Colombia Court Relied on Faulty Pro-Abortion Papers to Allow Some Abortions

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 9, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Colombia Court Relied on Faulty Pro-Abortion Papers to Allow Some Abortions Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 9
, 2007

Bogota, Colombia (LifeNews.com) — When Colombia’s highest court ruled last May that abortions could be done in rare cases of rape or incest of if the baby has severe physical deformities, it appeared to have relied on faulty pro-abortion documents to make its decision. That’s according to a pro-life group that lobbies at the United Nations.

The Colombia Supreme Court weakened the country’s pro-life law by changing it from a complete ban on abortions.

But the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute says the decision came after the court consulted documents from a pro-abortion group that misinterpreted international law.

Abortion advocates such as Monica Roa, the pro-abortion attorney who brought the case before the court, hailed it’s decision. Yet, Roa had been employed at the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights from 2000 to 2002.

CRR is one of the leading pro-abortion groups seeking to get pro-life countries to change their pro-life laws.

As the pro-life organization reports, the court relied on papers from CRR regarding various UN documents and treaties that misconstrued them to make it appear Colombia had to legalize some abortions.

C-FAM obtained the 650 page legal decision from the Colombia court and reported in its Friday Fax that it "repeatedly cites international treaties, United Nations conference outcome documents and other international documents that are routinely misread by the radical NGOs as protecting abortion rights."

The group says one particular concern is how the court included the entire text of an opinion form the Attorney General of Colombia in its decision.

"The Attorney General’s opinion states that Colombia is bound by the recommendations of UN compliance committees," C-FAM indicated, including the CEDAW treaty committee.

That committee has repeatedly pressured pro-life nations to change their abortion laws and recently chided Colombia for not legalizing enough abortions.

The Friday Fax report says the attorney general should never have relied on the CEDAW treaty to promote abortion.

"The CEDAW treaty is silent on abortion and silent even on ‘reproductive health,’ the phrase that is stealthily used to promote abortion," it says.

"The Attorney General also cites opinions of the UN Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, all of which advise nations to move towards legalized abortion even though these treaties are also silent on abortion," the group added.

The 5-3 ruling by the Colombia court put the nation’s abortion law in line with most other South American nations, which prohibit abortion but allow them in the rare cases.

El Salvador and Chile are now the only Latin American nations to completely prohibit abortions.

Related web sites:
C-FAM – https://www.c-fam.org