Pro-abortion
activists under the direction of Ipas have issued a declaration,
The Airlie Declaration for Safe Legal Abortion, calling for “universal access
to safe legal abortion” following a meeting near Washington, D.C. The declaration seeks to “repeal laws that
criminalize abortion and remove barriers on women’s and girl’s access to safe
legal abortion services” and to “make safe, legal abortion universally
available, accessible, and affordable for all women and girls.”
The declaration was signed by mostly leaders and
officials of pro-abortion organizations including Ipas, IPPF, Marie Stopes, and
the Global Fund for Women with very few government officials endorsing the
document. It was issued “against the backdrop of the
20-year review by the United Nations of the Program of Action of the 1994
International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo and global
debates about the post-2015 development agenda.”
This statement follows yet another defeat for pro-abortion
extremists at the recent meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
which issued an outcome document that in the context of ‘reproductive
rights’—which includes abortion—‘the significance of national and regional
particularities and various historical, cultural and religious background must
be borne in mind.’ This was a clear defeat for those activists who lobby for “universal
access to abortion”.
The target of the declaration is the next UN meeting,
the Commission on Population and Development, April 7-11, which will evaluate
progress on the ICPD Programme of Action which was enacted in Cairo in 1994.
Pro-abortion activists are frustrated that they have
not had any success during UN meetings to advance their agenda beyond the gains
made in Cairo in 1994. At the upcoming CPD countries will again likely debate whether
or not recognition of the right to sovereignty on laws on abortion or
recognition of cultural and religious backgrounds will be included in resolutions
or outcome documents.
The growing strength of countries at the United Nations
that oppose or restrict abortion is an encouragement to all who believe that
the child in the womb has a right to life and that her or his mother deserves
emotional and practical support.
This declaration is a sign of desperation to advance
the antiquated concept of ‘universal access to abortion’ throughout the world
while countries are increasingly moving in the opposite direction by upholding
laws and policies that protect the unborn child and his or her mother from the
violence of abortion. Countries with long histories of abortion on demand are
recognizing the negative consequences of legal abortion and are enacting
restrictions on abortion, including countries with high abortion rates such as
Russia.
Other countries are learning from science and medicine
that abortion causes pain to the unborn child and are acting to issue
restrictions on abortion past 20 weeks of pregnancy. And yet others are
appalled at the discrimination of sex selective abortion and are acting to
protect the youngest females in the womb by banning sex selection abortion.
PNCI notes that there is no universal right to
abortion, there is no recognized ‘right to abortion’ in any international treaty,
however, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) does state, “…the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special
safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth".
Laws against abortion provide special safeguards to the child before birth as
urged by the CRC.
Ipas and other pro-abortion NGOs are targeting the post
2015 global development agenda that will
set global UN priorities and budget goals for the future. Included in their ‘wish
list’ is advance of universal access to aboriton: “Ensure that government and
donor priorities for the post-2015 global development framework incorporate
safe, legal and accessible abortion as an integral component of gender equality
and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights”.
Out-dated slogans and arguments on abortion cannot hide
the fact that every abortion ends the life of a precious child and can have
harmful physical, emotional, or psychological consequences for the woman. Women
of the world deserve better. For starters, they deserve sustainable development
that helps them and their children to thrive. Abortion does nothing to meet
their needs.