Governments Launch Pro-Life Declaration at United Nations

By | October 23, 2020

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo

WASHINGTON DC, October 23 (C-Fam) Governments from around the world launched a shot across the bow of UN abortion advocates in a document called the Geneva Consensus Declaration.

Signed by 32 countries, the Declaration says what pro-lifers have maintained for decades at the UN, that there is no global right to abortion and that abortion cannot be imposed by the UN because abortion is a matter of national sovereignty.

The Declaration asserts that abortion can never be used as a matter of family planning and that there is no international obligation for governments to pay for abortions.

The Declaration also repeats language from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state. By implication, fathers of the United Nations never considered that homosexuals could found a family. This is reflected even in the artwork of the Security Council which shows the wedding of a man and a woman.

The effort was led by the United States, specifically by staff members of the Department of Health and Human Services in collaboration with staff at the Department of State. Key players included Valerie Huber at HHS and Pam Pryor, Assistant Secretary at State.

The Declaration has long been in the planning stages and is the result of many months of meetings and arm-twisting, including at a key meeting hosted by Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar at Blair House earlier this year. At the time, Azar said, “I am sure you are all familiar with the constant drumbeat in the halls of the United Nations and the WHO to normalize the terms ‘sexual and reproductive health’ and ‘reproductive rights’. In this context it is increasingly becoming clear that some UN agencies and countries want this to mean an unfettered access to abortion, and we cannot let this thread to go on answered.”

At yesterday’s launch Azar called the signing of the Declaration “a high point of my tenure as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services…” He said the Declaration was “an historic document stating clearly where we as nations stand on women’s health, the family, honoring life, and defending national sovereignty.”

Secretary of State Pompeo pointed out the administration’s support of the pro-life cause internationally. “We in America believe that every child — born and unborn — is a sacred gift from God.” He also said the State Department will fully apply the law prohibiting the use of U.S. funds to lobby on abortion.

Nearly a dozen nations spoke from their places around the world including Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, and Uganda. Perhaps the strongest speech came from the Minister for the Family of Hungary, Katalin Novak, who said, “In the name of gender ideology, ideological neo-colonialism, and sex education there are efforts to devalue the traditional family, the institution of marriage, the blessing of having children.”

The document and the list of signatories is open for additional state signatures.

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