Pro-life
Congressman Exhorts U.N. Ambassadors to “Push Back” for Right to Life
Veteran pro-life leader and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith addressed the
delegates of more than thirty countries at the U.N. Ambassador’s
Luncheon on Friday. At the luncheon he reminded them that the defense
of the right to life for human beings, both born and unborn, rests at
the heart of the founding of the United Nations and its successful
mission.
“You are the heirs and guarantors of the U.N. founders’ vision that
there can be no way forward — no progress individually or collectively
— if members of the human family anywhere or in anyway are deemed
expendable, marginal or subhuman,” said US Rep. Smith, who was the
keynote speaker for the speaking event, titled “The Inherent Right to
Life: the First and Most Fundamental Human Right.”
Smith reminded the gathered assembly of Ambassadors, Deputy Permanent
Representatives, and Diplomats that the U.N was formed in response to
the “unprecedented agony — and depravity - of global war.” With the
world having experienced the atrocities of Nazi genocide and Imperial
Japanese war crimes, the U.N. was formed to promote the recognition of
“fundamental human rights” in order to avoid armed conflict.
Smith recalled how the UN General Assembly on December 10, 1948
“recognized the existence of the right to life, liberty … and other
basic rights inherent in our nature as human beings” without a single
dissenting vote and that the UN’s Universal Declaration “itself made
clear that member states must recognize the ‘inherent dignity’ and the
‘equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.’”
Fundamental rights, if they are not “mere privileges conveyed by civil
authority,” must then “come from God” Smith stated, making it the
obligation of states “to recognize these God-given rights and then act
decisively.”
“The most persecuted minority in much of the world are unborn
children,” the Congressman continued. Despite the invention of
ultrasound and the availability of “microsurgery and fetal health
interventions,” Smith said that “some have chosen this time in history
to dehumanize and exclude unborn babies.”
Smith told the assembly that the pro-life movement is “the greatest
human rights struggle on earth” and made very clear that the U.N. was a
battlefield on which the battle for the human dignity of the unborn was
constantly being fought.
“Each and every UN special meeting — including the summit for children
— has become a battleground and the upcoming [Commission on the Status
of Women] and the discussions on Beijing 15 and implementation of the
Beijing Platform will be no exception,” said Smith. “Additionally, many
of your government officials have been or will soon be scolded by
pro-abortion ‘experts’ at periodic CEDAW reviews in an attempt to
‘persuade’ you to abandon your protections for women and children from
the violence of abortion.
“I encourage you to resist and push back. The voiceless
desperately
need friends and advocates in high places. They need you,” the
Congressman continued.
Smith expressed his concern that pro-abortion advocates were attempting
to “hijack” goal five of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals –
reducing maternal mortality – by advocating for the legalization of
abortion on demand under the guise of saving women’s lives. But the
data, he said, shows the contrary to what pro-abortion advocates
assert: countries with pro-life laws actually have lower instances of
maternal mortality.
“Chile, a country which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws
in Latin America, has the lowest maternal mortality rates in South
America while Guyana, a country which has permitted abortion since 1995
has a maternal mortality rate 29 times higher than Chile,” said Smith.
“In Asia, Nepal permits unrestricted abortion and has one of the
world’s highest rates of maternal mortality. Pro-life Sri Lanka
on the
other hand is fourteen times lower than Nepal.”
“I would respectfully submit that if we are truly serious about
reducing maternal mortality, women, especially in the developing world,
need access to proper maternal health care, skilled birth attendants,
safe blood and clinics where obstructed deliveries can be turned into
safe passages,” said Smith. According to one doctor from the
World
Health Organization, just the availability of safe blood for
transfusions could reduce maternal mortality by 44 percent, he added.
Earlier in his speech, Smith noted that the UN’s Universal Declaration
stated that the “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted
in barbarous acts.” But few things brought the point home more than the
devastating impact of China’s “one-child policy”: a legacy of forced
abortions and coerced sterilizations on millions of Chinese women,
under which regime “unwed mothers are all compelled to abort,” and
ruinous punitive fines are imposed on families that have more than one
child.
“No wonder 500 Chinese women commit suicide each day in China,” said
Smith.
Smith recounted the testimony of a Chinese student named Wuijan, who
testified before an official congressional human rights hearing on
China’s one child policy convened in November, and described the
experience of forced abortion as her “journey in hell.” Smith quoted
her testimony, “She said: ‘…the room was full of moms who had just gone
through a forced abortion. Some moms were crying. Some moms were
mourning. Some moms were screaming. And one mom was rolling
on the
floor with unbearable pain.’”
“Silence in the face of massive crimes against women in China — women
like Wuijan - shouldn’t be an option.”
Contact: Peter J. Smith
Source:
LifeSiteNews.com
Publish
Date:
February 15,
2010
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The IFRL is the largest grassroots pro-life organization in
Illinois. A non-profit organization, that serves as the state
coordinating body for local pro-life chapters representing thousands of
Illinois citizens working to restore respect for all human life in our
society. The IFRL is composed of people of different political
persuasions, various faiths and diverse economic, social and ethnic
backgrounds. Since 1973 the Illinois Federation for Right to Life has
been working to end abortion and restore legal protection to those members of the
human family who are threatened by abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. Diverse though we are, we hold one common belief - that
every human being has an inalienable right to life that is precious and must be protected. IFRL is
dedicated to restoring the right to life to the unborn, and protection
for the disabled and the elderly. Click here to learn more about the IFRL.