GENEVA (LifeSiteNews) — Delegates from African and Middle Eastern countries have called out the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, for trying to push “abortion-on-demand” on member states.
The Center for Family & Human Rights (C-Fam) reports that during a meeting of the WHO Executive Board on June 3 in Geneva, Switzerland, a delegate from Egypt responded to Ghebreyesus’ call to give the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) official status within the WHO, saying the intervention was “misleading.”
“We are here not speaking about life saving interventions on pregnant women, accepted and allowed within most member states,” he said, but rather “abortion-on-demand” and transgender interventions based on “subjective self-determination.”
READ: WHO director Tedros: ‘It’s time to be more aggressive in pushing back on anti-vaxxers’
Ghebreyesus implored the member states on the Executive Board of the WHO to approve CRR’s official status, wrongly claiming that abortion was necessary to reduce the maternal death rate.
As Catholic University of America professor Michael New explained, studies that purport to show a link between pro-life laws and higher maternal deaths are flawed.
“Overall, a substantial body of international data shows that pro-life laws are consistent with strong maternal health outcomes,” New said. “Poland which has among the strongest protective pro-life laws in Europe also has one of the lowest maternal mortality rates in Europe.”
“Prior to legalizing abortion in 2018 Ireland had lower rates of maternal deaths, low weight births, and breast cancer than England and Wales, and Scotland,” he wrote. “Similarly, academic research using data from Chile shows that maternal mortality rates continued to fall after protections for preborn children were enacted in 1989.”
READ: States that restrict abortion have lower maternal mortality rates: Mexican study
One U.S. delegate called on the delegations to “trust the World Health Organization as a technical body.”
The Egyptian delegate accused the U.S., whose delegates pushed the acceptance of CRR, of politicizing the WHO, noting that if Donald Trump were elected a second time, the U.S. “position reflected in this room would change.”
The WHO chief claimed that his arguments were based on “science and evidence” and denied supporting the pro-abortion countries.
“If the abortion issue is worrying you, this organization (CRR) will not sway us or force us to do something we should not,” Ghebreyesus promised delegates.
The proposal to include CRR was rejected by all African delegates, the Gulf States, and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation. The pro-abortion delegates who supported the recognition of CRR were from European, North and Latin American, and Asian countries.
C-Fam reports that “[w]hen it became clear that over one dozen countries would vote against CRR’s application, Tedros begged them to approve the application conditionally for only a year.”
READ: House Republicans push to defund WHO over plan to partner with radical pro-abortion group
Rebecca Oas, Director of research at C-Fam, commented on the WHO chief’s push to recognize CRR: “Dr Tedros claims that the WHO won’t force countries to do anything they don’t want to, but that’s precisely what CRR’s mission is: to force countries to liberalize their laws on abortion.”
WHO Executive Board recognizes pro-abortion CRR in narrow vote
On June 4, the WHO Executive Board recognized the CRR as being “in official relations” with the WHO as a non-state actor by a narrow 17-13 vote with four abstentions.
According to Health Policy Watch, multiple rounds of voting preceded the final vote, which was held as a secret ballot.
A coalition of Middle Eastern, Islamic, and African countries, led by Egypt, called the vote a “politicization” of the WHO and vowed to “escalate” the issue and take it to the World Health Assembly (WHA).
“We would like to repeat what we have mentioned yesterday,” Egypt’s delegate said. “That we will pursue reopening of the discussions on this agenda item within the wider quorum of the organization during the upcoming WHA.”
Multiple delegates from the countries who opposed the recognition of CRR stressed that they would not abide by the decision on a national level.
“The text that was adopted today will not be implemented in Senegal, unless it is compatible with our laws, traditions and values,” Senegal’s delegate stated.
Egypt’s delegate said that the decision “is of no weight… we will not abide by it, and will not consider it in any means” on the national level.
The U.S.-based CRR describes its mission as “ensur(ing) reproductive rights” – meaning abortion – “are protected in law” as so-called “fundamental human rights.” It boasts that it has “(p)articipated in every major U.S. Supreme Court abortion case since our founding” in 1992, and “strengthened” pro-abortion laws and policies “in more than 65 countries across five continents.”
The CRR is one of the organizations that is set to receive millions of dollars from Melinda Gates in an enormous $1 billion commitment to pro-abortion and feminist organizations. Bill and Melinda Gates for years have been among the top donors to the WHO.
READ: Melinda Gates gives major boost to abortion activists, feminists with $1 billion donation