Annan supports of abortion advocates, raises questions of objectivity: C-FAM

Mar 4, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The UN Secretary General called an international coalition that advocates abortion on demand for women and girls a “shining example”, adding that the world would be a better place if more organizations, similar to it, existed, reported C-FAM, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute.

Kofi Annan made these comments as part of his acceptance speech for an award he received from the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC) at a gala evening in January.

“I want to pay tribute to the International Women’s Health Coalition for the work it is doing around the globe,” said Annan in his speech. “The IWHC and its partners provide indispensable leadership for the health and rights of girls and women worldwide. If there were more pioneers like you, the world would be a better place…. You are a shining example.”

He concluded by calling the staff of IWHC “wonderful partners of the United Nations family.”

The IWHC has been known to teach abortion advocates how to skirt laws that restrict abortions to cases where it is considered necessary to save the life of the mother, reported C-FAM. In these cases, IWHC recommends that abortion providers simply “adopt a broader definition of what constitutes a threat to a woman’s life by considering the risk of death if she seeks a clandestine procedure.”

IWHC also encourages the radical reinterpretation of UN human rights documents. For instance, according to IWHC, the right to life, guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should include the right to abortion, since women who seek illegal abortions risk their lives.

IWHC has also praises the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) for providing chemical abortifacients and early abortion devices in refugee settings, such as manual vacuum aspiration equipment.

In its report, C-FAM vice-president Douglas Sylva said: “Annan’s enthusiastic acceptance of the award raises renewed questions about the objectivity of Annan, and the UN secretariat in general, which is responsible for organizing major conferences on international social policy.”