At a United Nations meeting in Bangkok, the Bush administration threatened to disregard its obligations under an international agreement on family planning adopted by 179 nations in 1994 at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) despite the fact that the U.S. was instrumental in drafting the document 8 years ago. Fortunately, on November 7, the State Department issued a "clarification," stating that its position in support of the principles of ICPD has not changed, and specifically affirming its goals concerning reproductive health, maternal mortality and education.
The U.S. negotiators had stated that unless the terms "reproductive health care" and "reproductive rights" are either "withdrawn or modified," the U.S. will not reaffirm its commitment to the agreement. However, the mere fact that U.S. negotiators in Bangkok disrupted the meeting by asserting a position contrary to ICPD demonstrates an alarming disregard for women's health and rights.
The language regarding reproductive health and rights agreed to at the 1994 ICPD should by no means be controversial. Rather, the affirmation of women’s empowerment and autonomy is vastly supported by the international community. The document seeks to protect women’s human rights to health and to control their fertility and it asserts that where abortion is legal, it should be made safe and accessible. That was not a radical notion then, and it should not be now.
Administration Disregards Multilateralism
This move
illustrates the Bush administration’s utter disdain for the fundamental
principles of multilateralism and it continues a disturbing trend on the
part of the administration to undermine the reproductive health and
rights of women around the world. By trying to sidestep international negotiation processes and
unilaterally dismantle a highly negotiated consensus document, the Bush
administration displays its contempt for multilateral approaches to
global issues. United Nations conference agreements cannot be rewritten
by any country unilaterally, nor can eight years of progress toward the
recognition and fulfillment of women's fundamental human rights be
erased. In addition, the meeting on population and development
in Bangkok, which is an Asia region specific forum, was not an appropriate venue to substitute the extremist agenda of right-wing
anti-choice forces for U.S. policy.
Appalling Record on International Reproductive Rights Issues
This is only the most recent move on the part of the U.S. administration
in a disturbing trend which began President Bush's first day in office.
The Bush administration has threatened women's fundamental reproductive
rights and has increasingly isolated the U.S. from the international
community.
- In January 2001, president Bush enacted the global gag rule, which restricts foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that accept U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) international family planning funds from using their own, non-U.S. money to provide legal abortion services, to advocate for abortion law reform, or even to provide full and accurate medical information to patients. The global gag rule undermines the rights of women around the world to access comprehensive reproductive health services and impedes the rights of foreign NGOs to freedom of speech and political participation.
- At the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002, the Bush administration advocated to restrict sexual education and information to "abstinence-only until marriage." While the administration failed in this effort, it was still able to impede the negotiations, turning a blind eye to the glaring needs of adolescents for potentially life-saving information and services to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy, and HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmissible infections.
- In July 2002, after heavy pressure from anti-choice and anti-family planning groups due to reports of coercive abortions and sterilizations in China, the State Department announced it was pulling $34 million appropriated by Congress for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), despite the fact that UNFPA's work in China is an effort to put voluntary family planning services in place. The Bush Administration's decision will severely harm the health of women in approximately 140 countries.
In this most recent move, the Bush administration has drawn criticism from both European allies and Asian governments, alienating itself from moderate forces that are attempting to address the human rights and health of the world's most impoverished women. Given the U.S.'s comparatively healthy reproductive health statistics, the U.S. simply looks hypocritical and cruel as it takes regressive positions internationally that would not fly politically in the U.S.
The Bush administration has ignored the fact that women's rights advocates in
every region and nation where abortion remains restricted continue to
fight for safe, legal abortion in their country because they see it --
as the majority of women in the U.S. do -- as integral to their ability
to control their fertility and to participate as equals in their
societies. Women in these countries want what women in the U.S. have
come to take for granted: access to safe abortion services as part of
their reproductive health care should they find themselves with an
unwanted pregnancy that they decide to terminate.
Decision to Withdraw Would be Detrimental to Women's Health
The potential impact of these public statements must not be
underestimated. According to the UN, almost 80,000 women die per year
and millions of others are injured from illegal and unsafe abortions.
Thus, by withdrawing from an international agreement which protects
women's access to safe and legal reproductive health services, the U.S.
administration itself becomes complicit in deaths and injuries from
illegal, unsafe abortion. In addition, the Bush administration's
continued focus on abstinence, rather than reproductive health services
and information, as the only choice for unmarried adolescents
clearly disregards adolescent sexual activity that occurs with or without adolescent girls' consent, as well as the vast data on the efficacy of providing comprehensive sexual
education to prevent unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmissible infections. In the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with adolescents
comprising up to 30% of those infected worldwide, this position is untenable and
unconscionable.
It is crucial to advocate for the Bush administration to uphold its international commitments under the International Conference on Population and Development and to continue to support international efforts to bridge the gap in reproductive health status and autonomy, including access to the full range of family planning options, enjoyed by the majority of women living in high-income countries.
For more information on the ICPD, see Five-Year Review of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, 1999
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