Volume 7, Number 25

June 11, 2004

Pro-Abortion Advocates Look to Regional Meetings to Stymie US

By Douglas A. Sylva, Ph.D.

     (NEW YORK - C-FAM) Perhaps feeling frustrated by the Bush administration's strong pro-life presence at international negotiations, pro-abortion advocates have adopted a strategy of using regional economic meetings to promote the worldwide legalization of abortion on demand. This strategy has been particularly prominent in Latin America, where a number of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) meetings have now focused upon population and abortion.

     In March, ECLAC members meeting in Santiago, Chile, endorsed a declaration that calls for nations to "recognize, promote and protect the right of adolescents and young people to access information, education and user-friendly sexual and reproductive health services." In multinational deliberations, "reproductive health services" include abortion.

     The document also refers to a specific paragraph in the International Conference on Population and Development five-year review document (ICPD +5) that states, "...in circumstances where abortion is not against the law, health systems should train and equip health-service providers and should take other measures to ensure that such abortion is safe and accessible." According to a pro-abortion member of the Bolivian delegation, Ximena Machiaco, this is a deliberate attempt to avoid the more neutral abortion language in the original ICPD Programme of Action and instead to reinforce this explicit promotion of abortion. According to Machiaco, "The declaration does introduce the issue of abortion when it talks about the causes of maternal mortality and morbidity.It does not refer directly to article 8.25 of the Programme of Action but to the ICPD +5 document, and this is an important precedent for the issue of abortion."

     Because of such actions, the United States withdrew its support for the declaration, stating that it could not approve language that could be "interpreted to constitute support, endorsement, or promotion of abortion or abortion-related services or the use of aboritfacients."

     In fact, it appears that there was a deliberate attempt to isolate and embarrass the US. In its explanation for its position, the US claimed that "the unusual procedures followed did not allow for a full debate on the outcome and, as a result, it was not possible for the conclusions of the meeting.to reflect a consensus."

     Machiaco was proud of this outcome, saying, "For the first time, all the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean were united on an issue of transcendent importance, isolating the hard-line, conservative position presented by the United States." She credited the "feminist members" of many of the delegations for this "victory."

     An ECLAC meeting is now taking place in Mexico City, and observers present at the meeting have told the Friday Fax that other "unusual" things are occurring, including uncertainty over whether debate on the draft document will be allowed. Another ECLAC meeting on this subject will take place at the end of this month in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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