Pro-Lifers United Across the Nations     12/18/2008
By Anne F. Downey, Esq.

On December 10, the 60th anniversary of the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights, Concerned Women for America (CWA) President Wendy Wright and CWA of New York State Director Anne Downey joined with pro-life leaders from the U.S. and other nations to urge the U.N. to uphold the right to life of the unborn when interpreting international treaties and conventions. The global coalition of conservative groups presented petitions signed by over 437,000 people calling on the U.N. members to honor and uphold life-affirming principles in the Declaration.

The petition drive began after it was discovered that pro-abortion groups International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International were gathering petitions calling for a right to abortion to be announced on the Declaration’s anniversary.

Wendy Wright participated in a press conference in the U.N. Press Briefing Room which included pro-life leaders from Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), Pro-Life Federation of Poland, the Institute of Family Policy of Spain, United Families International, and a member of the Honduran Parliament. Each speaker focused on a different section of the Declaration, which upholds the inalienable right to life, the dignity of all human beings, and the importance of the family. Wright’s comments focused on the Declaration’s acknowledgment of the special role that motherhood and childhood play in all societies. She also fielded questions from reporters about the health risk that abortion poses to women and the anticipated role of the new Obama administration in funding UNFPA, which helps to promote the “one child policy” of forced abortions in China.

The right-to-life petitions continue to flood in from every corner of the globe, with over 168 nations involved so far. From the Netherlands alone, approximately 80,000 petitions have been received during the short two-month time period during which the petition drive has been underway. Austin Ruse, president of C-FAM, announced that the drive will continue in full force, with the goal of presenting a million signatures in time for the next opening session of the General Assembly, which occurs in September 2009.

Following the press conference, the pro-life leaders joined Wendy in attending a keynote address by Dr. Habib C. Malik, the son of the late Ambassador Charles Habib Malik, one of the leading draftsmen and proponents of the Declaration. Also in the audience were ambassadors who came to hear the compelling story of how Dr. Malik, Eleanor Roosevelt and others labored tirelessly to push for adoption of the Declaration. As Dr. Malik explained, the Declaration recognizes the “inherent dignity and the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” He noted that repressive regimes, radical religious elements and postmodern mentality are enemies to the rights recognized in the Declaration.

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