U.S. Commits to Advancing Abortion around the World
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
 

Vice President Kamala Harris was one of the opening speakers at UN Women’s Generation Equality Forum taking place in Paris and virtually. She called for women to “have access to reproductive healthcare” and said that “we must fight for gender equality”.

The White House issued a detailed statement of commitments to the Forum stating that: “The Biden Administration is committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights in the U.S. and around the world.”

Under that premise, the White House committed that it would “Protect and advance sexual and reproductive health and rights” as one of its three areas of focus. The commitments were said to “reflect the Biden-Harris Administration’s domestic and global priorities” to which it would commit “policies and resources.”

The White House highlighted under the banner “Domestic efforts to protect and expand sexual and reproductive health and rights” the removal of the Hyde Amendment from the Biden budget, a bipartisan agreement which has prevented U.S. taxpayers from paying for elective abortion for the past 45 years. It stated that removal of Hyde reflects “the President’s support for expanding access to health care, including reproductive health care, through Medicaid and other federally-funded programs.”

At no point does the Biden White House use the word “abortion” in its commitments on reproductive health, including while writing about a policy centered on funding for abortion.

Under the banner of “International efforts to protect and expand sexual and reproductive health and rights” the White House noted the Presidential Memorandum issued on January 28, 2021 stated Biden’s intent “to protect and expand access to comprehensive reproductive health services and care”, which included rescinding the Mexico City Policy which prevented U.S. funds from going to international organizations that perform or promote abortion. Again, the word “abortion” is not mentioned.

The White House included as a commitment its proposal in the President’s FY 2022 budget request to resume “funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), including $56 million in the FY 2022 President’s Budget, a 72% increase over the FY 2021 enacted level. Funding for UNFPA would directly support the provision of sexual and reproductive health services in fragile contexts…”

Imitating an action taken by the Trump administration to unite countries on protection of life and family, the Biden administration highlighted that it will:

“Commit publicly with like-minded countries to a series of progressive meetings on continuing and expanding essential sexual and reproductive health service delivery on the margins of WHA and WHO regional committees, the UN General Assembly, World Economic Forum, and World Bank fall meetings, among others.”

Translation: the Biden administration will use its influence in international venues to expand access to abortion around the world.

The Forum is intended to secure commitments, especially financial and political commitments from governments and financial support from donors, for a “five-year journey designed to accelerate gender equality and a turning point in the international community’s commitment towards women’s rights.” 

Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality was launched at the Forum driven by six Action Coalitions, one of which is the Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Action Coalition headed by UNFPA and pro-abortion NGOs including International Planned Parenthood Federation.

The Plan includes a collective commitment on Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights which states: “Expanding access to safe abortion for all people who can become pregnant by influencing change in national legislation in as many countries as possible to ensure that abortion is decriminalized and that legal and policy barriers to abortion, including to self-managed abortion, are removed.”

Changes in law and policy on access to abortion are listed:

“Governments adopt and implement national laws, policies and guidelines to expand access to sexual and reproductive health services, including by expanding telemedicine, comprehensive family planning services, including over the counter delivery, and self-managed contraception and abortion care through implementation of WHO self-care guidelines. Remove regulatory and policy barriers that impede access to abortion to the full extent of the law, provide post-abortion care and enact reforms to legalize and decriminalize abortion.”

The ultimate goal of Generation Equality Forum is to “support removal of restrictive policies and legal barriers, ensuring 50 million more adolescent girls and women live in jurisdictions where they can access safe and legal abortion by 2026.”

UN Women announced that it expects Generation Equality Forum will “drive major policy reforms” and it expects it to generate over 40 billion dollars in new investments.

According to Reuters, “Melinda Gates said the Gates Foundation would direct $2.1 billion in new money to strengthening gender equality. More than half would go to sexual health and reproductive rights, while $100 million would be spent on helping get women into positions of power in government and the workplace.”

The Ford Foundation announced a commitment of $420 million over the next five years and hopes it will bring “critical resources to feminist movements and women's rights organizations addressing these global challenges.”

It is tragic that Generation Equality Forum seeks the destruction of members of the next generation in the guise of obtaining a distorted version of equality for themselves.

 

 


 


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