Parliamentary Network E-News

Volume 8
No. 9
October, 2014
 
Focus on the OAS

OAS Experts on Violence against Women Call for Legalization of Abortion

A declaration calling for the legalization of abortion in all countries in the Americas- from Canada to Chile, including the USA- was issued by the Organization of American States (OAS) entity that oversees the anti-violence convention known as Belém do Pará.

 

The Committee of Experts (CEVI) of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women (MESECVI) issued a Declaration on Violence against Women, Girls and Adolescents and their Sexual and Reproductive Rights (English,  Spanish) that recommends countries in the region, in order to guarantee the "...sexual and reproductive health of women and their right to life", establish laws and policies to "enable the termination of pregnancy, at the very least in the following cases: i) risk to the life or health of the woman; ii) inability of the fetus to survive; and iii) sexual violence, incest and forced insemination".

 

The committee voiced opposition to the right of conscience declaring: "That access to health services in general, and services for the interruption of pregnancy in particular, must be confidential and that the conscientious objection of health personnel under no circumstances may result in the violation of women's human rights;"

 

The declaration for the most part repeats opinions voiced by UN pro-abortion activist committees and individuals and NGOs that charge laws that protect women and children from the violence of abortion "inflict torture" on women or "deny women reproductive justice". The president of the Center for Reproductive Rights --an abortion advocacy organization that testified before the CEVI as it was drafting the declaration -- was quick to voice support stating:

 

"Denying safe, legal care to women who need to end a pregnancy is an act of violence, and it is a tremendous measure of progress that a body within the Organization of American States has recognized this.

 

"Women denied this essential health care service face serious threats to their lives, families, and future as a result of unsafe and illegal abortions.

 

"There can be no denying that this is a violation of women's fundamental human rights.

 

"We commend the progressive voices within the Organization of American States for recognizing that abortion is not a crime and women's reproductive and sexual rights must be respected and protected. And we will continue working to hold governments accountable for guaranteeing and protecting women's access to a full range of safe, legal reproductive health care services as a matter of basic human rights in the Americas."

 

This latest action follows a recommendation in 2012 in the Second Hemispheric Report on the Implementation of the Belém do Pará Convention that States Parties to the Convention should "...legalize interruption of pregnancy on therapeutic grounds; as well as women's access to such procedures; legalize the interruption of pregnancy caused by rape;"

 

This past June the OAS General Assembly approved a resolution encouraging States Parties to the Convention to "implement the recommendations of the MESECVI to promote full compliance with the Convention of Belém do Pará". Guatemala and Ecuador added a pro-life statement of position to the resolution described as: "pursuant to their respective domestic legislation, they recognize the right to life from the moment of conception."

 

The recent declaration by CEVI also includes: "...guaranteeing that women and adolescents have immediate access to affordable contraceptives, including emergency oral contraceptives, thereby eliminating the discriminatory effects on women of denying them services on the basis of stereotypes that reduce the primary role of women to motherhood and prevent them from making decisions about their sexuality and reproduction."

 

PNCI notes that violence against women and girls deserves sound policy recommendations and not manipulation of the issue to advance access to abortion. Calls for the legalization of abortion conflict with established international human rights law, with national policies in many countries in the region, and with cultural and religious beliefs that value the lives of children in the womb. The American Convention on Human Rights, passed in 1969 in San José, affirms under Article 4, Right to Life:

 

"Every person has the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."

 

This same article states that capital punishment shall not "be applied to pregnant women." The Inter-American human rights system does not make the innocent child suffer death for the crime of his or her mother. Why would a committee that is supposed to end violence against women and girls want to inflict violence and death on a preborn girl or boy for the crime of her or his father?

Focus on the United Nations

UN General Assembly Calls for Integrating ICPD Beyond 2014 in the Post 2015 Development Agenda

The new President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa (Uganda) convened the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session (UNGASS) to evaluate world progress twenty years after the UNFPA organized International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. Many recall the great fight and defeat of attempts to advance an "international right to abortion" that occurred at the meeting. In the end, ICPD recognized in paragraph 8.25 of the Programme of Action (PoA) that: "Any measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process."

 

The Special Session of the GA was poorly attended by Member States with only 90 countries submitting  statements and far fewer being able to read their statements as the session ran out of time but only after pro-abortion NGOs were able to present their statements. A number of countries used the opportunity to push what is claimed to be the "emerging issues" from ICPD -foremost "sexual and reproductive health and rights". Countries promoting this agenda included Australia, Brazil,Cook Islands Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Finland, Gambia, Germany, Iceland, Mozambique, Peru, South Africa, Sweden, Uruguay and U.S.

 

Events leading up to the Special Session of the General Assembly and to the April 2014 meeting of the Commission on Population and Development where ICPD Beyond 2014 was also debated, were manipulated to advance a radical agenda that could not reach achieve consensus during UN debate owing to opposition from African, Arab and Caribbean countries. Among the contrived meetings were the regional ICPD review meetings and their outcome documents, the most egregious was the Montevideo Consensus where pro-life countries in Latin America and the Caribbean supposedly agreed to "urge States to consider amending their laws, regulations, strategies and public policies relating to the voluntary termination of pregnancy in order to protect the lives and health of women and adolescent girls".

 

The GA Special Session was reported to have ended with "a near universal call for integrating the ICPD Beyond 2014 in the Post 2015 Development Agenda". The General Assembly also "took note of the deliberations of the Special Session on the findings and recommendations of the review reports, without any objection or reservation."

  
This is surprising as the documents contain promotion of the abortion and the entire SRHR agenda in the strongest of terms; a number of countries have objected to these documents during negotiations.

 

An official statement from UNFPA ICPD Beyond 2014 explains:

 

At the end of the UNGASS, the General Assembly agreed, without objection or reservation, to the procedural conclusion of the session. It reads:

 

"May I take it that the General Assembly, recalling the reports of the Secretary-General circulated in documents A/S-29/3 and A/S-29/4 and the report of theCommission on Population and Development on its forty-seventh session circulated in document A/S-29/5, wishes to take note of the deliberations of the Special Session on the findings and recommendations contained therein?"

By this oral decision, the Member States have formally acknowledged the framework for actions for the follow up to the Programme of Action beyond 2014 and the steps for further implementation, taking into account their respective statements in the special session. 

 

The "Framework of Actions for the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014" is set out in A/S-29/3, the "Recurrent themes and key elements identified during the sessions of the Commission on Population and Development is set out in A/S-29/4 , and the "Report of the Commission on Population and Development on its forty-seventh session", as set out in A/S-29/5. Together they define[s]sic the road map for moving forward and include the regional outcomes and the findings and recommendations of the ICPD beyond 2014.

 

The "Framework of actions for the follow-up to the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014", as reported by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is especially problematic and includes the following under section 3:  

 

Strengthen specific sexual and reproductive health services:

 

      Abortion

504. Concrete measures are urgently needed to:

(c) Take action as indicated in the WHO publication Safe Abortion: Technical and Policy Guidance for Health Systems, to remove legal barriers to services;

(d) Ensure that all women have ready access to safe, good-quality abortion

 

These documents are supposed to "define the road map for moving forward" and help guide the post 2015 agenda, but if such efforts are successful globally, children in the womb will be left behind to die through the violence of abortion.

Pro-Life Actions

Northern Ireland: Pro-Life Provision Adopted After Historic Post Card Campaign

The Justice Committee of the Northern Ireland's Assembly has adopted a pro-life amendment after Precious Life, a leading pro-life organization, presented it with a historic 35,000 postcards expressing support for the pro-life initiative. The post cards, and an online petition on CitizenGO, were part of Precious Life's Project Justice Campaign, which was launched in response to the Justice Committee's call for evidence on the Criminal Justice Bill and the Proposed Amendments. An amendment to the bill, sponsored by Mr. Jim Wells MLA, bans the commercial provision of abortion "services" in the country.

 

Precious Life organized the post card campaign to demonstrate the strong public support for Northern Ireland's pro-life protections. Upon the presentation of the post cards, Wells said he was delighted with the response from the Irish citizens. "The Precious Life campaign has really focused people's attention on the need to protect the most vulnerable members of our community - the unborn child."

 

He explained the importance of the amendment, which will prohibit groups like Marie Stopes from performing abortions in the country: "The last attempt to stop private abortions in Northern Ireland was blocked by those who hid behind the excuse that 'there had been insufficient consultation on the amendment'. The fact that over 35,000 people have supported my amendment clearly confirms that on this occasion there has been intense consultation'. 'The campaign to prevent the killing of the unborn child in private clinics continues with the huge encouragement that so many people are now behind my amendment."

Pro-Abortion Action

EU: Petition Calls for Access to Abortion for All European Women

A coalition of pro-abortion European organizations has launched a petition to the European Parliament calling for access to legal abortion in all EU Member States. The petition, launched on the "Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion", September 28, calls for the FEMM (Women's Rights and Gender Equality) Committee of the European Parliament to issue a resolution that "guarantees that human rights standards related to the access to safe and legal abortion are respected by all member states."
Legislative News

San Marino: Votes to Keep Abortion Ban

The small Catholic European nation of San Marino has voted to maintain its ban on abortion. The country's legislative body, the Grand and General Council, voted against a proposal to permit abortion by a vote of 27 to 23. The proposal was put forth by citizens to the Captains Regent, effectively the country's heads of state. While abortion remains a crime in San Marino, the Council did not vote to prosecute citizens who travel abroad for abortions. The 24 square mile country is surrounded by Italy, where abortion is legal. Further, the Council did not approve a measure recognizing same-sex marriage.

Mozambique: New Law Legalizes Abortion

Abortion will soon be legal in Mozambique as President Armando Guebuza signs new legislation into law before he leaves office later this month. The law, passed by Parliament this summer, legalized abortion up to 12 weeks for reasons of physical or mental health, up to 16 weeks in cases of rape or incest, and up to 24 weeks in cases of "severe fetal malformation." The bill passed with little objection, attributed to a pro-abortion strategy with between NGOs and the health ministry and doctors that sought to train journalists, lobby MPs, and post advertisements promoting abortion as a public health issue.

AU: Senate Divided on Sex-Selection Abortion Bill

The Australian Senate debated a motion to prohibit Medicare coverage for abortions done for sex selection. Senators were split on the private members' bill which was sponsored by independent John Madigan. Liberal senator Cory Bernardi argued, "It is unacceptable for taxpayer money to be used to allow one, even one, abortion on gender selection [grounds]." The legislation did not receive a vote and will be revisited next year.

US: San Francisco Supervisors Reject a Ban on Sex Selection Abortion

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved a resolution rejecting bans on sex-selection abortions. The resolution, authored by Supervisor David Chiu, states: "Sex-selective abortion bans encourage racial profiling of women by some medical providers, can lead to the denial of reproductive health care services to women by some medical providers, and lead to further stigmatization of women, particularly Asian American women." Chiu claims sex-selection abortions do not occur in the U.S. and such bans are merely a form of racism. However, the practice has been well-documented, and a University of California-San Francisco study reported its use in the U.S. San Francisco is the first entity to bar sex selection abortion bans; whereas eight states have enacted bans and more states have legislation pending. Worldwide, China, India, Australia and the UK have sex selection bans in place. The UN reports over 160 million girls are missing from the world today.
Executive News

Spain: Administration Abandons Plans to Reform Abortion Law

The Popular Party-led Spanish government has abandoned its plans to reform the country's abortion law, despite campaigning in the 2011 elections to do so. The proposed legislation sought to limit abortions to cases of rape and health of the mother, reforming the 2010 expansion of the law which permitted abortion on demand up to 14 weeks gestation, and 22 weeks in cases of fetal anomaly or serious risk to the mother. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced the Administration's decision following protests and division in the government and within his own Popular Party. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, the architect of the reform, had said lawmakers needed to balance the mother's rights with the unborn child's, however; he was unable to garner enough support for the bill in parliament. Following the Prime Minister's announcement, Ruiz-Gallardon stepped down from his role as Justice Minister and resigned from politics following a thirty year career.

Philippines: Drafted Criminal Code Excludes Abortion; Angers Abortion Groups

The Philippine Department of Justice sent its drafted Code of Crimes by the Criminal Code Committee to Congress and abortion groups are protesting that it did not include grounds for abortion. An earlier draft 2010 had provided for cases of "justified abortions", but after a public consultation, those provisions were removed. A joint letter to Justice Secretary Leila M. de Lima from activists, including the Center for Reproductive Rights, lamented the change. "The Department of Justice has missed an opportunity to put an end to the human rights violations women are forced to suffer because of the country's blanket abortion ban," said Melissa Upreti, regional director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights. While Philippine law prohibits abortion, inclusion of 'justified abortion' could have opened debate on the abortion law in Congress.

Former USSR President Gorbachev Mourns Aborted Son

Former USSR president Mikhail Gorbachev has revealed the pain he and his wife suffered following the abortion of their first child 51 years ago. In an interview with The (UK) Express, Gorbachev got emotional sharing the story of his son Sergei, who was aborted in 1953. Gorbachev made the decision to abort his son when his wife Raisa's doctor said her heart could not handle the pregnancy following a bout with rheumatic fever. Gorbachev said the abortion haunted both he and his wife from then on, and while they did go on to give birth to a daughter, they never forgot their son.
Religious News

Indonesia: Bishops Call on Government to Reject All Abortions

Indonesia's Roman Catholic bishops have criticized the recent edit signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to curb abuse of the nation's 2009 Health Law allowing abortion in select circumstances. The 2009 law had made abortion permissible in cases of rape, health of the mother and life threatening fetal illness or deformity. In a public statement, the bishops argued abortion should not be legal in any circumstance. "Every human being has the right to live, by the mere fact of living," they stated and added, "The Church has always shown great respect for human life, from the very beginning, which is why life must always be defended and protected." The bishops pointed out that babies conceived in rape are not responsible for their parentage and should not be penalized, and expressed strong opposition to abortion for disability and illness.

Issues

New Studies Bolster Evidence of ABC Link

New studies out of India bolster the link between abortion and breast cancer (ABC). An analysis of twelve studies examining the link showed an increase risk of breast cancer in each study. The average odds ratio for breast cancer of women with prior abortions was five and half times higher than women who have not aborted. In fact, the Indian studies show the ABC link is stronger than any other risk factor. The new studies follow a meta-analysis of 36 studies in China that showed a dramatic increased risk of breast cancer for women who have had one or more induced abortions. Despite the growing evidence, abortion advocates continue to discredit and deny the ABC link.

US: More Than Half of Sex-Trafficking Victims Suffered Forced Abortions

A recent US House Committee brought attention to the prevalence of forced abortion in sex trafficking, including in the U.S. The Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee's hearing looked at the role of health care professionals in identifying victims of sex trafficking. One witness, Dr Laura Lederer, former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons for the State Department and founder of the non-profit Global Centurion, explained the relation using her study "The Health Consequences of Sex Trafficking and Their Implications for Identifying Victims in Healthcare Facilities." Dr Lederer explained that of 107 sex trafficking survivors surveyed, 87.7% sought healthcare services while enslaved. She noted that forced abortion is an "especially disturbing trend in sex trafficking", with 55% of the women surveyed having had at least one abortion and 30% having multiple abortions while trafficked.

 

More than half of the women said the abortion was not their choice. Forced abortions perpetuate the cycle of violence of sex trafficking, hiding the crimes and further victimizing the young women enslaved. The average age upon entering into sex trafficking in the US is 12 to 14 years old. The "Trafficking Awareness Training for Health Care Act of 2014" seeks to train and equip all healthcare professionals to recognize the signs of sex trafficking and offer assistance.


Remembering the War on Women and Girls in China

September 25th marked the 34th anniversary of the enforcement of China's brutal One-Child Policy, a policy which results in the loss of millions of unborn children and inflicts horrific abuse upon women. The cruel policy - which makes siblings illegal - has been implemented through coercion and violence and resulted in a dramatic gender imbalance in the population. Despite a reported lessening of the population control policy for small sectors of the population, China continues to oppress and victimize Chinese mothers, fathers, and children through forced abortion and involuntary sterilization.

 

Women found to be pregnant with an "unapproved" pregnancy are forcibly aborted, including in the last month of pregnancy. Families found with children "over-quota" are forced to pay staggering social compensation fees equaling years of wages and "unauthorized" children can suffer alienation and denial of education and health benefits.

 

Read more here.


 
 
Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues
Advancing global respect and dignity for life through law and policy.

Canadian Unborn Honored by Flag Display at Parliament

 
 

 

An impressive flag display along Parliament Hill in Canada honored and remembered the 100,000 babies aborted each year in Canada. Organized by WeNeedaLAW.ca, the display was prominently featured in full view for Members of Parliament, party leaders and the press as a reminder of the preborn Canadian citizens who are denied justice by the Canadian government, which has no law on abortion.


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