United Nations Meetings on Population Control Promotes Abortion, Bashes Bush

SANTIAGO, March 11, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In two separate United Nations meetings this week abortion was pushed under the guise of reproductive rights.  With the knowledge that the term ‘reproductive health services’ officially includes abortion in UN parlance, the two meetings demonstrated a more brazen pro-abortion stance than usual according to UN watchers.  A two day meeting in Santiago sponsored by the U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean saw health ministers form Latin American and Caribbean countries and the United States meeting to discuss implementation of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development goals.  At the meeting, Carmen Barroso, regional director of International Planned Parenthood Federation for Latin America and the Caribbean, said that in the last 10 years there has been a decrease in mortality due to abortion, mostly because of “growing desire for smaller families and increased access to family-planning methods.” Taking a shot at Catholics, Barroso added “a recent survey in Mexico showed that regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights, the Catholic population is taking a different position from the strict doctrine preached by the pope.  Around 96 percent of those surveyed believe that public health centers should offer free contraceptive methods and that the government should promote the use of condoms.”  Meanwhile in Amsterdam, Agnes van Ardenne, Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation and Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), pledged to fight religious resistance to abortion.  They agreed “to break the silence and taboos on culture and religion and their relation to reproductive and sexual health and rights.”  Attended by more than 100 experts from around the world, the conference, “Cairo and Beyond: Reproductive Rights and Culture”, was organized by the Government of the Netherlands and the UNFPA on the occasion of International Women’s Day, 8 March.  In a joint final statement, Ms. Ardenne and Ms. Obaid called on governments to ensure “the right of young people to information, including sexual education, and reproductive health services”.  See the UN release on the Amsterdam meeting and a UN Wire report on the Santiago meeting:  https://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/pop890.doc.htm https://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20040311/449_13902.asp