United Nations Calls Access to Birth Control a “Human Right”

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 14, 2012   |   6:54PM   |   New York, NY

The United Nation’s Population Fund has issued an annual report describing access to birth control and contraception as a “universal human right” for “women and adolescents.”

The is the first time the UN agency has labeled birth control a right, although the report is not legally binding on any nations and does not affect or alter the laws of any country in any way. Still, the declaration is a concern for pro-life advocates, who are worried it is the first step towards the United Nations attempting to make abortion an international right.

In its report, the UNFPA also indicated it would spent another $4.1 billion on promoting contraception throughout the world — even though many of the poorest nations in the world are battling a need for basic food and water, shelter, and medicine. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. pays for 22 percent of the $5.15 billion budget for the UN.

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., Director and Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America’s Beverly LaHaye Institute, respond to the new report in comments to LifeNews.

“The UNFPA report is based on the proclamation that family planning is a ‘human right.’ It bluntly states that ‘ensuring universal access’ to family planning means challenging traditional and local practices – another way of saying that any disagreement is to be squelched, and that freedom of religion and freedom of speech are irrelevant when family planning ‘rights’ are at stake,” she said. “The UNFPA goals are justified by claiming that reducing unintended pregnancies would mean fewer abortions.”

Crouse continued: “Throughout the report, words like ‘all’ and ‘everyone’ pile up as the UNFPA declares their intent that ‘everyone’ in ‘all’ nations has a ‘human right’ for family planning and nothing can stand in the way of implementing UNFPA’s family planning goals around the world. This year, they especially stress the need for ‘family planning’ for ‘those who are young and unmarried.'”

Crouse told LifeNews: “The UNFPA offers economic reasons, but it focuses on what it calls the consequences of ignoring family planning: poverty, poor health and gender inequality and the ‘multiplier’ effect of empowering women by boosting their labor force participation. All these reasons constitute their basis for viewing family planning as a ‘human right,’ for raising billions of dollars, and urging that family planning be an integral part of nations’ development priorities.”

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“The UNFPA sees nothing wrong with forcing believers around the world to give up their deeply held, long-established religious convictions in order to grant someone else’s far-fetched, newly minted ‘human right.’ Women around the world want to be free from want, and they desire the opportunity for an education, while the U.N. talks about ‘family planning’ as a ‘human right,'” she concluded. “Many of the targeted nations are desperate for clean water and basic sanitation. Many women in the targeted nations lack basic health supplies, like aspirin and penicillin. Many women in those nations are affected by health problems (like female genital mutilation and obstetric fistulas) and safety issues (like sex trafficking and rape), and the U.N. sends condoms.”