Pro-Abortion Groups at UN Criticize Bush Resolution Promoting Women

Pro-Abortion Groups at UN Criticize Bush Resolution Promoting Women

by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
November 18, 2003

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-abortion non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations have called a U.S. resolution to boost the role of women in national governments "lip service" to women's rights, simply because it failed to promote abortion.

The resolution, which was adopted last week by the U.N. General Assembly’s Social Committee, drew criticism from 19 pro-abortion NGOs, who sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte.

The letter stated their displeasure with the resolution because of its failure to call for the ratification and implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

CEDAW refers to abortion as a "medical procedure … needed by women" and states that "it is discriminatory for a country to refuse to legally provide for the performance of certain reproductive health services for women."

The groups signing the letter included the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), the Center for Health and Gender Equity, and the Feminist Majority.

"[They] are all leaders in the struggle for an international right to abortion-on-demand for adolescents and women," said Douglas A. Sylvia of Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). "They have been pleased that the CEDAW Committee, the committee that oversees nations' compliance with the Convention, has repeatedly told nations to legalize abortion."

IWHC, for instance, states on its website that "our goal is to improve the availability and quality of safe abortion services, particularly given Bush administration policies and the increasingly conservative movements on this issue worldwide."

"CEDAW offers not only words, but an enforcement mechanism for implementing steps towards equality," including "numerical and timebound" quotas, according to the NGO’s letter, meaning that the Convention, and its agenda to make abortion more readily available, has the same binding power of international law.

Related Links:
Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute - http://www.c-fam.org


Enter your email address to receive news from LifeNews.com via email. Do you prefer to receive news daily or weekly? Daily Weekly Do you favor or oppose abortion? Favor Oppose Click here to make a PayPal donation to LifeNews.com!	Pro-Abortion Groups at UN Criticize Bush Resolution Promoting Women by Paul Nowak LifeNews.com Staff Writer November 18, 2003 New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-abortion non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations have called a U.S. resolution to boost the role of women in national governments "lip service" to women's rights, simply because it failed to promote abortion. The resolution, which was adopted last week by the U.N. General Assembly’s Social Committee, drew criticism from 19 pro-abortion NGOs, who sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte. The letter stated their displeasure with the resolution because of its failure to call for the ratification and implementation of the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW refers to abortion as a "medical procedure … needed by women" and states that "it is discriminatory for a country to refuse to legally provide for the performance of certain reproductive health services for women." The groups signing the letter included the International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC), the Center for Health and Gender Equity, and the Feminist Majority. "[They] are all leaders in the struggle for an international right to abortion-on-demand for adolescents and women," said Douglas A. Sylvia of Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM). "They have been pleased that the CEDAW Committee, the committee that oversees nations' compliance with the Convention, has repeatedly told nations to legalize abortion." IWHC, for instance, states on its website that "our goal is to improve the availability and quality of safe abortion services, particularly given Bush administration policies and the increasingly conservative movements on this issue worldwide." "CEDAW offers not only words, but an enforcement mechanism for implementing steps towards equality," including "numerical and timebound" quotas, according to the NGO’s letter, meaning that the Convention, and its agenda to make abortion more readily available, has the same binding power of international law. Related Links: Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute - http://www.c-fam.org