States 'Must' Legalize Abortion, Says U.N. Human Rights Committee

Jonathan Abbamonte
Population Research Institute

The Human Rights Committee at the United Nations Office in Geneva has adopted a radically pro-abortion document that could have lasting implications for pro-life laws worldwide.

The document, known as General Comment No. 36, is the first of its kind to declare that states "must" legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, health of the mother, and when the pregnancy "is not viable."

The General Comment also calls on nations to remove laws that impose criminal penalties on health care workers who perform illegal abortions, claiming that the mere enforcement of pro-life laws "compel[s] women and girls to resort to unsafe abortion." The Committee also declared that states "may not regulate" abortion in a manner that "compel[s]" women to resort to "unsafe abortion" and that states "should revise their abortion laws accordingly."

The document is an attempt by the Human Rights Committee to reinterpret Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which deals with the "right to life." The ICCPR is one of the most important and widely ratified international human rights treaties drafted through the U.N. system.

General Comment No. 36 seeks to reinterpret the "right to life" to mean that states "must provide…legal and effective access to abortion" under expansive terms. The adoption of the General Comment will inevitably provide pro-abortion activists in the U.N. system with sufficient grounds to place considerable pressure on pro-life countries to legalize abortion.

Population Research Institute article continues here

 

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