The United Nations Human Rights Committee is pushing for greater acceptance of abortion – ironically in the name of the right to life!
The Committee drafted its official interpretation of the right to life in Geneva on 1 and 2 November.
According to the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), this interpretation, called the General Comment, has considerable influence over member states.
Several Committee members seized the opportunity to extend abortion rights, including those from France, the USA and Tunisia. Only the German representative tried to defend “the legitimate interest for states’ parties to protect the life of the foetus”, which is still acknowledged by the European Court of Human Rights.
The debate focused on women’s rights, ignoring the unborn, and the draft General Comment declared that abortion should be “safe, legal and affordable”, without any real conditions or time limitations. The Tunisian representative even stated that legal abortion “is at the heart of the issue of the right to life”!
The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities retaliated that “laws which
explicitly allow for abortion on grounds of impairment violate the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”.
Discussion of the draft General Comment will continue in March, when assisted suicide and euthanasia will also be debated in the name of the right to life.
In October, the ECLJ submitted to the Human Rights Committee a memorandum in defence of pro-life views, with a petition signed by more than 130,000 people.