WASHINGTON DC (C-Fam) Members of the U.S. Congress threatened to cut U.S. funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) if the global health body enters into official relations with controversial abortion and sexual rights law firm, the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).
“As members of Congress, we will look upon a decision to give special status to the Center for Reproductive Rights as evidence that the WHO is unreformable and as a further argument to withhold all funding to the organization,” states the cautionary letter led by Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ), pointing to numerous bills to rollback U.S. funding to the WHO pending in Congress.
The Congressional letter highlights the growing mistrust of the American people toward the WHO and of widespread support for federal prohibitions on the use of U.S. foreign assistance for abortion.
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The proposal by WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus to accept the problematic abortion group into what is referred to as “official relations” was first considered in a board meeting in January. CRR’s primary goal is to decriminalize abortion around the world, trampling the sovereign rights of countries to make their own laws on abortion as agreed in international law. Because of opposition from traditional countries, the final decision was deferred to June.
Tweet This: The Center for Reproductive Rights’s primary goal is to decriminalize abortion around the world, trampling the sovereign rights of countries
Speaking on behalf of 47 African countries at the WHO January meeting, a delegate of Cameroon expressed “concern about entry into official relations of non-state actors that do not respect the culture and the values” of different countries. “We would like therefore, to delay the admission process in order to better understand the implications of this decision,” he said.
The WHO unabashedly promotes abortion as a health and human rights issue. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO promoted abortion as an essential service. This latest move to bring a litigious legal group into the inner working of the agency signals a new level of comfort with abortion activism within the organization, especially from Western donor countries—including the U.S., which is the single largest donor to the WHO
Tweet This: The WHO unabashedly promotes abortion as a health and human rights issue.
The letter signed by 26 Congressional members laments especially CRR’s deception and manipulation in trying to create an international right to abortion. “There are numerous examples of CRR colluding with UN staff and agencies to pressure countries through UN mechanisms as well as international and national courts. This is part of CRR’s well documented scheme to impose abortion on all countries, undermining sovereignty and bypassing all democratic processes.”
Just this week [ May 14], CRR announced its intent to exert pressure on the Philippines to decriminalize abortion and change its pro-life laws claiming falsely that legal reforms are needed to be “in line with international human rights standards” even though no UN human rights treaty even mentions abortion
CRR also claims that access to “safe abortion” is necessary to decrease maternal deaths. Reports concluding that legal abortion is needed to reduce maternal mortality grossly misrepresent the science and the data. Policies needed to reduce maternal deaths are well established, widely known, and do not include abortion. They include adequate nutrition and sanitation, emergency obstetric care, and ante-natal care from skilled birth attendants. Many countries reduced maternal deaths decades ago while their laws prohibited abortion, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
“We cannot continue allowing international organizations to override American sovereignty in order to advance egregious social policies, Congressman Biggs told the Friday Fax. The Congressional letter concludes strongly urging executive board members to reject CRR’s application at the June 3-4 meeting in Geneva.
Editor's note: Lisa Correnti is Executive Vice President of C-FAM. This article first appeared in the Friday Fax, an internet report published weekly by C-Fam (Center for Family & Human Rights), a New York and Washington DC-based research institute. This article appears with permission.
