Bill to Condemn UN Pressuring Nations to Legalize Abortions Gains Support
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 26, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A resolution asking Congress to condemn two United Nations committees for trying to pressure Ireland and other pro-life nations to legalize abortions is gaining support. Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican from Alabama, has signed his name onto the bill and is encouraging the House to move it forward.
As LifeNews.com previously reported, Rep. Thad McCotter, a Michigan Republican, is behind the resolution to rebuke the UN for coercing the Irish people on abortion.
McCotter introduced the resolution along with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Chris Smith of New Jersey and now other members of the House are signing on to support it.
The resolution, HR 1482, condemns “the efforts of the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations and the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to pressure and coerce the democratically elected government of the Republic of Ireland to reduce or eliminate its constitutionally established abortion restrictions."
“The rights of the unborn continue to be of the utmost concern to me,” Aderholt said in a statement supporting the measure.
“I have co-sponsored this resolution because I strongly disagree with the efforts of the United Nations Human Rights Committee in pressuring Ireland and other countries to reduce their restrictions on abortion. All life is precious and should be protected,” he added.
The measure has been referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, but the panel isn’t expected to take up the bill anytime soon because it is under the control of abortion advocates, who also control the House and Senate and expect to add to their numbers after the elections.
The resolution complains that members of Human Rights Committee and the CEDAW operate without any formal oversight and are entirely unaccountable to the United Nations and its member states.
It also accuses the members of the committees of trying to change the meaning of and text of the CEDAW treaty to make it appear to support abortion and require its legalization.
Citing five occasions on which the UN pressured Ireland to legalize abortions, the resolution also says the UN has pressured dozens of other nations as well.
"The established pattern of pressure and attempted coercion from the Human Rights Committee and the CEDAW against the democratically elected government of the Republic of Ireland to change its laws restricting abortion represents a microcosm of the efforts of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty System (with the present exception of the Committee on Migrant Workers) to pressure and coerce over 80 states to change their laws restricting abortions," it says.
The document also calls into question the use of taxpayer funds to finance United Nations activities.
It also "urges countries with restrictions on the practice of abortion to remain steadfast in the time-honored traditions and verities of their cultures, which recognize that every human being, born or unborn, has an inherent right to life, despite the pressure and coercion by the members of the United Nations."
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