In a report released last Friday, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) urged lawmakers in the Philippines to legalize abortion “without delay.” Abortion is currently banned in the Philippines with no explicit exceptions.
After discussing multiple issues related to the treatment of women in the Philippines, such as human trafficking and gender equality in the workplace and government, the Committee implies that the nation’s current ban on abortion is another example of discrimination against women. CEDAW proceeds to re-recommend its own recommendations from an earlier report…
The Committee recommends that the State party fully implement, without delay, all the recommendations issued by the Committee in 2015 in the report on its inquiry (CEDAW/C/OP.8/PHL/1, paras 49 to 52), including…legalization of abortion under certain circumstances.
Melissa Upreti, regional director for Asia at the Center for Reproductive Rights, praised the report: “We commend the U.N. Committee for once again urging the government to fully ensure women’s reproductive health and end discrimination against women by…legalizing abortion.” On its website, the Center for Reproductive Rights declares that “all governments are legally obligated” to support “reproductive freedom,” including abortion.
The United Nations has a long history of attempting to push pro-abortion views on pro-life nations, as does the Center for Reproductive Rights. While pro-abortion organizations applaud the work, some citizens of the target nations feel as though the United Nations and pro-abortion organizations are forcing liberal Western views on the rest of the world, in a way creating a new colonization of other countries.
CEDAW’s latest report on the Philippines contains some insight and some potentially beneficial suggestions, but the Committee’s demand that the Philippines adjust to the UN’s pro-abortion values clearly sullies an otherwise mostly decent report.
