion of women’s health, the protection of life, the family, and the sovereign right of nations to legislate on these issues.
The Declaration states that there is no international right to abortion.
“The Biden Administration’s swift withdrawal of the U.S. from the Geneva Consensus Declaration confirms that the Biden Abortion Doctrine is of preeminent importance in its foreign policy, wrongly using the influence of the federal government as an advocacy arm for special interests,” special advisor on Global Women’s Health under the Trump administration, Valerie Huber told the Friday Fax
Huber who was the architect of the Declaration working under Secretary Azar said “the Geneva Consensus Declaration remains,” and the “historic strength of this united voice in support of women’s health, life, and family reverberates around the globe and in the halls of the United Nations.”
Last December U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft submitted the Declaration to Secretary-General António Guterres asking that it be a formal record of the UN and be circulated to all 193 Member States. None of the 34 other signatories have withdrawn their support from the declaration.
View online at: https://c-fam.org/friday_fax/letter-revealed-announcing-u-s-withdrawal-from-pro-life-declaration/
© 2024 C-Fam (Center for Family & Human Rights).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
www.c-fam.org