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UNFPA Proposes New Global Campaign to Push Reproductive Health/Abortion

By Samantha Singson

NEW YORK, August 10, 2007 (C-FAM) - The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has assessed the various regions of the world and despite differences in local circumstances, proposes that the solution is the spread of "reproductive health services," a phrase that is used by UN agencies and committees as synonymous with abortion. UNFPA recently released a proposal for a comprehensive four-year, $224 million advocacy strategy aimed at supporting and raising "awareness of reproductive rights." Claiming "the right to reproductive health applies to all people at all times," the UNFPA program aims to "increase demand for sexual and reproductive health services and reproductive rights" across the globe by working with all sectors of society from governments and community leaders to NGOs and the media.

UNFPA asserts their new program takes into account the culture and socioeconomic climate of particular regions; for instance, they know promoting abortion in Arab states is problematic. Outlining its proposed actions in Africa, UNFPA targets the region's relatively high fertility rates, arguing that population growth is "outpacing the capacity of economies to generate jobs" and aims "to address the unmet need for contraception" in the region. UNFPA does not seem to take into account the fact that fertility rates are falling in most African countries and that longevity in some African countries has dropped into the 40's. The UNFPA program also proposes increased condom usage among adolescents.

The UNFPA proposal does recognize the fertility decline in Asia and Europe but in this case says that the high rate of abortion requires the spread of "high quality family planning services" and "high quality reproductive health services." The CEDAW Committee, which enforces the Convention on the Elimination Against Women interprets this phrase as including abortion, though the UN General Assembly has never defined it that way.

In Arab countries it is "conflict and security situations" that is driving UNFPA's call for "reproductive health services." But UNFPA recognizes that pushing UN-style "reproductive health services" could be problematic, they propose to "stimulate culturally sensitive" policy debates and improve accessibility to reproductive health services.

In Latin America and the Caribbean it is "high adolescent fertility" that is driving UNFPA's proposal to spread "reproductive rights and reproductive health needs." Also in Latin American, the UNFPA program proposes to encourage judges "to monitor and enforce policies and laws protecting reproductive rights" which likely means getting courts to legalize abortion.

UNFPA critics take note of the agency's interchangeable use of the terms "reproductive health services," "reproductive rights" and "reproductive health." Both "reproductive health services" and "reproductive rights" remain highly contentious in UN social policy discussions because they continue to be misinterpreted by powerful NGOs and UN agencies to include abortion.

UNFPA's financial breakdown of the $224 million program proposes to spend $47 million in Africa, $33 million in Asia and the Pacific, $26 million in Latin America and the Caribbean and $14 million apiece for regional programs in the Arab states and Eastern Europe and Central Asia.  The remaining $90 million would fund UNFPA's global program.

Though these sums seem paltry, they can be significant to poor governments who will allow UNFPA to promote its agenda even if their country views abortion as a crime. A decision on the UNFPA proposal is expected from its board next month.

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