by Stefano Gennarini, J.D.
New York, NY (CFAM) — The committee that monitors the UN’s women’s treaty is famous for its extravagant opinions. Nowhere is its commitment to radical policies more explicit than when dealing with abortion.
Even as the General Assembly is scrutinizing its work, the CEDAW committee, which monitors the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence Against Women, is promoting abortion in a controversial new general recommendation on women in situations of conflict.
The committee asks countries, unequivocally and categorically, to ensure that “safe abortion services” become a part of “sexual and reproductive health care” for women in war-torn areas. The newly released general recommendation is for all countries that are party to the women’s treaty.
The committee has already instructed countries to change their abortion laws on over 100 occasions, even though the treaty is silent on the issue. For twenty years it asked countries to repeal criminal sanctions, expand the circumstances where abortion is legal, and eliminate conscience rights for health providers. But the committee had never spoken so plainly about its intentions as in the new comment.
The new development reflects the influence exerted on the committee by the UN human rights bureaucracy, in particular, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The high commissioner recommends that a “human rights approach” to reduce maternal mortality must include legal abortion.
article continues at http://www.lifenews.com
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