By Jeanne E. Head, R.N., Vice President for International Affairs

Overview

The National Right to Life Educational Trust Fund, which has Special Consultative Status as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with the UN Economic and Social Council—a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly—has been playing a major role since 1994 in promoting pro-life policies at the UN, including the so far successful struggle to prevent the UN from establishing abortion as a fundamental human right worldwide.

The struggle began at the 1994 Cairo Conference on Population and Development and has continued at numerous critical United Nations’ forums in New York, Geneva, and in other venues throughout the world such as Beijing, Bali, Bangkok, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Mexico City, San Juan, Rome, and Istanbul.

In addition to the Cairo Conference, these have included the 1995 Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women and the World Summit on Social Development; the 1996 Istanbul Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and the Rome World Food Summit; the 2002 World Summit for Children; the five- and ten-year General Assembly reviews of these and other conferences (such as the 2002 Johannesburg Summit for Sustainable Development and the 2005 review of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals); treaty negotiations on the International Criminal Court, Cloning and Disability;, as well as the yearly meetings of the UN General Assembly, the Commission on the Status of Women, the Commission on Population and Development, the Commission on Social Development in New York, the Human Rights Council (formerly the Commission on Human Rights), and the World Health Assembly in Geneva.

As a part of the Pro-Life and Pro-Family Coalition at the UN, NRL representatives played a central role in assisting the Bush Administration and other pro-life countries in the over three-year battle that culminated in the adoption of the historic UN Declaration calling on member states to ban all forms of human cloning (March 8, 2005) and in the four years of meetings that led to the adoption in December 2006 of the UN International Convention (Treaty) on the protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. For the first time in any UN Treaty Document it included a clause that states that nations “...shall: Prevent discriminatory denial of health care or health services or food and fluids on the basis of disability.”

Persons representing NRL at these UN meetings, in addition to myself, have been NRLC President Wanda Franz, Ph.D., American Victims of Abortion Director Olivia Gans, Hispanic Outreach Director Raimundo Rojas, NRLC At-Large Director Wayne Cockfield, NRLC Field Director Holly Miller Smith, and Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life Executive Director Scott Fischbach.

In addition to her participation in several UN Conferences, Dr. Franz plays a major role in National Right to Life’s international programs in meetings with leaders from around the world. Mr. Cockfield was particularly effective with his expertise and personal testimony during negotiations for the Disability Convention.

Mr. Rojas has been very effective with the Spanish-speaking countries which have been a target of the pro-abortionists. Miss Gans’ special skills in communication and languages have been great assets during negotiations at these UN meetings. Mrs. Smith did such a good job of helping organize the pro-life youth in the Youth Caucus of the Child Summit that they outnumbered and out maneuvered the pro-abortion youth who subsequently disbanded the Caucus rather than be led by the pro-life youth. Mr. Fischbach has provided invaluable assistance, focusing particularly on the pro-life African countries who are being pressured to legalize abortion.

Update

Achieving our pro-life goals at UN meetings has become increasingly more difficult since the January 2009 dramatic reversal in U.S. policy. Hostile U.S. delegations, led by President Obama’s Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, appear determined to pursue her husband’s unfulfilled 1994 goal of making abortion a fundamental human right worldwide through these numerous UN meetings. Just as we did during the Clinton Administration, we have to rely on the help of the many countries that have laws protecting unborn children.

In addition, newly empowered and with renewed funding, already well-funded pro-abortion NGOs such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the UNFPA have dramatically increased their activities. They are holding numerous meetings leading up to the 15-year reviews of the Cairo and Beijing Conferences, and appear to be restricting attendance by pro-life NGOs. For example, the applications of all but three pro-life NGO’s (including mine) were rejected by the UNFPA- and IPPF-sponsored NGO Forum on sexual and reproductive health held in Berlin September 2-4, 2009.

The pro-abortion forces at the UN do not give up. Even before negotiations started at the 1996 Istanbul Conference the pro-life delegate from Pakistan, who chaired the main meeting, told us that they (the pro-abortionists) have an agenda and they won’t give up until they get what they want. He added, “We have to stop them.” He was absolutely right.

So far we have held them back, but the battle goes on.

Jeanne E. Head, RN, a retired labor and delivery nurse, is National Right to Life’s UN Representative and Vice President for International Affairs.

Part One