Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 04:13:40 -0600
From: "Catholic News" <rgant@stx.rr.com>
Subject: [CATHOLIC NEWS] 15th African Country Ratifies Abortion
Dear Colleagues,
A startling development has come to our attention. A new Protocol to an
African human rights instrument has just come into force. It requires
African countries who sign the document to legalize abortion on demand such
as we have in the United States. Africa, beware; the Center for Reproductive
Rights is after your unborn children.
Yours sincerely,
Austin Ruse
President
-------------------------
Newly Ratified African Protocol
Hailed by Radical Pro-Abort Group
Radical lawyers at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) are
celebrating a recently ratified protocol for women's rights in Africa as
being "the first human rights instrument to expressly articulate a woman's
right to abortion in specified circumstances."
On October 26 Togo became the 15th African country to ratify the
Protocol which brings the Protocol into force and is now binding on the
countries that ratify it. The document can also now be used by CRR to force
other countries to comply. The Protocol supplements the African Charter on
Human and People's Rights. In a briefing paper on the protocol CRR outlines
how African women can "use the protocol to exercise their reproductive
rights" and suggests the "paper can also be useful to advocates outside
Africa who are seeking to establish similar guarantees."
While the Protocol contains elements that will likely receive unanimous
praise such as prohibitions against genital mutilation and sexual abuse, its
most prominent language is of concern for pro-lifers. The Protocol requires
states to take "all appropriate measures to: c) protect the reproductive
rights of women by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault,
rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and
physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus." The
mental health exemption is especially worrying because its ambiguity may be
used to permit abortions in almost any instance.
The Protocol also calls for states to "ensure that the right to health
of women, including sexual and reproductive health, is respected and
promoted" and defines reproductive health to include "the right to choose
any method of contraception."
The CRR briefing paper says the Protocol may be an important tool in
the fight to expand the abortion license to the international level. "The
significance and potential of the protocol go well beyond Africa. The treaty
affirms reproductive choice and autonomy as a key human right and contains a
number of global firsts. For example, it represents the first time that an
international human rights instrument has explicitly articulated a woman's
right to abortion when pregnancy results from sexual assault, rape, or
incest."
The documents acknowledges that the enforcement mechanisms for the
Protocol may not be strong enough currently. It notes that the "African
Court, however, will have the authority to issue legally binding and
enforceable decisions" and it calls for the African Court to be given a
stronger role in overseeing social policy. The briefing paper calls on
"Advocates seeking to ensure that the protocol is adequately implemented" to
"pressure governments to ratify the Protocol to the African Charter
Establishing an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, and to make
declarations accepting the jurisdiction of the African Court over cases
brought by individuals and NGOs."
Copyright 2005 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.
Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948 Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org Website: www.c-fam.org
------------------------------
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End of catholicnews Digest, Vol 20, Issue 72
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