Since an international "right" to abortion doesn't exist, a number of countries recently corrected a United Nations official when he argued the contrary.
Anand Grover, special rapporteur for health at the U.N., recently noted in his report to the delegats of the U.N. Third Committee an "international right" to abortion, and he chastised countries where abortion is illegal or limited. But his announcement sparked immediate reaction from several countries, according to Wendy Wright of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM).
"These delegates pushed back and they put him in his place and said that there is no international right to abortion and that he has gone beyond his authority in trying to reprimand countries for simply trying to protect their women and children from abortion," she reports.
A delegate from Swaziland, for example, noted that the world is suffering from a number of health concerns like hunger and disease, and she criticized Grover for including a "non-existent" right to abortion within the right to health. Wright supports that argument, as she points out that pregnancy is not an illness.
"The fact that these governments spoke out quite strongly at the U.N. when this 'right' was claimed is encouraging," she admits. "These governments are not going to allow these U.N. officials to go beyond their authority and try to browbeat countries into allowing abortion in their countries."
The Egyptian delegation also criticized Grover, and Chile emphasized that there is a universal right to life for all human beings. Abortion was legal in Chile until 1989, and after its criminalization, maternal mortality decreased. So the C-FAM spokesperson concludes that that country's history proves that criminalizing abortion does not negatively affect the health of women.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
