“HRC hearing on abortion was a complete charade”, says Sherlock
The Pro Life Campaign has described the recent UN hearings on abortion in Geneva as a charade and says the UN’s partisan attitude in support of abortion completely undermines the credibility of today’s report on Ireland’s abortion laws by the UN’s Human Rights Committee. The Pro Life Campaign was one of the official NGOs represented at the HRC’s two day hearings in Geneva.
Commenting on today’s report, Pro Life Campaign’s Deputy Chairperson Cora Sherlock said:
“To be honest, I’m not the least bit surprised by today’s report. The recent hearings in Geneva were a complete charade from start to finish. The UN’s Human Rights Committee has shown itself to be incredibly biased on abortion and has not the slightest concern for the rights of unborn babies throughout the full nine months of pregnancy. That’s a serious charge to level at the UN but any fair-minded assessment of what happened at the recent hearings in Geneva could not conclude otherwise.
“The UN’s HRC has never raised even a murmur of concern about the horrific situation in countries like England where babies born alive after botched abortions receive no medical attention and are routinely left to die in corners.* Likewise the HRC had nothing to say about the recent documented case where the remains of over 15,000 aborted babies were incinerated to heat hospitals in Britain or the fact that in Britain babies can be legally aborted up until birth on disability grounds. These are just three examples that highlight the lack of concern for the outrages surrounding legalised abortion.
“The UN’s HRC knows perfectly well that Ireland, without abortion, was a world leader in safety for pregnant women. It knows too that the new abortion law in Ireland is not restrictive and allows abortion based on a threat of suicide without having to produce any medical evidence to back it up. But it suits the pro-choice agenda to present the new law as something different with a view to building momentum to have Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution repealed.
“It’s an extraordinarily serious matter that a UN body like the HRC has zero regard for the rights of unborn babies. At the recent hearings in Geneva, the Government mounted a very lacklustre defence of Ireland’s right to decide on these matters. That’s simply not good enough. The HRC should be robustly challenged over its partisan stance on abortion and the Government should remind it that there is absolutely no requirement under international law to comply with its demands.”
ENDS
* The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health, 2007 commissioned by the UK Government, found that 66 infants survived NHS termination attempts in hospitals in England and Wales during 2005. Instead of dying during the abortion procedure as intended, they survived and were able to breathe unaided. But they received no medical attention or care and were left in corners to die. One of the babies lived for ten hours.