On Thursday, the United States followed Hungary, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil, and Uganda in co-sponsoring a non-binding multinational anti-abortion resolution in a move on UN human rights advocates seeking to protect the right to abortion.
The online signing ceremony was attended by Secretary of the State Mike Pompeo and Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services Secretary. Moreover, in several other nations, abortion rights are usually limited to co-sponsoring the resolution.
"It defends the unborn and reaffirms the vital importance of the family," stated Pompeo during the ceremony, which is intended to support the welfare of women. "There is no international right to abortion," the Secretary added.
Although the declaration does not explicitly mention same-sex marriage, the United States and Brazil have been the only co-sponsors to have already permitted it. In contrast, the document's wording confirming the family as "the natural and fundamental unit of society" has a vital significance for countries limiting LGBT rights. As per the latest Human Rights Watch article, amongst some of the co-sponsors, the Egyptian government attacks the LGBT community in a "systemic fashion," and in Uganda, gay sex is prosecuted by execution.
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On Thursday, Azar had mentioned that the alliance is meant to "hold multilateral organizations accountable."
The resolution is not legally valid and, therefore, does not alter any current legislation. However, it is in line with the frequent ignoring of traditional diplomacy outlets by the Trump government to create alternative tracks.
The government affairs director of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, David Stacey, says: "This will undoubtedly bring harm to LGBTQ people and roll back the established global consensus about the necessity of protecting the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in all their diversity."
Skeptics had said that the declaration on Thursday, only about two weeks before the presidential election, signaled the Trump government's newest attempt to establish relations with leaders convicted of human rights violations while seeking to promote global restrictions on abortion.
According to Gillian Kane, a senior policy adviser for Ipas, a U.S.-based organization working from around the globe on women's rights to contraception and abortion: "None of those countries [that have co-sponsored] at least currently have a strong commitment to women's health and rights."
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An alliance of Ugandan civil society organizations said Thursday in a report denouncing their nation's involvement that the resolution could establish "unnecessary legal, policy and service delivery hurdles that will obstruct interventions by Uganda to address the persistently high numbers of women and girls dying due to pregnancy-related complications."
In May, the Trump administration suspected the United Nations of using coronavirus-related emergency funds for sexual and reproductive health programs, an accusation refuted by the global conglomerate, as an excuse for encouraging abortions.
President Trump's initial actions in the president were to restore a policy recognized as a global gag rule that forbids the provision or discussion of abortions by U.S.-funded medical treatment facilities. As President Barack Obama does soon after assuming office in 2009, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has promised to undo it if elected.
