UN Health Expert to Promote Abortion at the General Assembly

By | October 14, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C. October 15 (C-Fam) The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to health, a former abortionist and advocate for the legitimization of prostitution, will present her annual report to the UN General Assembly next Wednesday. In it, she calls access to abortion “a component of the right to health and, in particular, the right to sexual and reproductive health.”

Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, a South African physician, activist, and host of a television show about sex, was appointed last year to be the “Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the

enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” by the Human Rights Council in Geneva.   In keeping with her previous experience, the theme of her report is “sexual and reproductive health rights” in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mofokeng asserts that “women, adolescents, girls and all persons capable of becoming pregnant” have a right to “safe and legal abortion,” and that “persons with diverse gender identities” have a right to hormones and “gender affirming surgery and treatment.”

She further denounced a “global patriarchal culture” and argued that the promotion of abortion and homosexual activity in the global South is not a form of ideological colonization.  Instead, she wrote that norms and laws against abortion and homosexual activity are themselves the product of colonialism.

Mofokeng’s views on abortion, gender, and sexual orientation have never been accepted by the General Assembly, as they are not a matter of consensus between the UN’s member governments.  However, her report contains numerous citations of other entities within the broader UN system, including her fellow special rapporteurs and treaty monitoring bodies, all of whom operate in an independent capacity, with logistical support from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The reports of these experts are not binding, but they form the basis for an immense amount of pressure on countries to liberalize their laws on abortion and homosexuality and normalize controversial sexual norms through “comprehensive sexuality education.”  The experts’ comments are cited in the reports of UN agencies, many of which receive funding from the same wealthy, Western countries seeking to establish an international human right to abortion.

Such a right has been blocked at the General Assembly for decades, while in recent years UN agencies and their donors have increasingly sought alternative venues to promote their agendas without the need for consensus, such as the Generation Equality Forum, held earlier this year.

Mofokeng will present her report next week to the General Assembly’s Third Committee, which deals with issues of human rights, humanitarian affairs, and social issues.  Delegates will have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with her, including raising questions about her promotion of issues on which member nations are in deep disagreement.

Contesting the controversial claims advanced in the report, as well as in other expert reports to be reviewed by the General Assembly this month, is more than just a gesture.  It demonstrates that no customary norm in favor of such things as an international human right to abortion exists, despite the assertions of largely unaccountable independent experts operating under the UN banner.

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