“Unexpected victory at the UN”
That’s how C-Fam referred to the turn of events at the end of the day that started with a battle. Over what? The language of ‘abortion rights’ in the Commission on Population and Development’s document. Which country forced the ‘tipping point’ moment?
Up until the eleventh hour, the contentious term “sexual and reproductive health and rights†remained in the draft document. Just prior to adoption, Iran took the floor to object to the phrase which has never before been included in any negotiated UN document. Iran stressed that the term remained problematic for a number of delegations and urged the Commission to revert back to previously agreed upon and carefully negotiated language from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Program of Action, which is understood not to create any right to abortion.
The good people of Iran prevail, finally. As do the defenders of the United Nations’ ‘duty to protect’, declared in its founding charter as its mission.
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How sad is it that Iran was on the right side of such a basic moral issue but the United States was not?
It is an embarrassment to our nation, but a wonderful outcome nonetheless.