The Holy See has been vocal in its opposition to the promotion of abortion at the United Nations. Pope Francis in his video address to the UN General Assembly said, “Sad to say, some countries and international institutions are also promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic. It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child.”
In a statement delivered by Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Holy See expressed its concern over pressure at the United Nations to reinterpret “the very foundations of human rights and to compromise their inner unity so as to move away from the protection of human dignity and to satisfy political and economic interests.” The Holy See objected to what it views as an approach that “creates a hierarchy of human rights by relativizing human dignity and assigning more value and additional rights to the strong and healthy, while discarding the weak”.
Archbishop Caccia explained, “Such a tendency is particularly apparent in the refusal to recognize the inherent value and dignity of each and every human life at every stage. This failure to understand the nature and reality of human rights leads to grave inequalities and injustices, such as ignoring children in the womb and treating the lives of the elderly and persons with disabilities as insupportable burdens on society. Just as there is no right to abortion, there is also no right to euthanasia: “laws exist, not to cause death, but to protect life and to facilitate co-existence among human beings.”
The Holy See also expressed its deeply concern that “some countries and international institutions are promoting abortion as one of the so-called ‘essential services’ provided in the humanitarian response to the pandemic. It is troubling to see how simple and convenient it has become for some to deny the existence of a human life as a solution to problems that can and must be solved for both the mother and her unborn child.”
In remarks on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Women’s Conference, Ms. Francesca DiGiovanni, Undersecretary for the Multilateral Sector of the Section for Relations with States of the Holy See, raised concern in regards to women’s health and the push for so-called new rights stating that “women deserve better”. She said,
“Hundreds of millions of women and children lack basic health care and adequate nutrition and sanitation. Rather than investing resources to remedy those deficiencies and improve the overall health and wellbeing of women, some have overemphasized certain aspects of a women’s sexual and reproductive health, including the suppression of their capacity for motherhood. Others are constantly seeking recognition of so-called new rights, which are not found in the mandate of the Fourth World Conference nor in international human rights treaties: women deserve better. Their health must be cared for in a more holistic way, in particular, in those situations of emergency, where what sometimes is considered an “immediate solution” actually involves further violence, isolation and despair.”
The Holy See, as did the US, also objected to inclusion of the term “reproductive rights” in the UN resolution— Comprehensive And Coordinated Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic—issuing a reservation.
Archbishop Caccia said, “Finally, the Holy See considers it most unfortunate that the adopted resolution includes the deeply concerning and divisive reference to ‘sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights’ (OP7). In line with its reservations expressed at the international conferences held in Beijing and Cairo, the Holy See reiterates that it considers the phrase ‘reproductive health’ and related terms as applying to a holistic concept of health, which embraces the person in the entirety of his or her personality, mind and body. In particular, the Holy See rejects the interpretation that considers abortion or access to abortion, sex-selective abortion, abortion of fetuses diagnosed with health challenges, maternal surrogacy, and sterilization as dimensions of ‘reproductive health,’ or as part of universal health coverage.”