CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov 5 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The move to drop protection for the unborn from the constitution of Venezuela which resulted in outcries from pro-life forces around the world including a letter from the pope, was apparently pushed by the United Nations Population Fund. The Venezuelan paper El Nacional reported that Marisela Padron Quero, UNFPA director of Latin America and the Caribbean, told the country’s Assembly that a pro-life plank in the new constitution would violate various international conventions that Venezuela had already signed.
The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-Fam) reported that other UN officials note that Quero’s statement was a lie since no international conventions signed by Venezuela mandate a right to abortion. C-Fam also suggests that UNFPA also played a role in having one of the Venezuelan representatives to the Cairo+5 conference misrepresent his country on pro-life issues. The delegate continuously blocked the pro-life consensus in the Group of 77 until he was removed from the delegation..
Pro-life groups in the country are promising to fight the passage of the new constitution which will go to a vote December 15.
With files from EWTN.