UN Adopts Disabilities Treaty, Many States Reiterate Rejection of Abortion

By Susan Yoshihara, Ph.D.

     (NEW YORK — C-FAM) The U.N. General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Wednesday. Among the nettlesome issues for social conservatives was the inclusion of the phrase "sexual and reproductive health", the first time this phrase has appeared in a binding treaty, as opposed to a nonbinding UN resolution. In adopting the treaty, several nations made clear that the non-discrimination treaty creates no new rights, and that the term “sexual and reproductive health” does not include abortion.

     Leading the movement when the General Assembly met this week was the Marshall Islands, which said it accepted " 'sexual and reproductive health’ with the understanding that it does not include abortion, that its use in Article 25(a) does not create any abortion rights, and cannot be interpreted to constitute support, endorsement, or promotion of abortion and does not create and would not constitute recognition of any new international law obligations or human rights." 

     Peru, like other states, also reaffirmed the right to life from the moment of conception, stating that the health article in the new treaty would be implemented in a way consistent with absolute respect for life under the law. Honduras added that the international legal framework on the matter is clear, and that the term's inclusion in binding law does not create any new right to abortion in international law or human rights law. Several states echoed this, including Uganda, Egypt, Iran, Nicaragua, Libya, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Canada, Syria, and El Salvador. The United States repeated the statement it made to this effect at the time treaty negotiations concluded, and noted that at that time, "no other delegation suggested a different understanding of the term."

     While the numerous statements on the matter were aimed at putting to bed a long-time dispute on the definition of "reproductive health" once and for all, the Holy See statement went further, pointing delegates to future struggles with those who will try to ignore their consensus while implementing the treaty.

     Striking a note of solemnity into the celebratory atmosphere, Archbishop Celestino Migliore announced that the Holy See could not sign the treaty. He said, "We agree with the broad consensus that has been voiced in this chamber and the travaux preparatoires. . . However, even with this understanding, we opposed the inclusion of such a phrase in this article, because in some countries reproductive health services includes abortion, thus denying the inherent right to life of every human being, affirmed by article 10 of the Convention." Calling the right to life "the living heart of this document," the Holy See said that "it is surely tragic, wherever fetal defect is a precondition for offering or employing abortion, the same Convention created to protect persons with disabilities from all discrimination. . . may be used to deny the very basic right to life of disabled unborn persons."

     Conservative UN experts warn that treaty compliance committees are increasingly misinterpreting the term "sexual and reproductive health" to tell states they have a legal obligation to liberalize abortion laws. The new convention will also have a treaty monitoring body once the law comes into force. Twenty states must ratify the treaty before that happens. 

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