U.S. stalls APPC meeting over abortion on demand

U.S. stalls APPC meeting over abortion on demand

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok, Thailand

The United States' refusal to agree to abortion on demand, has
snagged for three days the deliberations over the draft Plan of
Action on population and poverty eradication during the Fifth
Asian and Pacific Population Conference (APPC) here.

The United States's refusal over the issue took most of the
first two days of deliberations and they only agreed late Friday
to put its reservations in a footnote on the condition that there
would be no addition to the draft Plan of Action text.

The proposed footnote would include a statement that the U.S.
"understood that 'reproductive health', 'reproductive rights',
'reproductive health care', and 'services' do not include
abortion except when consistent with national and, where
applicable, local law, and with full respect for the various
religious and ethical values and cultural backgrounds."

The U.S. reservation could undermine the agreement among
delegations from the other 60 member countries of the United
Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ESCAP) over the draft
Plan of Action.

U.S. delegation spokesman Joseph Yun from the U.S. Embassy in
Bangkok contended that the U.S. delegation to the meeting had no
mandate from Washington to deliberate on the inclusion of the
additional text into the draft Plan of Action.

"As it was agreed in the prepcom (preparatory committee
meeting) in October that the drafting committee should only
deliberate on the bracketed text (parts not yet agreed upon), our
delegation has refrained from adding the new text," Yun said.

To smooth out the deliberations, the chairman of the APPC
meeting asked delegations with the same concerns over certain
parts of the Plan of Action to form small teams.

Indonesian delegate Salman Al Farisi, who is also the first
secretary at the Permanent Representative of the Republic of
Indonesia in New York, told The Jakarta Post that if an
agreement, especially between the U.S. and other countries,
failed to materialize, the success of the APPC could be
jeopardized.

"Looking at how tough negotiations are, I don't think we would
be able to finish the draft by tomorrow," he told the Post,
adding that deliberations over the draft Plan of Action would
then have to be continued during the ministerial meeting on
Monday and Tuesday.

Indonesia supports the draft which acknowledges the
reproductive rights of women and men. Abortion in Indonesia is
illegal in most cases.

The draft Plan of Action is expected to be endorsed by
relevant ministers from 61 countries of the UN-ESCAP to then be
used as a basis for each country's national programs for
population and poverty eradication, including reproductive
health.

The U.S. refusal to support all of the articles on
reproductive rights in earlier deliberations stemmed from the
conservative view by President George W. Bush, according to the
head of the Indonesian delegation, Siswanto Agoes Wilopo.

Siswanto, who is also the National Family Planning Board
(BKKBN) deputy for family planning and reproductive health,
explained that the United States claimed the terms "reproductive
health services" and "reproductive rights" to mean a promotion of
abortion.

He expressed his astonishment over the U.S. stance, contending
that the U.S. delegation members were the ones who campaigned for
reproductive rights during the Fourth APPC meeting in Bali in
1992.

The U.S. government, under President George W. Bush, has
adopted a very conservative view and pushed for programs that
promote abstinence for unmarried persons and eliminate altogether
the need for abortion.

According to its country report to ESCAP, the United States is
currently facing one of the highest abortion rates compared to
other industrialized democracies, with approximately one abortion
for every three live births annually.

According to Raj Karim, regional director of International
Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) East and South East Asia and
Oceania Region, unsafe abortions accounted for 12 percent of all
maternal deaths in Asia, and an estimated 38,000 women die each
year of its complications. This was higher than in any other
region of the world, he said.

Meanwhile a meeting of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
Forum held in parallel to the APPC issued a petition to stop the
U.S. from rolling back women's reproductive rights.

They said that "reproductive health services and reproductive
rights are essential human rights" and that "if the U.S. breaks
its commitment to the United Nations and to the world community,
there will be disastrous consequences for women in all parts of
the world who are in need of safe and effective contraceptive and
abortion information and services".