Major attack on Poland's pro-life position by UN Special Rapporteur

The 14th session of the Human Rights Council currently meeting in Geneva on Friday June 4th considered the Report submitted by Mr. Anand Grover the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.

Annexe 3 of Mr. Grover’s report consists of a report on his visit to Poland and in the main consists of a radical and comprehensive attack on Poland’s pro-life position on access to abortion, conscientious objection, contraception and sex education.

Mr Grover complained in his report that Poland remains one of the few European countries that significantly restrict women’s access to abortion. According to the report [...] where there are restrictive laws women often resort to illegal and unsafe abortions or travel to other countries to terminate a pregnancy. The report compared the current position in Poland with that which existed prior to the 1993 Act on Family Planning. Only Malta and Ireland according to the report set out similar significant restrictions.

Typically of pro-abortion officials, Mr Grover sought, to advance his attack on Polish legislation by suggesting that expert, specialized, bodies of international opinion were worried about the consequences of Poland's restrictive abortion law - when these bodies are, in reality, the most powerful pro-abortion campaigning groups in the world.

"Mr Grover in his report noted that in 2007 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) voiced concern in relation to Poland’s obligations under article 12 of the Convention (on women’s equal right to access health-care services) and specifically called for 'concrete measures to enhance women’s access to health care, in particular to sexual and reproductive health services, including: research on the scope, causes and consequences of illegal abortion and its impact on women’s health and life; measures to ensure women’s access to legal abortion services and against limitation of such access by the use of the conscientious objection clause'.

"Mr Grover then asserted that in 2009, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its Concluding Observations, called upon Poland to “take all effective measures to ensure that women enjoy their right ... by enforcing the legislation on abortion and implementing a mechanism of timely and systematic referral in cases of conscientious objection”

In reality, The CEDAW convention and the committee which implements it are the vehicles for one of the most radical pro-abortion campaigns ever whilst, only last month, Northern Irish pro-life leaders had occasion to criticise the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for calling for Britain's liberal abortion law to be extended to Northern Ireland.

Mr Grover did not fail to extend his attack to the Catholic Church in Poland, following the growing trend in international politics not to allow freedom of conscience for those who oppose abortion. He is concerned that non-State actors, such as priests, interfere with access to legal and safe abortions and sets out instances in which he claims this occurred.

The ugly face of the culture of death was seen yesterday at the Human Rights Council in Geneva in the following section of Mr Grover's chilling report. Freedom of religion, conscience and thought is to be swept aside in favour of the alleged right to kill unborn children. Here is one small sample:

"Health-care providers’ conscientious objection to involvement in certain health-related procedures is grounded in the right to freedom of religion, conscience and thought. However, the exercise of conscientious objection should not entail interference with sexual and reproductive health rights, which are fundamental. However, the Special Rapporteur notes with concern that these conditions for invoking conscientious objection are not being met in Poland. Numerous reports indicate that some doctors, hospital directors, anaesthesiologists and auxiliary medical personnel such as midwives and nurses invoke the conscientious objection clause in refusing to perform abortions, and do not comply with their legal obligations under the Act of 5 December 1996 on the profession of physician and dentist, to refer women to other providers who will perform the termination of pregnancy."

As Liam Gibson, SPUC's Northern Ireland development officer, pointed out last week when the UN turned its pro-abortion fire on Northern Ireland:
"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights upholds the inherent dignity and equal rights of all members of the human family, including children before birth. It is disturbing, therefore, to see how far the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has departed from the UN's founding principles.

"Abortion not only denies the fundamental human rights of children but it is deeply damaging to women. It is clear that the committee has no real concern for either women or children and knows nothing about Northern Ireland. If it did, then it would know that there is no evidence of so-called backstreet abortion in Northern Ireland and that in fact we have the best maternal mortality record in the UK.

"UN committees must be told to stop promoting abortion. It is time for pro-life politicians everywhere to call on the UN to return to its founding principles and protect the human rights of all members of the human family from the first moments of life until its natural end."

Poland however did no accept Mr Grovers criticism and stoutly defended its laws:
"The Polish delegate Mr. Branislav Lysák told the meeting that in the last 20 years infant mortality had dropped by 71% and maternal mortality in Poland was down by 82% in the same period. These figures according to Mr. Lysák contradict the assumption that liberalization of abortion improves maternal mortality.

"Abortion access according to Mr Lysák was available on social and economic grounds in Poland between 1956 and 1993 and Polish experience proves that there is no simple correlation between liberalization of abortion and improvement of maternal health except that the relationship could be inversely proportionate. Improvement of maternal health he said depends on overallmedical conditions.

"Mr Lysák told the meeting that there is no universal right to abortion and regulation of that issue is the exclusive competence of States as set out in various international documents such as the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD)"

Mr Lysák also said it was unacceptable that a report of this nature produced by the rapporteur so late it was not possible to respond properly in the short period available and he informed the meeting that Poland would submit a detailed response to each point raised by Mr. Grover to be an annexe to the report

All power to Poland's elbow as it strugges to prevent universal human rights being trampled on in the very place designated by world powers to uphold them.

Public demonstration against Ireland's Civil Partnership Bill

Irish Media Review in a news release dated June 4th reports, a demonstration was held outside Dáil Éireann (The Irish House of Parliament) on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010 to express opposition to the Civil Partnerships Bill, which is currently under discussion there.

The news release reports that,a series of demonstrations by a similar group took place on several of the previous Wednesdays, including the Wednesday (and also the Thursday) previous to that noted above. An Anglican group which, had similar objections to the bill also held demonstrations on several of these days.

A Dáil All-Party Committee meeting was held on Thursday, 27 May, and was attended as observers by two persons who had objected to the Bill. The discussion was in advance of the Report, and final stage, of the Bill. It is unknown when then this stage will be, but it is expected that the Bill will be signed into law before the Summer recess.

The report goes on to say,

The Dáil Committee spent much time on the definition of the word "Commitment" in the Bill. In particular, as to whether this should be defined so as to include sexual relations, the position of siblings, the period of such commitment, the consequences of "affairs", etc. It was contended that the cases before the Courts, with the object of establishing the exact meaning of the word "commitment", would be never-ending.
There was no mention of the effects on children.

Children are greatly affected by this degradation of marriage by the State. (Largely as a result of a similar degradation in the case of the unspoken effect of Divorce on children, 1 in 3 children are now born in Ireland without the commitment of a parent to their welfare).

The silencing of the Catholic Church will be to the further detriment of children. Assurance was given by Minister Ahern on the effects on the Church. (In Britain, however, the Church has been obliged to close their adoption agencies).[…]

The Bishops Conference of the Irish Catholic Church has issued a Statement entitled "Why Marriage Matters". Amongst the points they make, is that they are greatly concerned about the Bill, and that they regard the protection of marriage to be a matter of justice. This Statement should be, but is not, available at all churches. Concerned parents should ensure that the Bishop’s statement is properly circulated.

Same-sex unions are being promoted under the guise of regulating opposite sex partnership. Hence the title "Civil Partnership". The Bill seems to be price of support of Green Party. Divorce was the price of support of the Labour Party.
Other defects not clear to the public are:
1. Health, eg, in connection with Aids/HIV, blood donations, etc.
2. Ambiguous attitude to abortion.
3. The effect on the Church.
4. Freedom of speech.
5. The contradictory position of the media in promoting homosexual acts, and, at the same time, opposing paedophilia.
6. An enormous financial crisis is engulfing the country, involving taxes and other dis-benefits which must be borne, in part, by children living today.
7. Many thousands of couples are having huge difficulty in meeting mortgage payments.
8. The Euro is under strain and devaluation appears to be around the corner, affecting everyone.

Yet the political parties find time, and money, to discuss the alleged grievances of a minute proportion of the population. This is truly fiddling while Rome burns.

The passing of this legislation is a very serious issue and one that will inevitably have far reaching consequences. It should be put to the people of Ireland in referendum.

Unfortunately the government have no plans to hold a referendum on the shaky ground that neither, the word "marriage" nor the word "children" are mentioned in the bill, although it is understood that in recent days at least one TD (member of parliament) has called for a referendum.

Despite the commitments made to Ireland in the lead up to the second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty that the RIGHT TO LIFE, FAMILY AND EDUCATION would not be under any threat from Europe, EU Commissioner Spidla has sent a letter of "reasoned opinion" to several EU countries, ie, those that have or are passing legislation similar ¬¬to this Bill. The intention is to bring those countries before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg to ensure full equivalence to marriage

Postponing Motherhood

An article in the UK Guardian newspaper (26 May 2010) is headed: ‘Motherhood begins at 40: record number of women choosing to have children later. – Average age of giving birth reaches new high of 29.4 : Medical experts warn of heightened health risks.’
It seems that ‘… the trend is due to women postponing childbearing until they feel settled in their careers, men being more reluctant to settle down, and broader societal shifts such as many young people enjoying “a prolonged adolescence” into their 30s.’

This trend, however, according to Professor Philip Steer, a hospital consultant and emeritus professor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Imperial College London, is ‘a cause for significant concern.’

‘Radical changes in workplaces and in society are needed by the government and employers’, continues Professor Steer, ‘to enable many more women to have children in their 20s without feeling that their chances of advancement have been hampered.’

Maybe, just maybe, the authorities are starting to wake up and to realise that the radical feminist agenda is leading society by a short road to chaos, and that for the good and for the future of society in general the traditional family must be supported and preserved.

Population control and reduction

As far back as 1999, the Population Research Institute reported that the population control lobby that ‘stormed’ the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development had (and still has) three major, global objectives, as follows:
1. To manipulate women into having fewer children than they want.
2. To convince women and adolescent girls into believing that their fertility threatens the sustainability of the world’s resources.
3. To promote the sterility of homosexual relationships as ‘ecologically responsible’.

These three objectives, the report continues, fit in with the three major objectives of the feminist ‘rights agenda’:
1. To ensure that access to abortion is a basic human right.
2. To ‘liberate’ adolescent sexuality from parental supervision by ‘educating’ adolescents in their ‘new’ human rights to abortion without parental notification.
3. To assign the same rights and privileges to homosexual relationships as to traditional marriages and the founding of the family.

Does all of this sound familiar? Too familiar, to my mind.

Why, oh why, is the Irish Government insisting on proceeding with the atrocious ‘Civil Partnership Bill’ on which they are ‘debating’ at the present time?

Under the proposed legislation homosexual and lesbian couples who will be accorded virtually the same rights and privileges as those accorded at present to married people. These ‘rights’ will not – for the time being – include the adoption of children, nor can they refer to their partnerships as ‘marriage’. The term ‘marital status’ will be removed from all previous legislation, and it will be replaced with the term ‘civil status’. And the governmental/legislative promoters of the ‘Civil Partnership Bill 2009’ continue to insist that it will not ‘downgrade’ marriage? They are even now bringing in all sorts of red herrings to mask the true nature of the Bill.
Apart from its disastrous consequences for marriage and the family, the Bill also contains some draconian measures to ensure that nobody can, in conscience, object or refuse to facilitate a homosexual partnership, on pain of huge fines and/or imprisonment.

Irish trade links with China

Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Micheál Martin, travelled to China in recent days – for the purpose of ‘boosting trade links between Ireland and the Far East.’

I wonder if he had the integrity to mention to his Chinese hosts while he was there that one of the most horrendous of human rights abuses – the so-called ‘One Child Policy’ (aided and abetted by the UNFPA, and other such allied agencies), and including forced abortion, forced sterilisation, and coercive birth-control programmes – must be ended.

How can the representative of a supposedly humane state ignore, or worse still, refuse to acknowledge, the fact that he is negotiating for ‘trade links’ with a government whose policy it is to oversee the killing of millions of its own people?

Will Minister Martin ask any questions on this matter, or will he simply ignore the issue, I wonder?