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NEW YORK, November 16, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A newly released United Nations Population Fund report calls on governments to counteract “religious” objections to “emergency contraception,” which the report says stand in the way of fundamental human freedoms.

The UNFPA’s 2012 annual report, which declared birth control a “human right,” was released this week.

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It states that UN general comments are “the authoritative interpretation of the standards” that “help translate the right to family planning at the abstract…level into policies and programs.”

The committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment Number 14 ruled that one of the “normative elements” is “acceptability.”

According to the report, “‘duty-bearers’ (governments and others)” have a responsibility to assure that all forms of contraception – including sterilization and abortion-inducing ‘emergency contraception’ – are viewed as acceptable.

“Information and services may exist,” the report states. “But if they are not acceptable for cultural, religious or other reasons, they will not be used.” (Emphasis added.)

In a “case study” in Mexico, the global body “found that married Catholic women…said that modern contraceptives, such as the pill or intrauterine devices, were against their religious beliefs and were therefore unacceptable to them.”

The report makes clear it includes “emergency contraception,” such as Plan B and Ella, as among basic human rights.

Although the report claims emergency contraception “does not cause abortion,” two sentences earlier the report states: “A single emergency contraceptive pill, when taken within up to five days after unprotected intercourse, prevents a fertilized egg from implanting.” 

The IUD also acts as an abortifacient

Without such services, Mexico’s faithful Catholic women had to wait until “after their reproductive years” to “have the ‘possibility of enjoying sexual intimacy free from the worry of an unintended or unwanted pregnancy,’” the report stated.

The world body declares it will support those who combat views that make contraception, including aboriton-including drugs, unacceptable. “UNFPA commits in particular to…supporting both men and women to transform gender attitudes and cultural barriers that impede access to and use of family planning,” it states.

Many believe the declaration of such “birth control” measures is intended to pave the way for a global approval of abortion-on-demand.

“What is to stop the UNFPA from declaring that abortion is a ‘basic human right’?” Brian Clowes of Human Life International asked in a statement e-mailed to LifeSiteNews.com.

The UNFPA report states, “The right to family planning is also a gateway to the achievement of other rights.”