Statement by Archbishop Tomasi Permanent Representative of
the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva
Madame President,
The 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action reminded
States that “particular priority should be placed on reducing infant and
maternal mortality rates.1” The Delegation of the Holy See notes some signs of
hope in reports by the World Health Organization that deaths due to maternal
conditions (2) have decreased significantly between 1990 and 2010 (3). However, the
situation cited in the current report by the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (4), namely, that 287,000 women died due to maternal conditions and between
10 and 15 million mothers suffered debilitating conditions during 2010, is
truly tragic.
We wish to point out further concerns arising from the
above-cited Report and influencing the Resolution of the Human Rights Council
presently introduced on this issue during this 21st Session. First of all, the
Report uses ambiguous terms and dubious arguments in maintaining that “maternal
mortality and morbidity is a product of discrimination against women, and
denial of their human rights, including sexual and reproductive health
rights”(5).
According to the World Health Organization, the following are
included as major causes of maternal mortality and morbidity: severe bleeding
(mostly bleeding after childbirth), infections (usually after childbirth), high
blood pressure during pregnancy (pre-eclampsia and eclampsia)(6). By ignoring
these important health conditions, the Report gives a biased view of causality
in this health emergency for mothers and children. Additional evidence-based
determinants of maternal morbidity and mortality have been identified as
weaknesses in health infrastructure, including absence of a skilled birth
attendant during the birth process, unsanitary medical environment, lack or
insufficiency of emergency medical and surgical facilities and supplies,
including antibiotics and surgical gloves. Consequently, a lot of maternal
deaths are preventable with basic health care, adequate nutrition and competent
obstetric care throughout pregnancy, delivery and postpartum.
With regard to ensuring “universal access ... in the
national plan – as essential for improving maternal health”, the Report points
to “management of unintended pregnancies, including access to safe abortion
services, wherever legal ...” as a major component in assuring maternal health
and includes abortifacients, such as misoprostol and mifepristone, as essential
medicines to be included in the facilitation of universal access. Thus the
Report seems to give abortion, the main aim of which is to terminate the life
of a child, precedence over such urgent interventions aimed at saving the lives
of both mothers and children as “appropriate antenatal care; detection of
domestic violence; management of pre-labour rupture of membranes and pre-term
labour; induction of labour for prolonged pregnancy; prevention and management
of post-partum hemorrhage; caesarean sections; and appropriate post-partum
care.”
My Delegation wishes to register additional serious concerns
with regard to the recommendations in the High Commissioner’s Report that
promote access to so- called “emergency contraceptives” and to so-called “safe
abortion care”. Re-affirming that human life begins at the moment of conception
and that life must be defended and protected, the Holy See can never condone
abortion or policies that favour abortion.(7)
Moreover, the Holy See “does not consider abortion or
abortion services to be a dimension of reproductive health or reproductive
health services ... [nor does it] endorse any form of legislation which gives
legal recognition to abortion,”(8) which is the very antithesis of human rights.
With regard to the frequent references in the Report to the
expression terms “sexual and reproductive health and rights”, the Holy See
points out that such a totally unbalanced attention to sexual and reproductive
health fails to address the complex and underlying causes responsible for
maternal mortality and morbidity (9) in an integrated and complete manner and in a
way that respects the full dignity of all members of the family.
In similar regard, my Delegation wishes to express concern
about the claim advanced in this Report that “if abortion laws are overly
restrictive, responses by providers, police and other actors can discourage
care-seeking behaviour,” thus implying that the lack of so-called “legal”
abortion is a cause of maternal mortality. This statement is unfounded and
lacked citation of any evidence to demonstrate its validity. In fact, in a 2010
Report by the World Health Organization, contrary evidence can be found, namely
that, during 2008, three countries that permitted “legal” abortion, i.e.,
Guyana, Ethiopia, and Nepal, had significantly higher numbers of maternal
deaths per 100,000 births, than three countries, from their respective regions,
that did not allow abortion, i.e., Chile, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.(10)
A final concern from my Delegation relates to the
recommendation in the Report that national plans “should address improved
access for adolescents to comprehensive sexuality education, sexual and
reproductive health information and care, including family planning.” This
recommendation fails to recognize the role of parents. The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights recognizes that “Parents have a prior right to
choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children” (Article
26.3). Thus my Delegation maintains that “parents must be always free to
transmit to their children responsibly and without constraints, their heritage
of faith, values, and culture”(11), as well as the need for all rights to be
accompanied by concomitant responsibilities. Moreover, the Holy See wishes to
point out the role of parents in educating their children in authentic human
love as self-giving in communion and friendship with God and others through the
exercise of authentic freedom and respect for one’s own body and those of
others. Lastly, it is essential the involvement of parents in witnessing and
teaching to their children that the self-giving in married love of a man and a
woman expresses itself through the body, the complementarity and totality of
self-giving, and that such sexual giving belongs to this married love, and to
this love alone Any national plan or recommendation advanced by the High
Commissioner or by this Human Rights Council cannot and should not ignore or
bypass parents’ rights.
Thank you, Madame President.
1Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, 25th June 1993,
article 47.
2 Deaths due to maternal conditions = deaths of women during
pregnancy, childbirth, or in the 42 days after delivery. A maternal death is
defined as "the death of a women while pregnant or within 42 days of
termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the
pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its
management but not from accidental or incidental causes." (Source: Trends
in maternal mortality 1990-2008: estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and
the World Bank. Geneva, WHO 2010. )
3World Health Organization, et al., Trends in Maternal
Mortality: 1990 to 2010 (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2012).
4 Technical Guidance on the Application of a Human Rights
Based Approach to Implementation of Policies and Programmes to Reduce Maternal
Morbidity and Mortality: Report of the Office of the
UnitedNationsHighCommissionerforHumanRights A/HRC/21/22.
5 Op. cit., para. 14, under general principles section)
6 http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs348/en/index.html
7cf., Statement of the Holy See at the Concluding Session of
the 21st Special Session of the General Assembly for the Overall Review and
Appraisal of the Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International
Conference on Population and Development New York, 2 July 1999.
8cf., Reservations and Statement of Interpretation by the
Holy See Delegation during concluding session of the Fourth World Conference on
Women, Beijing, 15 September 1995, http://www.its.caltech.edu/~nmcenter/women-cp/beijing3.html
9cf., Final Statement of the Holy See Delegation to the 4th
World Conference on Women, Beijing, 15 September 1995, as recorded in Report of
the 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995 www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/pdf/Beijing%20full%20report%20E.pdf
10World Health Organization, et al., Trends in Maternal
Mortality, 1990 to 2008 (Geneva, World Health Organization, 2010), p. 33.
11Message of Pope Benedict XVI on the World Day of Peace, 1
January 2011.
