GENEVA, (CWNews.com/LSN.ca) - The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights concluded its twenty-sixth session August 31, 2001 expressing concern over the lack of abortion services in Senegal, Panama, and Nepal.
Abortions are not permitted in those countries except when the life of the mother is threatened. Set up to supposedly review how the rights enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights are protected, the committee is used by radical feminists to promote abortion in countries where the protection of unborn children is enshrined in law.
A United Nations report on the committee's proceedings on Nepal reveals that the committee was "concerned ... that abortion was absolutely illegal and was considered as a criminal offense, punishable by severe sentences." In its concluding observations and recommendations, the committee, according to the UN report, "recommended that Senegal take remedial action to address the problems of clandestine abortions, unwanted pregnancies, and the high rate of maternal mortality."
In addressing Panama, the committee "called upon the State party to take urgent measures aimed at reducing the excessively high maternal mortality rate, and to expand the availability and accessibility of reproductive and sexual health information and services, so as to encourage a reduction in the rates of illegal abortions and early pregnancy. In United Nations parlance, reproductive and sexual health services include abortion.