Pro-abortion elitists joined pro-abortion
NGOs from throughout Europe in Paris for a conference—A Strong Start—Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights in the 2030 Agenda hosted by French IPPF
affiliate Le Planning Familial with attendance by French and UN officials. The
goal of the conference was “to ensure
that the SRHR community is ready to effectively engage in the implementation,
follow-up and review of the SDGs, and strategically use them to advance our
advocacy on SRHR in a global perspective.”
A featured speaker on 2030 Agenda was the
Executive Director of UNFPA, Babatunde Osotimehin, who tweeted: “We won’t succeed in achieving the
#GlobalGoals without continuing to advance the #SRHR agenda #EURONGOS2016” and
“From a #humanrights perspective, a girl who becomes #pregnant—regardless of the circumstances—is one whose #rights are undermined.”
UNFPA’s Nordic Office quoted Babatunde on
the popular theme of working directly with national governments: @BabatundeUNFPA #eurongos2016 “We need to
advocate for governments to advance #SRHR.”
Arthur Erken, Director of UNFPA's Division of Communications
and Strategic Partnerships also presented on the 2030 Agenda. Twitter provides
insight into his remarks: @arthurerken: the US Congress has
unbelievable impact on #srhr globally; The #SRHR agenda is under
threat, we urgently need to reach out those that are not with us
@ArthurErken @UNFPA#EuroNGOs2016;@arthurerken says we need to do a
lot more work to build support for #SRHR and to counter growing opposition.French Minister of Families, Children and
Women’s Rights, Ms. Laurence
Rossignol, set social media
abuzz with her venomous anti-prolife words. Tweets included:Bold speech by Minister Families,
Children &Women’s Rights: groups fighting abortions=militants
seeking control of women’s bodies #EuroNGOs2016 and French min talks of need of EU
countries to abide by basic rights such as right to safe abortion #srhr #SDGs #EuroNGOs2016.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs and
International Development hosted a side event to launch the French
Strategy on Population and Sexual and Reproductive health and Rights 2016-2020.
The elitist plan targets countries in Africa for advance of SRHR with promotion
of access to abortion a major feature including through financial support to
US-based abortion activist NGO Ipas: “support
for Ipas to improve access to safe abortion in francophone countries in West
Africa” and the need for continued funding to Ipas to include abortion in
health systems: “More resources will be
necessary to re-energize efforts to include comprehensive abortion care in
health systems across West Africa.”
UNFPA is partnering with France on the
strategy: “UNFPA is a strategic partner
for France on issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights, especially
in francophone Africa.” Babatunde tweeted: “Pleased
to be in Paris for the launch of new #SRHR Strategy, which shows France's leadership on #development issues. @FranceONU @FranceDiplo
The French Strategy is very clear on its
intent to seek broader access to abortion and its inclusion in health systems:
“Intensify political dialogue on access
to safe, legal abortions in multilateral bodies as well as in bilateral
dialogue with partners. Respecting women’s rights requires access to a full
range of high-quality reproductive health services, including safe abortion
services for unwanted pregnancies. Abortion is legal under certain conditions
in most francophone countries in West Africa. However, in practice, access to
abortion is rare and it is often not included in public health care services.”
Jean-Louis Ville, Acting
Director Human Development and Migration, Directorate-General
for International Cooperation and Development for the European Commission also
spoke during the session on the 2030 Agenda. A tweet undoubtedly related to his
remarks states: “#EURONGOS2016 European Commission is
reviewing Cotonou agreement in context Agenda 2030 and have different focus
based on current process.”
A number of the sessions
and issues discussed can be viewed as an encouragement and motivation for
the work of life and family advocates in Europe including Exploring What’s at Stake: Can Europe Maintain Its Progressive Stance
on SRHR? with presentations by Petra de Sutter, Senator and Member of
Council of Europe and Jon O’Brien, President ‘Catholics for Choice’.
During the discussion, “What can we do to realize reproductive
rights? Pro-choice advocacy in a time of increasing opposition”, Ipas
shared the various ways it promotes abortion in different contexts. Questions that were posed: Are we shying away from pushing sexual
rights and abortion in international development? What can we collectively do
to overcome the perceived obstacles? And how can we support our partners in the
Global South in their pro-choice advocacy?
EuroNGOs Chair Tania Dethlefsen explained
the urgency of the conference and the issues challenging SRHR activists:
“Ensuring
that the SRHR
agenda is fully
implemented, both inside
and outside of the
new goals, will
require broad-based progressive
support…Europe’s united and progressive voice is needed more than ever to
maintain a strong push for a clear SRHR agenda within this new global
development architecture.”
“However,
European support for SRHR in the future is by no means guaranteed. The rise of conservative parties shows that
we cannot take hard-won gains on sexual and reproductive health for granted.”
“The
opportunities presented by the SDG framework must be seized upon to galvanise
action and achieve transformative change. At times when we face barriers,
obstacles of polarising issues, let us not forget the urgency and importance of
this agenda.
“…
most importantly let’s plan for collective action.”
Twitter provides additional insight into
the discussions:
- Anti-choicers
co-opt lang of human rights, forging advocacy entry points and positioning pro-choice orgs as anti-human
rights
- Push
for consensus in post-Brexit EU dampens support for sexual and reproductive rights
- We
can’t change the world form inside the UN. Advocacy needs to be done at Country level
- Growth
of Rel fundamentalism opposition to #abortion #cse #LGBT issues is going to be a challenge
- #EuroNGOs2016: concerns over rising
oppo to #SRHR & decreased funding 4 European
#advocacy
- How
to address the role of conservative countries in Europe
- Human rights activists need to stop
preaching from the pulpit and do practical work with MPs
PNCI notes that the struggle for developing
countries to maintain national sovereignty on abortion is sure to increase as
pro-abortion elitists continue their efforts to hijack the 2030 Agenda.