December 17, 2008

UN receives petitions for and against abortion as ‘universal right’

UNITED NATIONS (CNS)—On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Dec. 10, petitions for and against declaring abortion as a “universal right” were presented to U.N. members. More than a year ago, Marie Stopes International, a London-based abortion advocacy group, initiated a petition drive calling for “women’s rights to contraception and safe abortion” to be “protected and supported through reformed laws and policies at all levels.” The group presented their signatures during a U.N. General Assembly session marking the anniversary of the 1948 U.N. declaration. The group’s Web site, globalsafeabortion.org/calltoac tion.html, noted that 651 people had signed the petition: “Global Call to Action for Women’s Access to Safe Abortion” by Dec. 10. The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute in New York launched a petition of its own in October called the “U.N. Petition for the Unborn Child and the Family.” The petition, posted online at c-fam.org/publications/ id.95/default.asp, had gathered more than 367,000 signatures, including 165,000 from English-speaking countries, by Dec. 10.