Only Two Countries Support U.S. Declaration That Right to Abortion Not Established in 1995 U.N. Women's Rights Platform

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 03 Mar 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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As of Monday at a... United Nations review of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, only Egypt and Qatar had indicated support for a U.S. amendment that would clarify that the 1995 conference platform does not include a right to abortion or create any new international human rights, the Los Angeles Times reports (Farley, Los Angeles Times, 3/1). Participants at the Beijing conference adopted a platform stating that abortion should be safe in places where it is legal and that criminal charges should not be filed against any woman who undergoes an illegal abortion. The platform also stated that women have the right to "decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality ... free of coercion, discrimination and violence." Ahead of this year's review, the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women -- which organized the two-week meeting expected to be attended by delegates from more than 100 countries and more than 6,000 women's rights advocates -- proposed a declaration asking the participating countries to reaffirm progress toward the Beijing platform. However, Bush administration representatives said the United States would not sign on to the declaration because of concerns that the platform classified legal abortion as a human right and on Friday proposed an amendment that would reaffirm U.S. commitment to the platform and declaration "while reaffirming that they do not create any new international human rights and that they do not include the right to abortion" (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 2/28). In addition to Egypt and Qatar, Vatican City, which has observer status at the United Nations, said it supported the U.S. amendment, London's Guardian reports (Goldenberg, Guardian, 3/1). However, most other countries' delegations on Monday said that the platform did not imply a right to abortion and were "wary" of "opening the document up to reinterpretation," according to the Times (Los Angeles Times, 3/1). The final declaration is expected to be put before delegates on Friday, according to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Ellen Sauerbrey.

NGOs 'Hijacking' Right to Abortion, U.S. Delegate Says
Sauerbrey on Monday at the meeting said that the Bush administration is concerned that nongovernmental organizations "are attempting to assert that Beijing in some way creates or contributes to the creation of an internationally recognized fundamental right to abortion" (Lederer, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 3/1). She added, "There is no fundamental right to abortion. And yet it keeps coming up largely driven by NGOs trying to hijack the term and trying to make it into a definition" (Leopold, Reuters, 2/28). Kyung-wha Kang, chair of the meeting, said that the declaration supporting the Beijing platform is a "policy document" and "not a human rights convention," adding, "It should not be seen as creating any new human rights" (Los Angeles Times, 3/1).

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/repro The Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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