CLC’s Vice-President Matthew Wojcleckowski (right) together with Damares Alves, Brasilian Minister of Women, Family and Human Rights (centre) and Lilia Nunes dos Santos. Brazil’s Director of the Department of Promotion of Women’s Dignity (left).
While pro-life groups at the United Nations’ 63rdCommission on the Status of Women held events such as Protecting Femininity and Human Dignity in Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality Policies Today, “pro-choice” groups and countries covered topics such as “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Women and Girls of African Descent,” “Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) for Youth,” and “Transgender and Gender Non-Confirming People and Access to Public Services.”
Lasting from March 11 to 22, the Commission was a magnet for those with polar opposite views. The pro-life and pro-family events at the UN and other venues in New York City focused on the obligation to protect the human rights of all, especially the preborn and those with disabilities, and the role of the family in facilitating women’s empowerment. Hundreds were educated on Women’s Reproductive Health and Breast Cancer Risks, and Social Protections for Women, Girls and All Those with Down Syndrome in Commemoration of the International Down Syndrome Awareness Day.
Campaign Life Coalition joined Mexican pro-life organizations Be Human and Construye(the Regional Observatory for Women in Latin America and the Caribbean), in hosting an event titled: International Dialogue on Achieving Inclusive Societies through Life-Affirming & Family-Oriented Policies. The panelists, officials in Brazil’s Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, described the particular challenges they face – from their Supreme Court, fears about the Zika virus, illegal abortions, etc. – in their mission to preserve the lives of the preborn. Special guest Antônio Carlos Tavares De Mello, founder of Comunidade Jesus Menino, described his work adopting and raising abandoned children with special needs, many survivors of failed abortions. Three of his sons, who have travelled the world entreating religious and political leaders to protect life, were present, and two sang for the audience.
Brazil’s Assistant Secretary of the National Secretariat of Policies for Women, Roseane Cavalcante De Freitas Estrala, delivers a pro-life statement calling for the right to life, especially for children with special needs.
However, these life-affirming events were outnumbered by events pushing “sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR),” a common euphemism for abortion and contraception. The speakers at these events made clear that they were going to ensure access to abortion in countries around the world, whether those countries liked it or not. Their multifold strategy involves framing these issues as a matter of rights, not as mere utilitarian considerations in human and economic development, and making inroads into more resistant nations by forming relationships with sympathetic local organizations and individuals.
Belgium hosted an event featuring a Gabonese abortionist who trains others to commit illegal abortions in the country. At this event, titled, With One Voice for the Right to Abortion, panelists endorsed the Brussels Declaration, which “reaffirm(s) that freedom from forced motherhood is a fundamental human right” and “reject(s) any steps being taken towards granting a foetus legal personhood.”
During the side event Advancing Gender Equality and SRHR: the Role of National Human Rights Institutions, co-hosted by Georgia and the United Nations Population Fund, panelists revealed that these institutions are key actors in pushing the anti-life and anti-family agenda through litigation and “national inquiries”/”country assessments,” particularly in more conservative countries. There were representatives present from human rights commissions in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Northern Ireland. The Legal and Research officer of Northern Ireland’s Human Rights Commission, Sara Donnelly Clegg, described how her commission launched legal cases to allow homosexual and unmarried couples to adopt, and to liberalize the abortion law, the latter which they have not yet accomplished.
The following day, Fabio Verani, senior technical advisor for Gender Program Design and Implementation at CARE, a global humanitarian organization fighting poverty in part by pushing SRHR, asserted at the event Will We Reach the Gender-Related SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)? The Impact of Laws and Social Norms, that “long-term social change cannot be engineered.” At the same time, he said they were looking to connect young female activists in Africa with feminist mentors and should local community groups be resistant to the social change CARE seeks, CARE would “find the ones who are allies” in the hopes that they would influence fellow community leaders.
Canada is also front-and-centre in pro-abortion efforts. At a side event co-hosted by France, Canada, and CARE France, called, On the Way to Biarritz: Women’s Rights at the Heart of the G7 Summit,”praise was heaped on Justin Trudeau for creating the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, composed of activists like Katja Iversen and Melinda Gates. Though they were somewhat thwarted by the Trump administration last year, the groundwork has been laid for the next G7 summit in Biarritz, France. Iversen, panelist and president/CEO of Women Deliver, said they had “huge expectations.” She admitted that her organization is trying to liberalize the abortion law in countries where it’s restrictive, or at least facilitate access to abortion in those countries, even where it remains illegal and promoted the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, “the world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women,” which is taking place in Vancouver in June, and includes Canadian speakers Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie, former minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, and current Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality Maryam Monsef.
TheToronto Star reported on a parallel event, Catholics for Human Rights: Challenging the Holy See at the United Nations, which called on the United Nations to strip the Vatican, which co-hosted many of the pro-life and pro-family events, of its permanent observer status, due to the sex abuse scandals, its prohibition of female clergy members, and its opposition to gay marriage, contraception, and abortion. If that were to occur, pro-life and pro-family groups would have a more difficult time organizing events on UN grounds.
