Abortion Groups Commandeer U.N. Meetings in Puerto Rico     6/28/2004
By Wendy Wright

Pro-life advocates counter attempts to create

Abortion groups are commandeering regional international meetings in an attempt to create an "international right" to abortion. This scheme does an end-run around democracy to force countries to decriminalize and subsidize abortion - even if their own people and laws do not agree. Concerned Women for America (CWA) and its members are not letting this happen without a fight.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and its allies, such as International Planned Parenthood Federation, Catholics for a Free Choice, Center for Reproductive Rights and International Women's Health Coalition, have co-opted a series of meetings for the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

ECLAC told the United States that the meetings were just reviews by low-level technocrats of implementation of the Cairo Program of Action. Instead, the meetings are bursting with radical feminists pushing abortion on demand with no age restrictions or respect for parental involvement.

The Cairo Program of Action is the plan laid out at the infamous U.N. conference on population and development held in Cairo in 1994. Organized by UNFPA, the conference produced a blueprint to deal with poverty … by reducing population! Further, the plan asserts that governments should reduce population growth by promoting so-called "reproductive rights," rather than the coercive abortion that some preferred.

For countries that respect human life, this meant making contraception and natural family planning programs widely available. For others, this still meant abortion on demand, with wealthy countries funding abortions in less-developed countries.

Abortion advocates refuse to accept the reality that the United States, the U.N.'s largest donor, has a pro-life administration. In addition, the pro-abortion lobby is furious that the president has stopped American tax funding of abortion in other countries. (Abortion advocates deliberately mislabel President Bush's executive order against funding international abortion as "the gag rule.")

As a result, abortion advocates are using every means possible to isolate the U.S. Often, the U.S. does stand boldly alone in favor of life.

The headline from UNFPA's press release about the March 2004 ECLAC gathering in Santiago, Chile, says it all: "The Americas Reaffirm Reproductive Health Consensus." This headline shows UNFPA's primary concern is not poverty reduction. The sub-headline states: "United States in Lone Dissent."

In reality, the U.S. statement delivered at the gathering pointed out the "reaffirmation" had serious problems, including:

• No mention of the only proven method of reducing HIV/AIDS. It is called the ABC model: Abstinence, Be Faithful, and, when necessary, appropriate and safe, use of Condoms. The Cairo Program of Action prominently features abstinence. However, the Santiago declaration ignores this, as well as subsequent real-world experience that proves the ABC model superior to condom-focused programs.
• The Santiago declaration refers to the rights of adolescents to so-called "reproductive health services," which have been interpreted to include abortion. But it omits accompanying language from Cairo linking these rights to the rights, duties and responsibilities of parents.

The United States also clarified that:

• None of the terms used in the declaration, or any previous document, should be interpreted to endorse abortion or abortifacients. "The United States does not support, promote or endorse abortion, abortion-related services or the use of abortifacients. The United States does, however, support the treatment of women who suffer injuries or illnesses caused by legal or illegal abortion."
• The term "unsafe abortion" refers to a procedure performed by unskilled people or in a place lacking minimal medical standards. It does not mean that illegal abortions are the only unsafe abortions.
• Despite criticism in the declaration about decreasing financial support, in fact the U.S. is the largest contributor to the objectives in the Cairo Program of Action, and overall assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean region is increasing.

Abortion advocates twisted this last point, spreading rumors that the U.S. would pull assistance from countries that did not agree with it. While others use this tactic, notably China and European countries, the State Department says that the United States does not use humanitarian funding as a tool.

The final ECLAC meeting is currently taking place in Puerto Rico. While the prior meetings had little to no pro-life presence to explain to countries the danger to their nation's law and culture, a contingent of pro-lifers from Latin America and the United States are present in Puerto Rico. As CWA's representative, I am bringing our years of experience and an alternative viewpoint to the one that delegates hear from radical abortion groups - a view that reflects North and South America's tradition of respect for the unborn, for parents and for national sovereignty.

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