Aug 26, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In a victory for advocates of the unborn, the latest draft of a UN document to protect the rights of people with disabilities contains strong language condemning state-mandated abortions on the basis of "pre-natal diagnosis of disability," reported the Friday Fax.
Article 8 of the draft document reads: "States Parties shall undertake effective measures to the prohibition of compulsory abortion at the instance of the State, based on pre-natal diagnosis of disability."
It also says that "States Parties recognize and protect the inherent right to life of all persons with disabilities” and that "disability is not a justification for the termination of life."
A UN committee is in the middle of a two-week negotiation over the final details of the International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, according to the Friday Fax, a publication of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute. The document is not expected to be complete for another year.
Article 14 of the document states that persons with disabilities must be allowed the right to an abortion.