WASHINGTON DC, March 11 (C-Fam) Senate Republicans unanimously blocked the confirmation of Sarah Cleveland, President Biden’s nominee for Legal Advisor at the Department of State over her position that UN committees trump domestic law over abortion. Cleveland takes the position that abortion is a global human right.
“This is one of the most important positions at the Department,” said Senator James Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Prior to the vote, Risch said he was “deeply concerned” with the legal opinions rendered on abortion access during her tenure as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee.
Risch referred to a quasi-legal opinion Cleveland “contributed to and defended” that found a “country’s domestic laws violated its citizens international human rights by not providing and paying for an abortion.”
Risch said this was inconsistent with U.S. restrictions on funding for abortions abroad and abortion advocacy internationally. “For this reason, I am not able to support her nomination,” he said.
The committee vote ended in a deadlock with all eleven Republican Senators opposing Cleveland and all eleven Democrats supporting.
Senate confirmation for Cleveland now becomes more difficult posing the additional hurdle of a “discharge vote” from the full Senate. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer can move this at his discretion it requires using valuable Senate floor time and overcoming any potential holds placed on her by Republican Senators.
During her three-year appointment to the UN Human Rights Committee, Cleveland and her colleagues drafted and adopted a legal commentary, known as General Comment 36, on the right to life under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Cleveland and her colleagues said the right to life includes the right to abortion, even though the treaty makes no mention of abortion.
Conservative and pro-life organizations opposing Cleveland sent a letter to Republican members outlining her judicial activism on abortion while serving on the Human Rights Committee.
“The role of Legal Advisor of the Department of State must not be entrusted to someone whose understanding of international human rights law is so misinformed,” said March for Life Action. “American foreign policy must remain focused on representing U.S. interests and basic human rights.”
As an abortion activist and the top legal advisor at the State Department, Cleveland would be able to use her views about international law to re-interpret and implement federal laws, including restrictions on funding abortion abroad. Her placement comes at a time when abortion activists are pressing the Biden administration to gut the Helms Amendment.
The Helms Amendment passed in 1973 has been implemented as a complete ban on all overseas abortions by both Democrat and Republican presidents. The Biden administration, however, signaled last year it is willing to reinterpret Helms, and for the first time in almost 50 years allow U.S. foreign aid to fund abortion.
In a recent TIME article international abortion groups expressed “frustration” with the Biden administration over the delay. “The silence on this issue is really remarkable,” said Anu Kumar, President and CEO of Ipas. Ipas provides access to abortion all over the world through equipment and abortion pills including where it is illegal.
According to TIME, Ipas staff had “more than 20 meetings and frequent communication with members of the White House Gender Policy Council, the State Department, USAID and HHS over the past year to urge administration officials to offer clear guidance on what services U.S. aid recipients are allowed to provide.”
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