The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has released a report  that is one of the most egregious examples of the manipulation of universal human rights mechanisms. Lessons From the First Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review: FROM COMMITMENT TO ACTION ON SEXUAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS assesses the first cycle of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism (UPR) conducted by the Human Rights Council from 2008-2011.

5,662 non-binding recommendations on "sexual and reproductive health and rights" (SRHR) were issued by Member States conducting the reviews during the first cycle of the UPR. The data was provided by Action Canada for Population and Development [now part of the organization calling itself Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights, see news summary below] on behalf of the Sexual Rights Initiative (SRI), which works to advance access to abortion, comprehensive sexuality education and the gamut of issues related to reproduction and sexuality.

According to SRI, "The UPR mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council is used to review each of the 193 Member States of the UN on its entire human rights record every four and a half years. Although relatively new, it is a powerful tool to hold governments accountable for sexual and reproductive rights violations, and to advocate for changes to particular laws and policies that impact on human rights related to sexuality."

The data examines 56 country reviews and the 5,662 recommendations related to "SRHR", which represented 26% of all recommendations and voluntary commitments made during the first cycle of the UPR. States from the Western Europe and Others Group and Latin America and the Caribbean group made the most recommendations related to SRHR while the African region made the fewest. The 10 top States making recommendations related to sexuality and reproduction were Spain, Canada, Norway, Slovenia, Brazil, Argentina, France, Mexico, Netherlands, and Algeria.

Up to date information on UPR recommendations can be obtained on the UPR-Info database which can be searched according to subject or country. PNCI's search yielded 78 recommendations on abortion demonstrating that UPR pressure on abortion has more than doubled from 2011-2014.

The recent launch of a new organization in Canada to advance "sexual and reproductive health and rights" attempts to influence legislators in Canada while it operates globally. Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights unites three Canadian NGOs in a new global effort to promote issues including abortion and comprehensive sexuality education.

The organization is attempting to expand its reach as it continues in its role as secretariat to the Canadian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development to "ensure the continued engagement of decision-makers in a non-partisan forum around sexual health and rights issues".    

A press release states the organization will "engage, educate and inform governments and non-government actors to create environments that enable the advancement of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada and globally".    

Action Canada will continue to coordinate the Sexual Rights Initiative and its close partnership with UNFPA as demonstrated by its role in the UNFPA report Lessons From the First Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review described in the news summary above.

The new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid of Jordan, and the President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Tracy Robinson of Jamaica, signed a declaration that seeks to enhance cooperation in the area of human rights among the two human rights entities. The collaboration will include: "assisting governments of OAS member States in the implementation of recommendations of international human rights mechanisms, including human rights treaty bodies, Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, and the Universal Periodic Review, and of IACHR recommendations when appropriate".

Pro-life advocates know that non-binding recommendations on abortion are frequently issued by activists serving on treaty monitoring bodies and on other human rights committees to advance a radical pro-abortion agenda despite that fact that no international treaty recognizes abortion as a human right. This is especially true during reviews of countries from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Read more here.

Madrid saw tens of thousands of Spaniards march under the slogan "Every life counts", protesting the Popular Party government's failure to enact policies that protect life. Despite a campaign promise to restrict abortion, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy dropped those plans in September. The reforms would have permitted abortion only in cases of rape or risk to the mother's health. Protestors threatened retribution in next year's election: "Rajoy, we may not vote," read a large white banner.

Dominican Republic President Danilo Medina vetoed a bill to maintain the country's ban on abortion, calling for new legislation that would include exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest and disability of the child. The legislation passed by the Chamber of Deputies reinforced the constitutional amendment passed in 2009 and said "the right to life is inviolable from conception until death," and included criminal penalties for those convicted of abortion. The presidential veto follows a strong lobbying effort by international pro-abortion activists to decriminalize abortion, including from the USA.  

The Center for Reproductive Rights issued a statement that included comments by its president stating, "The Dominican Republic forces countless women to risk imprisonment-- even their health and lives-when they need abortion services. The criminalization of essential women's health care destroys lives and devastates families. We will continue to fight these violations of women's fundamental human rights in the Dominican Republic and across the globe."

Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights issued a letter of support to President Medina and a letter to the Chamber of Deputies urging them to accept the president's recommendations to allow abortion for certain exceptions. Pro-life advocates in Dominican Republic have been lobbying against the change. A vote is expected today.

The French National Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill affirming the country's law legalizing abortion. The resolution, which passed by a vote of 143-7, states "...the importance of the universal right of women to freely dispose of their body, in France, in Europe and around the world as an indispensable condition for the construction of gender equality and the advancement of society." The vote marked the forty years since Health Minister Simone Veil first called for legalized abortion in Parliament; the law known as Loi Veil was passed the next year. 

The Thai National Legislative Assembly passed a draft bill to ban commercialized surrogacy in the country. Several international scandals involving surrogate mothers catapulted the practice into the spotlight, particularly the case of a Thai mother who carried twin babies for an Australian couple who claimed the healthy child, but refused to accept the twin born with Down's syndrome. Thailand had restricted commercial surrogacy in 1997 but the regulations were unenforced, prompting the government to take action. The finalized version of the legislation is expected next month. 

The Health Ministry in Singapore, after conducting a public consultation, has decided to enact regulations mandating new pre-abortion counseling and a 48 hour waiting period. 7,177 women underwent pre-abortion counseling in 2013 but only 300 decided to give birth. Singapore currently has a fertility rate of 1.19.

Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health stated, "Regardless of what you feel about abortion, I suppose you wouldn't be against the provision of information. In fact, it's the duty of the doctor to provide such information for any procedure including this one."  

One post abortive woman who had two abortions reacted positively to the news. She recalled, "My first abortion was a very late-term abortion. I did not know that I was going to have to go through eight hours of induced labour until the first contractions began. To my horror, at 17 years old, I realised I was going to have to go through labour pains for whatever number of hours. By that time, it was too late. I might have thought twice that if (I knew) this was the kind of pain, process I would have go through."

More social support during the pre-abortion counselling she believes will be very helpful. "Social and emotional support would have really helped me. ...It would have been great if the counselling included social support and assurance that there are other options, and someone to help me walk through those options. I might have chosen differently."

A date has not yet been set for the new regulations to go into effect.

A British doctor has appeared in court facing prosecution for offering abortions based on the baby's gender. Dr Prabha Sivaraman is accused of offering sex-selective abortion in 2012. After the case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, the private prosecution was brought to the Manchester Magistrates Court by pro-life campaigner Aisling Hubert, 21, with the support of pro-life groups Christian Concern and Abort 67. The case, the first of its kind in the UK, will be heard by the Manchester Crown Court in early 2015. Abortion for the purpose of sex selection was not among the legal indicators for abortion in the Abortion Act 1967.

Pope Francis provided doctors with clear instructions on protecting the sanctity of life in a recent address, telling doctors they have to make the "brave choice" to not commit abortion or euthanasia, even if it means civil disobedience. "There is no human life more sacred than another: all human life is sacred!" At a conference of the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors, Pope Francis warned that discussions of "quality of life" cannot be based on materialistic or "economic" concerns, but rather need to take account the "more profound dimensions- interpersonal, spiritual and religious- of existence."

"In fact, the light of faith and right reason, human life is always sacred and always 'quality,'" he said.

Pope Francis also appeared before the European Parliament, triggering applause from the legislators fourteen times during his address. He emphasized the need for Europe to value human life, saying, "Men and women risk being reduced to mere cogs in a machine that treats them as items of consumption to be exploited, with the result that - as is so tragically apparent - whenever a human life no longer proves useful for that machine, it is discarded with few qualms, as in the case of the terminally ill, the elderly who are abandoned and uncared for, and children who are killed in the womb".

The Pope received a standing ovation when he urged the legislators to restore Europe to, "A Europe which contemplates the heavens and pursues lofty ideals. A Europe which cares for, defends and protects man, every man and woman."

New research from Chile which bans all abortion shows that access to legal abortion is not safer for maternal health than laws against abortion. The study, conducted by Doctor Elard Koch, epidemiologist and Director of Research at the MELISA Institute demonstrates "...that not only abortion-related mortality continued its decreasing trend in Chile after its prohibition by law in 1989, but also hospital discharges due to abortion have significantly decreased during the last decade."

The study explained that women who were fearful or felt coerced into abortion account for 70% of women with an unplanned pregnancy and were at higher risk of having an abortion. The data suggests that the development and promotion of greater maternal support programs would increase the chance of women carrying the baby to term (69-94%) instead of aborting. Chile is a model of successful efforts to reduce maternal mortality while protecting the lives of unborn children.