Friday Fax
Volume 8, Number 50 | December 2, 2005
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Dear Colleague, Today we report on yet another attempt by international pro-abortion groups to force a Latin American country into changing their abortion laws. Spread the word. Yours sincerely, Austin Ruse President |
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Pro-abortion Groups
Try to Change Colombia's Law Through Courts A massive coalition of international pro-abortion groups is behind a recent effort to liberalize Colombia's abortion laws using that nation's courts. A suit has been brought to Colombia's Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of Colombia's law which bans all abortions. The suit was brought by Women's Link Worldwide as part of their Gender Justice initiative which they say is meant to demonstrate the "use of high impact litigation as a means of strategically advancing human rights issues and will hopefully provide an example for NGOs around the world on engaging the courts." Colombia has a complete ban on abortion and the suit seeks to make abortion legal in cases of rape, when the health of the mother is threatened, and when the unborn baby suffers from a sickness that would result in the death of the child within days of the delivery. But Monica Roa, the lawyer spearheading the case for Women's Link, said that these three conditions are just the beginning. In an interview in a Spanish magazine published by "Catholics" for a Free Choice, she said, "This judicial initiative for the decriminalization of abortion in Colombia in these three specific cases opens some possibilities for considering other reasons for abortion . . ." According to Women's Link the suit "represents the first time Colombia's abortion law will be challenged using international human rights arguments." It will cite Colombia's ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights "whose monitoring bodies have recommended that Colombia decriminalize abortion under the most extreme cases." Roa and Women's Link are joined by numerous American and international organizations in their suit. Among the groups submitting Amicus Curiae briefs in support of abortion are, The Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights; Catholics for a Free Choice; National Coalition of American Nuns; International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region, USA; The Alan Guttmacher Institute; and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Jeanne Head, representative to the UN for National Right to Life and a long-time UN lobbyist, says this shows that the agenda for the pro-abortion groups is one of sexual imperialism. "It confirms what we've been saying about these groups all along. In their quest to make abortion a fundamental human right worldwide, they are misinterpreting UN documents to pressure countries into changing their laws to make abortion legal," she said. The court is expected to announce its decision soon with one news source saying December 12 is the court's deadline. |
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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 |