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".