U.S. encourages U.N. member nations to uphold life, reject policy tricks using abortion euphemisms

HHS Sec. Alex Azar

This email from a friend in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services outlines the bold and right stance that U.S. leaders are taking at the United Nations regarding the value of early human life:

On Tuesday, President Trump spoke to the 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and boldly asked the nations to resist efforts to include abortion language (also known as “sexual and reproductive health rights” (#SRHR)) into the U.N.’s Universal Health Coverage promotion:

Americans will never tire of defending innocent life. We are aware that many United Nations projects have attempted to assert a global right to taxpayer-funded abortion on demand, right up until the moment of delivery. Global bureaucrats have absolutely no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that wish to protect innocent life. Like many nations here today, we in America believe that every child, born and unborn, is a sacred gift from God.

 

Preceding this historic event, Alex M. Azar II (Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services) and Mike Pompeo (U.S. Secretary of State) also made history in July by being the first secretaries to write a joint letter to many member nations encouraging them to join the U.S. in standing for life at all ages and stages.

Excerpt of their letter:

The United States appreciates our longstanding partnership in many global health areas. As a key priority in global health promotion, we respectfully request that your government join the United States in ensuring that every sovereign state has the ability to determine the best way to protect the unborn and defend the family as the foundational unit of society vital to children thriving and leading healthy lives. We remain gravely concerned that aggressive efforts to reinterpret international instruments to create a new international right to abortion and to promote international policies that weaken the family have advanced through some United Nations fora. …

We do not support references to ambiguous terms and expressions, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights in U.N. documents, because they can undermine the critical role of the family and promote practices, like abortion, in circumstances that do not enjoy international consensus and which can be misinterpreted by U.N. agencies.

 

The letter paid off. On Sept. 24, Secretary Azar, along with 19 nations representing 1.3 billion people, released a joint statement (excerpt below):

Such terms do not adequately take into account the key role of the family in health and education, nor the sovereign right of nations to implement health policies according to their national context. There is no international right to an abortion and these terms should not be used to promote pro-abortion policies and measures.

Further, we only support sex education that appreciates the protective role of the family in this education and does not condone harmful sexual risks for young people.

We therefore request that the U.N., including U.N. agencies, focus on concrete efforts that enjoy broad consensus among member states. To that end, only documents that have been adopted by all Member States should be cited in U.N. resolutions.

…

In summary, we have outlined four key principles driving the administration:

1. The Trump Administration is pro-life;
2. There is no “international right” to abortion;
3. U.N. agencies and bureaucrats should not intimidate or pressure other nations into accepting abortion policies; and
4. Nations have a sovereign right to make their own laws.

Finally, here are helpful resource links for those who desire to help amplify these exciting events:

• President Trump’s Speech to the UN General Assembly
• July Letter to the UN from Secretaries Azar and Pompeo
• 19 Nations Statement at the UNGA (Increased to 21 nations as of Sept. 25)
• HHS’ Office of Global Affairs
• The Protection of Life in Global Health Policy (PLGHP) assures proper oversight of taxpayer dollars, while helping to protect the dignity of every life, born and unborn.
• The Protection of Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) is an expanded version of the Mexico City Policy (See Presidential Memorandum – Jan. 23, 2017 directing Departments of State and HHS, as well as USAID.
• Interagency PLGHA FAQs

U.S. advocates at U.N. for international religious freedom

An email received from a friend in the White House summarizes this historic advocacy:

"Today, President Trump became the first President to convene a meeting on religious freedom at the UN. He was surrounded by survivors of religious persecution from around the globe, civil society leaders, religious leaders, US business executives, US administration officials (Secretary Pompeo, Ambassador Brownback, and many others), members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), and members of the faith community. Over 130 UN Heads of State and Delegations, as well as UN Secretary Gutierrez, attended the event to hear the President address this crucial issue.

As many of you know, there is no better time for a meeting like this one. More than 80 percent of the world’s population live in nations where religious freedom is threatened or banned. We see people being persecuted for their religious beliefs at an alarming rate. Right now in China, one million Muslim Uyghurs are imprisoned simply because of their faith. In Iran, the persecution of Christians, Sunnis, Bahai’i, and Jews continues. And in Burma, the military continues to target Rohingya Muslims and Christians with discrimination and violence.

Houses of worship – sacred places that should never be a place of violence – have seen unspeakable tragedies in the past year. In Sri Lanka, 300 Christians were murdered during Easter services. In New Zealand, 51 men, women, and children were brutally killed while attending mosque. And in Pittsburgh and Poway, faithful Jewish communities faced deadly and cowardly anti-Semitic attacks.  

Around the world, religious prisoners of conscience continue to be imprisoned, detained, and disappear for their religious beliefs. The trend of religious intolerance is rising around the world.

Today, the President used the full weight of the US government and called out on the world’s stage that we must not ignore this frightening trend. Instead, he called for an end to discrimination and persecution of all people, of all faiths. America stands with believers in every country.

For those of you who were not able to watch it live, I have included the text of the President’s remarks from today, the Vice President’s remarks, and the video of the full event. I also included highlights of the President’s speech sent around by the WH Communications Team.

I hope you will consider sharing. And of course, I hope you will join the President and Vice President in their efforts to advance religious freedom around the globe.

Thank you.

“Today, I ask all nations to join us in this urgent moral duty. We ask the governments of the world to honor the eternal right of every person to follow their conscience, live by their faith, and give glory to God.” – President Donald J. Trump