Politics
Friday March 15, 2002
NEPAL LEGALIZES ABORTION IN RESPONSE TO UNITED NATIONS DEMANDS
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
Bill to Give Women Human Rights Also Strips Unborn Children of Right To Life
KHATMANDU, March 15, 2002 (LSN.ca) - The Nepali House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday which legalized abortion in the country for the first time.
While the House passed similar legislation last year, it was rejected by the Upper House. However, since the House passed the legislation a second time with over a 50% majority it was declared passed. The bill passed the 205-member House 147-1 with 56 lawmakers absent.
Portions of the law are commendable and afford women the previously denied right to inherit parental property and also banned child marriage and polygamy. However the law also legalizes abortion on demand of unborn girls and boys up to twelve weeks gestation, stipulating that it should be done with the husband's consent and by government authorized abortionists. The bill also allows abortion up to 18 weeks in cases of rape or incest.
Last year, just two months prior to the House's first passage of the bill, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights explicitly demanded Nepal to legalize abortion. Although the UN claims it does not promote abortions in countries where the practice is against the law, on August 31, 2001, it did just that. In its Concluding Observations of the Committee on Nepal, the UN Committee states, "The Committee urges the State party to take remedial action to address the problems of clandestine abortions, unwanted pregnancies and the high rate of maternal mortality. In this regard, the Committee urges the State party to reinforce reproductive and sexual health programmes, in particular in rural areas, and to allow abortion when pregnancies are life threatening or a result of rape or ncest."
See related LifeSite coverage:
UN EXPLICITLY DEMANDS ABORTION RIGHTS IN NEPAL
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/sept/010912.html
See the coverage in the Khatmandu Post:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/kpost_html/kp_frontpg.htm (today only)
To be archived at:
http://www.kantipuronline.com/archive/kpost/2002-3-15/kp_frontpg.htm
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.