Global Abortion Lobby Stuck at the Rubicon. A Hobbit is Sneaking By…

By Stefano Gennarini, J.D. | March 18, 2013

“Though Shalt not pass!”

Last week at the Commmission of the Status of Women, nations that cherish traitional values were able to halt the advance of the global abortion lobby towards abortion as a human right. Despite attempting to do so for over 40 yrs, nations and groups that want abortion to be a human right are failing to make any progress.

In recent times, the United States and Norway, together with a rotating group of blood thirsty nations, have been trying to get nations to scrap the 1994 Cairo Programme of Action (ICPD), which famously refused to recognize abortion as a human right and acknowledged the sovereign prerogative of countries to legislate according to their own priorities, cultures, religions, and traditions, and to even outlaw abortion.

In UN documents , any appearance of terms that have to do with reproduction are a qualified with reference to ICPD. That is a serious obstacle to establishing abortion as a right, and last year, the Obama administration and its nordic allies preferred having no CSW agreed conclusions to accepting a document that stopped at ICPD.

This year, the same countries have spent the past month trying to convince diplomats from developing countries that times have changed, and ICPD is obsolete. They have failed again – to establish abortion as a human right. Sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights are only “in accordance with ICPD”.

And now, other controversial “services” are being included in UN documents under the ICPD standard – this time “emergency contraception” (originally known as the morning after pill) and “sexual and reproductive health services”. Now emergency contraception is clearly under ICPD standard.

They  failed to remove reference to national sovereignty, as well as due regard to religions, cultures  and traditions, in the implementation of UN policies. The final CSW agreed conclusions include a paragraph from a recent GA resolution that is increasingly cited by UN member states for wherever controversial policies of western nations may be implicated.

They also failed to get “sexual and reproductive health services” in a paragraph on conflict, and where it appears in the context of a paragraph on youth, it is qualified by “appropriate”, and “with due regard to the rights and duties of those legally responsible”.

Mind you, ICPD is by no means a pro-life document. It is treacherous in fact, and speaks of “safe abortion” as part of “sexual and reproductive health”.  ICPD includes a definition of sexual and reproductive health comparable to the infamous “mystery passage” from justice Kennedy: “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, in all matters relating to the reproductive system”, “a satisfying and safe sex life”, “the capability to reproduce and the freedom to decide if, when and how often to do so.” The Holy See has a strong reservation to this language wherever it appears, that it renews at every session of the General Assembly.

Most nations are satisfied with ICPD because it allows them to prohibit abortion within their territories, and prevents other nations from dictating that abortion is a human right. It is a sad state of affairs when the Holy See alone, among UN delegations, wants to protect all unborn children from abortion, and is willing to speak up for them. We should hope that in the future more and more nations will speak up for unborn children, even at the cost of being intrusive, and even at.

By the way… There is a Hobbit in this story too, but we will not reveal who it is, lest the dark lord turn his gaze toward him.

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