New UNICEF/WHO Manual for Refugees Promotes Abortion for Adolescents

By Austin Ruse

     (NEW YORK – C-FAM)  The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have released a reproductive health manual for field workers in refugee situations that was held for more than two years because of its controversial topic. Critics charge that "Reproductive Health in Refugee Situations: An Interagency Field Manual" overtly promotes abortion.

     The new manual "is riddled with misrepresentations, euphemisms, and logical inconsistencies," according to Australian Rita Joseph, an expert on UN documents who served on her government's delegation to last year's UN population conference. Joseph believes "the most serious flaws occur in regard to the manual's promotion of spurious new reproductive health rights that include a right to access the deceptively named 'emergency contraception' and a right for children to access reproductive and sexual health services without parental consent."

     One of the manual's guiding principles is that "all interventions must be safe" and that "scientifically validated knowledge should be shared to promote free and informed consent." Manual users are referred to a 1998 WHO-produced "Emergency Contraception: A Guide for Service Delivery" that claims "repeated use (of emergency contraception) poses no health risks." The guide then warns of "nausea and vomiting" and the increased risk of "ectopic pregnancy."

     The WHO guide also claims "the mechanism of action of emergency contraceptive pills has not been clearly established" but goes on to assert they do not cause abortion. WHO and now this manual have tried to establish that pregnancy does not begin until the newly conceived child is implanted in her mother's womb. This assertion has been rejected by medical doctors and by recent UN conferences. Critics believe the use of "emergency contraception" also violates the "Cairo prohibition" against the use of abortion as a method of family planning.

     Reproductive "rights" for children will be seen as the most controversial part of this new manual. While the manual takes into consideration "religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds of the refugees," it also states that "patients access to services should not be contingent on social or cultural backgrounds nor on age…sexual orientation, or…parental consent…" This contradicts another part of the manual that claims the primary educational role for children "lies in the first place with parents." Most UN documents cite the primacy of parents in determining the use of reproductive technologies for children. It should also be pointed out that the WHO defines adolescence as beginning at ten years old.

     Joseph is also concerned with what she sees as the use of aggressive marketing techniques. The UN insists that reproductive health services should reflect "the expressed needs and demands of refugees" yet the new manual repeatedly talks of "targeting" adolescents for these services, including going into homes to promote their use. The manual also suggests using less controversial terms like "child-spacing, safe motherhood and health of women."

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