by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 2, 2005
The
Vatican (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic Church is warning counties
in Central and South America to be on the lookout for a United Nations
campaign run by a pro-abortion "Catholic" group masquerading
as an effort to support women's health.
The Vatican Secretary of State has asked the Catholic bishops in Latin American countries to watch out for an effort by the pro-abortion group “Catholics for a Free Choice” to gather signatures from religious leaders.
According to Catholic World News, the CFFC effort is intended to build support for a UN document advocating "reproductive health," a frequent euphemism for abortion. The document will be discussed at the Millennium +5 population conference taking place September 14-16 in New York.
The abortion advocacy group is using the conference as an effort to gather signatures for the document. Similar documents approved by member nations at the UN have used the term "reproductive health," but the Bush administration has secured an agreement from other countries that it will not be used to promote abortion.
Ellen Sauerbrey, the U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, told reporters in March that nations agreed abortion decisions should be made at the national and not the international level and not through the Beijing or Cairo population conference documents.
"I think one of the things that has been very clearly established that should give a lot of comfort to concerned Americans is that virtually every country said we interpret it the same as you -- we interpret that these are issues of national sovereignty," Sauerbrey said.
President Bush recently appointed Sauerbrey to become assistant secretary of state for population.
Responding
to the Vatican's request, CWN reports that the bishops conference in
Brazil issued its own statement calling on bishops worldwide to avoid
falling into CFFC's trap and signing the document.
