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