Today the Untied Nations human rights committee issued an ironic attack on Ireland over its pro-life laws protecting the human rights of women and unborn children from abortion.
The UN said Ireland is undermining women’s rights by protecting unborn babies from abortion and that its law allowing abortions in very rare instances where the mother claims her own right to life would be in jeopardy because of a complicated pregnancy was confusing.
The UN said the Irish Constitution needed to be rewritten to allow for abortion and complained pregnant and suicidal women were put through an excessive degree of scrutiny compounding their mental distress if they sought an abortion.
In its report, the UN said: “The Committee reiterates its previous concern regarding the highly restrictive circumstances under which women can lawfully have an abortion in the State party owing to Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution and its strict interpretation.”
Pro-life campaigners responded to the report by saying the United Nations has no proper standing on human rights to be able to criticize Ireland.
The Pro Life Campaign has described the recent UN hearings on abortion in Geneva as a charade and says the UN’s partisan attitude in support of abortion completely undermines the credibility of today’s report on Ireland’s abortion laws by the UN’s Human Rights Committee. The Pro Life Campaign was one of the official NGOs represented at the HRC’s two day hearings in Geneva.
Commenting on today’s report, Pro Life Campaign’s Deputy Chairperson Cora Sherlock said:
“To be honest, I’m not the least bit surprised by today’s report. The recent hearings in Geneva were a complete charade from start to finish. The UN’s Human Rights Committee has shown itself to be incredibly biased on abortion and has not the slightest concern for the rights of unborn babies throughout the full nine months of pregnancy. That’s a serious charge to level at the UN but any fair-minded assessment of what happened at the recent hearings in Geneva could not conclude otherwise.
“The UN’s HRC has never raised even a murmur of concern about the horrific situation in countries like England where babies born alive after botched abortions receive no medical attention and are routinely left to die in corners. Likewise the HRC had nothing to say about the recent documented case where the remains of over 15,000 aborted babies were incinerated to heat hospitals in Britain or the fact that in Britain babies can be legally aborted up until birth on disability grounds. These are just three examples that highlight the lack of concern for the outrages surrounding legalised abortion.
Sherlock told LifeNews.com the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, 2007 commissioned by the UK Government, found that 66 infants survived NHS abortion attempts in hospitals in England and Wales during 2005. Instead of dying during the abortion procedure as intended, they survived and were able to breathe unaided. But they received no medical attention or care and were left in corners to die. One of the babies lived for ten hours.
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“The UN’s HRC knows perfectly well that Ireland, without abortion, was a world leader in safety for pregnant women. It knows too that the new abortion law in Ireland is not restrictive and allows abortion based on a threat of suicide without having to produce any medical evidence to back it up. But it suits the pro-choice agenda to present the new law as something different with a view to building momentum to have Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution repealed,” she said.
Sherlock concluded: “It’s an extraordinarily serious matter that a UN body like the HRC has zero regard for the rights of unborn babies. At the recent hearings in Geneva, the Government mounted a very lacklustre defence of Ireland’s right to decide on these matters. That’s simply not good enough. The HRC should be robustly challenged over its partisan stance on abortion and the Government should remind it that there is absolutely no requirement under international law to comply with its demands.”
