In a UN debate this week, the French government perpetrated an outrage against religion in general and the Catholic Chuch in particular. The French said that moral and religious considerations have no place in UN debates, especially when it comes to abortion. Everyone, HAS to the write the French Ambassador and tell him non non non!
The French government attacked the Holy See delegation at a Wednesday meeting of the United Nations committee that considers official UN status for nongovernmental organizations. After the Holy See delegation made an argument for the UN to protect unborn children, France accused the Holy See of injecting "moral" and "religious criteria" into the debate.
The UN NGO committee was considering the application of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), a US-based trade association of abortion providers. The Holy See said NAF "does not respect life. It destroys life in its budding stages, when it most needs our protection." The Holy See fears that if NAF gains official UN status, it will join a host of other pro-abortion NGOs, including Catholics for a Free Choice, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, in the fight to have the UN recognize an international "right to abortion."
The Holy See delegate told the NGO committee, "the UN does not support abortion for the sake of abortion or as a method of family planning." The Holy See delegate said the UN is supposed to be in the business of protecting life but that "abortion begins with the killing of one innocent and defenseless human being, not for what it has done to us, but for what it is."
The French delegate said, "Again, yet again, my delegation believes that we should reach a decision solely on the basis of public health, and not on the basis of moral or religious criteria." The delegate did not explain how admitting NAF to the UN would improve international public health, but did say, "my delegation sees no difficulty with this NGO." Germany concurred with France
This is not the first time that France has apparently sought to undermine religion in general and specifically the Catholic Church in international negotiations. In 1999, during debate over the scope of the new International Criminal Court, France, along with Canada, sought to revoke the priest-penitent privilege, the centuries-old legal tradition allowing statements made in religious counseling and confession to remain beyond the scope of legal proceedings.
In the debate this week over the National Abortion Federation, the Holy See was joined by Colombia, Iran, Sudan and the United States, which all raised questions about NAF’s application to the UN. Iran noted that NAF members had fought against US state bans on partial-birth abortions.
According to the delegate from Iran, such late-term abortion is undoubtedly "the killing of a human person." The delegate from Sudan said, "this NGO is dealing with a very important and sensitive issue " life and death - and so we have to be very careful. We should ask as many questions as possible" - before granting NAF status.
The vote on NAF will likely come next week.