Parliamentary Network E-News

Volume 9
No. 7
July, 2015
 
Focus on UN

HRC Again Criticizes Laws Regulating Abortion

The Human Rights Committee (HRC) during its 144th session monitoring country compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights again used the review period to blast country's pro-life laws and promote the highly disproven argument that the legalization of abortion is needed to save women's lives while ignoring world wide data that demonstrates global deaths from illegal abortion have fallen to a record low of 47,000 worldwide in 2013.  

 

The HRC, acting more like a pro-abortion activist NGO than a human rights treaty monitoring body, used a selective interpretation of Article 6 of the treaty which states "Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life" as it criticized pro-life laws, policies and actions in Spain, Venezuela, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  

 

In each instance, sovereignty was ignored including as the HRC took aim at efforts in Spain in February 2015 to enact parental consent for abortion laws claiming that such measures "could increase illegal abortions and jeopardize the life and health of women". It instructed Spain enacting laws restricting access to abortion stating that it "should ensure that all women and girls can access reproductive health services in all regions of the country and no legal barriers force women to resort to clandestine abortion that puts their lives and health at risk."

 

In like manner, it recommended that Venezuela "amend its legislation to provide for exceptions to the general prohibition of all non-therapeutic abortion and ensure that women do not resort to illegal unsafe abortions that could endanger their lives and health."

During review of the United Kingdom (UK), the HRC was critical of pro-life laws in Northern Ireland stating, "The Committee is concerned about the highly restricted circumstances in which termination of pregnancy is permitted under the law in Northern Ireland, and about the severe criminal sanctions for unlawful abortion.." and recommended:  

 

"The State party should, as a matter of priority, amend its legislation on abortion in Northern Ireland with a view to providing for additional exceptions to the legal ban  on abortion, including in cases of rape, incest, and fatal fetal abnormality. The State  party should also ensure access to information on abortion, contraception and sexual  and reproductive health options."

 

The HRC not only appears opposed to all laws regulating abortion but also expressed disdain for a pro-life ad campaign sponsored by the government of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as it stated: "The Committee is concerned about reports that the State party conducted anti-abortion campaigns over a number of years which has had the effect of stigmatizing those who avail of abortion." These "reports" referred to by the HRC were issued by pro-abortion NGOs working in Macedonia including the local IPPF affiliate and included the following NGO view: "We have grave concerns that, given the government campaign advocating against abortion, the mandatory counselling regulated in the Rule Book is likely to be biased and intended to dissuade women who have decided to terminate their pregnancy."

 

The pro-life ads that were reported to be "stigmatizing those who avail of abortion" focused on development of the preborn child  as well as presenting the life ending decision of abortion and included an ad on the fact that Beethoven was not aborted.

 

The opposition of the HRC to public messages to "Choose Life" in Macedonia included the instruction to the government to "avoid pursuing any further campaigns used to stigmatize those who avail of abortion."  No congratulatory word was issued to Macedonia for its efforts to discourage women from resorting to abortion and denying their children their inherent right to life.

 

The HRC was also critical of the Law on Termination of Pregnancy of 2013 which it stated "may cumulatively limit access to legal abortion."    

 

Macedonia was also told to "take concrete measures, including amending the Law on Termination of Pregnancy, to eliminate all procedural barriers" to legal abortion.  

The government responded by stating the intent of the law is to protect women's health: "...the Law on Termination of Pregnancy envisages compulsory counselling for women about possible risks deriving from termination of pregnancy, i.e. women are to be properly informed about the consequences for their health that could possibly arise from the termination of pregnancy...Women have the right to free choice, but also they have the right to be informed about possible consequences that could arise after the termination of pregnancy, having also the right to be informed what is to be undertaken at certain stages in order that they protect their health."  

 

PNCI notes the continued complete disregard for national sovereignty by the HRC in regards to laws on abortion as acknowledged in the "ICPD caveat"- recognition of the right of national and local legislators to determine abortion policy. All documents related to the HRC session can be found on the website under the corresponding country flag.


UNFPA to Fund Campaign to Legalize Abortion in Malawi

News from Malawi reveals that the Malawi Law Commission has released a report on abortion that proposes abortion be legalized despite Malawi's constitutionand current law which allows abortion only to save the life of the pregnant woman and only through a surgical operation.The report will be advanced to the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and then for possible action through legislation presented to parliament.

 

UNPA in Malawi is one of those cheering this news and going as far as volunteering to fund efforts to pass the legislation, even before the Ministry of Justice has considered the report. According to the Marvai Post, "UNFA Country's Assistant representative, Dorthy Nyasulu assured the Ministry of health with technical and financial support towards the passing of the bill into law."      

 

Pressure to change Malawi's law on abortion has been building for years in large part due to the efforts of U.S. based abortion provider Ipas which has endeared itself to a number of health ministries in Africa and with the Africa Commission which oversees the Maputo Protocol, the only treaty that recognizes a so-called right to abortion. As PNCI previously reported Ipas helped write the Commission's General Comment No. 2 on application of the abortion article of the treaty. The Comment reads like a pro-abortion guidebook and begins with a background section that denigrates religious and cultural beliefs:

 

"In Africa, the persistence of several forms of discrimination based on, but not limited to, ethnicity, race, sex, gender, age, marital status, HIV status, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, disability, geographic residence, legal residence and/or traditional, religious and cultural beliefs prevents women from exercising and enjoying their sexual and reproductive rights."

 

In Malawi, Ipas has for years been a key agitator to overturn Malawi's sovereign laws on abortion and is a key funder of the current effort by providing the money for creation of the new commission that reviewed the law. According to the Marvai Post, "In responding to this calling, with funding from IPAS, Malawi government through Malawi Law Commission (MLC) instituted a Special Law Commission (SLC) to review the abortion law in relation to the Penal Code in order to come up with findings and recommendation which Malawi Parliament will adopt and pass into law in a bid to reduce maternal mortality prevalence rate."

 

The recommendations from the commission include legalizing abortion for the life of the mother, for physical or mental health, for severe disability of the child, and when the pregnancy is as "a result of rape, incest or defilement", providing that the crime is reported to the police. Abortion will be limited to the first 16 weeks gestation and during the first 12 weeks may be performed by "a registered medical assistant, midwife and nurse".

 

Guidelines for certification of abortion clinics by the health ministry include ability of the clinic to "provide first trimester abortion services" and the ability to "undertake Manual Vacuum Aspiration for the removal of retailed products of conception among others." [It must be noted that the hand held abortion suction device-Manual Vaccum Aspirator (MVA) -is the signature Ipas product which it has marketed for years to health ministries and other around the world since 1973. In 2009 Woman Care Global was created as a licensed subsidiary to oversee the sale of the MVA for Ipas.]

 

Response from the Malawi Catholic Bishops was swift. Secretary General for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) Fr. Henry Saindi reiterated the Church's position stating, "The position of the church is that abortion is the killing the unborn child because we know that the life of a person begins when a child is conceived. The unborn child has a right to live and must always be protected by the society."He also emphasized the need to counsel women and girls who might consider undergoing abortion.

Pro-Life Actions

Legislators Globally Agree: Time to Investigate Planned Parenthood

Legislators around the world are beginning to learn of the undercover videos exposing the illegal sale of aborted baby body parts by Planned Parenthood and are calling for investigations into local and national Planned Parenthood affiliates.

 

National and state legislators in the United States were the first to react to the shocking videos, which are a part of a series entitled "Human Capital" by The Center for Medical Progress. The videos reveal Planned Parenthood abortionists negotiating the sale of fetal organs and tissue, even discussing how they use partial-birth abortion methods to keep the organs intact to actors posing as buyers for a human biologics company interested in purchasing baby body parts.

 

Read more about it here. 

Legislative News

Chile: Christian Democrats Stand Up for Unborn

President Michelle Bachelet's plan to enact exceptions to Chile's current ban on all abortion hit a defensive wall as more than two thirds of legislators from the Christian Democratic Party refused to support the measure during a vote in the health committee. The lack of support ensures that the bill will not pass in its current form. While campaigning for president, Bachelet had promised that she would enact legal changes to Chile's pro-life policy that is based on constitutional protection of the right to life from the moment of conception.  The defeated measure would have allowed exceptions if the mother's life is in danger, if the pregnancy is the result of rape, or if the child has a severe disability. Chile with its complete ban on abortion maintains the lowest maternal mortality rate in all of Latin America and the Caribbean and is an example of how to save the lives of both mothers and their children.

Portugal: Parliament Approves Restrictions on Abortions

Portugal's parliament has approved legislation to end federal funding for abortions and institute counseling requirements before abortions. Abortion was legalized in the country in 2007 and has since been available paid for by the state for abortions up to 10 weeks gestation. The new law will require women receive counseling and information before getting an abortion, which they will then pay for themselves. Lawmaker Carlos Abreu Amorim of the ruling Social Democrats (PSD) said the new regulations are "not a question of removing the right to abortion, but to improve the conditions in which women take these difficult decisions". 

 


MPs Propose Scottish Parliament Determine Abortion Laws

A group of pro-life MPs in Scotland have proposed legislation to devolve the issue of abortion to the Scottish parliament. Scotland is currently governed by the UK's abortion law. The cross-party proposal was sponsored by MPs Tory Fiona Bruce, Liberal Democrat John Pugh and Labour's Robert Flello, members of the all-party parliamentary pro-life group. "A similar level of devolution is already available in Northern Ireland and gives the Scottish parliament the same rights as with regard to euthanasia and every other health matter," explained Pugh. "I think we acknowledge that a Scottish life is worth no less than any other life, but regulating how and when life is terminated in Scotland can justifiably be done in my view in the Scottish parliament by a Scottish authority and is done throughout Europe differently by all nations." The government said it is considering the proposal.
Judicial News

Spain: Court Upholds Pharmacists' Rights of Conscience

Spain's Constitutional Court has ruled pharmacists have the right to refuse to sell abortion pills. The case strikes down a local government order fining a Christian pharmacy 3,000 euro for not selling the morning after pill. The Court upheld the conscience rights of the pharmacists since the requirement goes against their religious beliefs. The ruling was commended José Antonio Díez, the general coordinator for the Association for the Defence of the Rights of Conscience who said it was "historic and pioneering not only in Spain, but in all of Europe."


India: Court protects unborn child conceived in rape

A judge serving on the Gujarat high court ruled to allow the 20 week gestation unborn child of a 14 year old girl who had conceived through rape to live denying the girl's father's request for a late term abortion. Judge Abhilasha Kumari said it was a difficult decision but stated, "...whatever be the circumstances in which the child was conceived, whatever the trauma of the young mother, the fact remains that the child is also not to blame for being conceived. It did not ask to be born. The child is innocent, just like the victim, its mother." The girl had been raped by a doctor who was arrested by police and is being held in custody. 


Argentina: High Court Approves Withholding Food and Water

Argentina's Supreme Court of Justice has approved the euthanasia of a comatose man by dehydration and starvation. Argentine law prohibits euthanasia but permits a terminal patient to refuse medical treatment, or relatives if a patient is unable to consent. The sisters of Marcelo Diez, who had been in a comatose state for 21 years following an accident, petitioned the court to deny him nourishment in the name of "justice". Diez's bishop, Msr. Virginio Bressanelli, requested to take care of Diez and argued that he did not live on any extraordinary measures, rather ordinary food and water, and that Diez would even intentionally squeeze his hand at times. Nevertheless, the court ruled in favor of the sisters. "The law allows the termination of artificial hydration and feeding as they themselves constitute a form of medical treatment," stated the Supreme Court's ruling. "The request to cease vital support does not imply a practice of euthanasia, but constitutes a therapeutic abstention that is allowed [by law]." Diez died hours after the ruling was announced, reportedly from a case of pneumonia he had contracted. "Even if it is now hollow from the practical point of view, it will surely have legal consequences," said Bishop Bressanelli of the case.


Colombia: First Legal Euthanasia Carried Out Amid Confusion

Colombia marked its first legal euthanasia death following a government mandate that sparked confusion. While euthanasia was legalized in 1997, legislation was never passed establishing guidelines for it. This June, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Health Ministry tell medical professional they are required to euthanize patients to who request it and meet the criteria. However, confusion resulted as "nobody knows how to obtain consent or when it would be wrong, etc." The case of a man suffering from a rare form of facial cancer put the policy to the test when he requested euthanasia and was scheduled for lethal injection, but was denied at the last minute since his form of cancer was not terminal. The ministry of Health intervened and the euthanasia was carried out. The decision was strongly opposed by doctors groups and ethicists. "As doctors we exist to defend the value of life and restore our patients to health," said Dr. Jorge Merchán Price, of the Médicos Azules movement against physician assisted suicide. "The Constitutional Court is completely ignorant about the doctor's vocation, and in an unprecedented reductionism it assumes that he is a simple 'technical worker' at the service of the law and not life," said Merchán.


 
 
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Health Canada Approves RU-486


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