The UN and abortion

Last Sunday we commented on the declaration of our bishops criticising the attempt of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to pressure Malta into legalising abortion.

A few months ago many were predicting that the European Union would try to get us to legalise abortion. It is ironical that now it turned out that the United Nations would try to pressure us to do so. A Christian Outlook has pointed to this danger before the referendum but many preferred to follow their political agenda and ignore what we said.

A United Nations committee has urged two of the five countries in the world which prohibit all abortions to legalise the practice. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights ruled that Chile and Malta should allow abortion in cases of rape and incest.

The committee is set up to monitor compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). Like all other UN documents, the CESCR does not officially contain clauses requiring the the legalisation of abortion.

Commenting on the UN abortion push, Jorge Reyes, the lawyer and co-ordinator for the Chilean Pro-Life Network, told LifeSiteNews.com that the committee of "experts" was acting beyond its competence. "They are not allowed to interpret the Convention," Reyes said.

The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is not the only UN committee putting pressure in favour of abortion. At the beginning of November the Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) concluded a review of Poland's compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and demanded that the mostly Catholic nation "liberalise" its abortion laws.

The UN committee, composed of 18 human rights "experts" from various countries, met Polish officials on October 27 and 28, making its observations and recommendations on November 4.

The statement of the UNHRC is particularly blunt in demanding that Poland legalise abortion. "The state party should liberalise its legislation and practice on abortion."

The committee reiterated its "deep concern about restrictive abortion laws in Poland" and also pushed contraception and sex education. "The state party should assure the availability of contraceptives and free access to family planning services and methods.

"The Ministry of Education should ensure that schools include accurate and objective sexual education in their curricula," the report said .

Lech Kowalewski, spokesman for the Polish Federation of Pro-life Movements, said the report was a "UN attack on the sovereignty of Poland". He was concerned that the UN report may encourage the Polish government to adopt a pro-abortion bill now under consideration.

Malta is represented on this committee by Judge Franco Depasquale.

Does the position of the UNHRC imply that they will take a similar position whenever they are asked to review Malta's compliance with the ICCPR?

While last week we congratulated the Bishops on their stand. Today we would like to congratulate the Maltese government on its consistent pro-life stand in all international fora. Our government's position was positively recognised by the Vatican and it was also praised by the Maltese bishops. A reference in this respect would not have been amiss in their recent statement.