Reports keep appearing about various agencies of the United Nations pushing abortion to bring countries where abortion is illegal “up-to-date.”  Most recently, the committee that monitors compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was pushing the government of Samoa to legalize abortion and force more women out of their traditional family roles and into work and political life.

The oversight committee issued a press release January 24, in which it complained that, despite having set up a Ministry for Women’s Affairs, the role of married women in Samoan society was too traditional and mostly oriented towards family life.  Apparently, Samoa still has strong families.

The report added that not enough women run for political office, and that abortion is still illegal despite attempts to bring the country up-to-date.  Translated, this statement means the quality and stability of family life in Samoa is an obstacle to creation of a new market for abortion and contraceptives.

One week earlier CEDAW oversight committee was pressuring Paraguay to legalize abortion.  Maria Jose Argana Mateu, Minister of Paraguay’s Women’s Secretariat, presented her compliance report to the UN committee.  The committee responded that CEDAW required women to be provided with “full access to family planning services” and expressed concern about “criminal penalties for abortion under national law.”  We can only conclude that “elimination of discrimination against women” has become a code phrase for legalizing abortion.

Chile and Malta each went before the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in November 2004.   The committee is set up to monitor compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).  Like all other UN documents, CESCR does not officially contain clauses requiring the legalization of abortion.   Nonetheless, in official recommendations given separately to both Chile and Malta, the CESCR committee said, “The Committee recommends that the State party revise its legislation and decriminalize abortion in cases of therapeutic abortions and when the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.”

The UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) concluded a review on Poland’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), demanding that the nation “should liberalize its legislation and practice on abortion.”  The Committee reiterated its “deep concern about restrictive abortion laws in Poland” and also pushed contraception and sex education.  “The State party should assure the availability of contraceptives and free access to family planning services and methods.  The Ministry of Education should ensure that schools include accurate and objective sexual education in their curricula,” said the report.

Whether a UN committee is monitoring elimination of discrimination, social and cultural rights, or human rights, abortion always becomes the issue.  Even though none of the UN agreements under compliance review officially promote abortion, the oversight committees always find code phrases to justify demands that abortion be legalized.  That approach seems equivalent to our own Supreme Court legislating from the bench.