Volume 1, Number 36

June 19, 1998

International Criminal Court Debate Begins In Rome: Feminists Face First Setback

By Austin Ruse

     (NEW YORK - C-FAM) Libya moved aggressively Wednesday afternoon in Rome to check the controversial notion of "enforced pregnancy" which is being debated as part of the proposed International Criminal Court (ICC). The five-week conference began this Monday and is expected to draw representatives of 185 countries to participate in what many view as one of the most significant international discussions in decades.  

     ICC negotiators hope to create a permanent legal entity that, some say, could better investigate and prosecute war criminals than ad hoc courts, like the tribunals currently investigating the atrocities committed in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. But pro-life and pro-family lobbyists warn that feminist activists intend also to use the court as a tool for imposing their anti-life and anti-family agendas on traditional-minded societies. 

     International pro-life advocates are most concerned with the inclusion of the term "enforced pregnancy" in two separate contexts in the ICC articles dealing with "war crimes." Insisted upon by the feminist Women's Caucus lobbyists, "enforced pregnancy" and its synonym "forced pregnancy" are code words for a denial of access to abortion on demand. If the language survives into a final ICC statute, it could be utilized by a feminist-dominated court to strike down the national prohibitions against abortion that currently exist in many predominantly Catholic and Muslim nations. 

     On Wednesday, several countries registered objections to "enforced pregnancy" when it came up for debate before the Committee of the Whole, the body charged with negotiating the final text of the ICC treaty. As a result, delegations agreed to refer the matter to an "informal working group" for debate later in the conference. Such an "informal working group" joins a much smaller number of participants than the Committee of the Whole. 

     The objections raised by Libya's delegate before the Committee of the Whole highlight the legal hazards that would inevitably ensue following the inclusion of an "enforced pregnancy" reference. The Libyan noted that rape is already a recognized war crime, so the addition of "enforced pregnancy" can only serve to make the resulting condition of pregnancy a crime as well. However, she continued, that would immediately place many countries in an impossible legal position, since any termination of the criminalized condition of "enforced pregnancy" will necessitate an abortion--an action which is itself a grave criminal act under the laws of many religiously-based societies. 

     The referral of the enforced-pregnancy issue to an informal working group signified a major setback for the UN feminists, who argued that it was agreed-upon language and not open for reconsideration. But pro-life lobbyists stress that the battle is far from over, because the feminist contingent in Rome is powerful and well-placed, with Women's Caucus members installed on a number of key delegations, including the US and Canada

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