To commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child, a UN treaty body, the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, has issued a statement affirming that "access... to safe and quality abortion is a human right under international law, and especially crucial for girls". The UN agency argues that unless young women have access to abortion, they will not be able to lead full lives or reach their full potential, and that unless widespread access to abortion is guaranteed, the debate on any other right may be worthless.
In another article I referred to how the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Irene Kahn, had published a report recommending that governments and social media companies silence those who express traditional views on marriage, abortion, sexuality and gender identity. And I'm sure if you keep tracking we can find many more examples of these kinds of decisions.
The drift that the UN has been taking for years and that various international institutions are joining is very worrying. France is taking steps to recognize abortion as a right in the constitutional text. The French deputies voted with a strange unanimity, by 337 votes in favor and only 32 against.
The recognition of abortion as a right at the highest level would be something really serious. Those of us who know that, as St. John Paul II said, 'the death of an innocent person can never be legitimized,' would be breaking a law and could be denounced or imprisoned simply for promoting this type of approach.
Do we realize the implication of all this?
It is disconcerting and clarifying to see how the UN is embarked on this kind of agenda, and it makes us see clearly the potential of those who are promoting this vision of the world and of society markedly removed from the natural order. An agenda that they want to impose on the whole world as a new ideological colonization, as Pope Francis denounces. Abortion is, for them, the cornerstone of their project. Unless life is also an inalienable principle for us, the UN and the powerful of this world will advance and impose their totalitarian project with all their strength, including that of the law.
It is true that, until now, no UN resolution or treaty has ever considered abortion as a human right. But these kinds of statements by various committees are paving the way toward that goal. Meanwhile various UN agencies, including UN Women, devote a disproportionate amount of time and resources to helping girls to have abortions, while commitments to improve their access to education, water, sanitation, food and other urgent humanitarian services are often put on the back burner.
It is urgent to become aware of the enormous challenge we face. The UN and those who promote this type of ideology advance without twisting their course. The time will come for the final blow in which the persecution of those of us who defend life will be direct and under the protection of the law. It will not be long now.
