New Latin American document recognizes ‘sexual rights’, U.S. concerned

Mexico City, Mexico, Jun 20, 2004 / 22:00 pm

A document that appears to support abortion was accepted at a Latin American regional meeting in Mexico City last week, even though most Latin American countries recognize the right to life from the moment of conception, reported the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute.

The Ninth Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean saw victory for radical pro-abortion feminists and defeat for United States delegates and its pro-life allies, including Nicaragua and El Salvador.

The resulting document, referred to as the “Mexico City Consensus,” calls on Latin American states to implement legislation that guarantees access to sexual and reproductive health services.

The document also calls on governments to ensure the “sexual rights” women, which could eventually include abortion-on-demand, legalized prostitution, same-sex marriage, and complete sexual autonomy for children.

Ellen Sauerbrey, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Commission on the Status of Women and head of the U.S. delegation at the meeting, is concerned about the implication of the term “sexual rights.”

According to Lilian Celiberti of Articulacion Feminista Marcosur, a pro-abortion women’s group, the U.S. was so concerned that it “blackmailed several delegations to prevent the use of the terms ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ in the final document.”

Sauerbrey denied the allegation, ensuring that the United States will continue to fund and promote women’s rights and programs throughout the world.

Rocio Galvez, president of Provida, a Mexican pro-life group, is also concerned with the outcome of the meeting.

“We see what happened in Mexico as very disturbing, because the pro-abortion and pro-lesbian groups imposed a stance against life and morality which does not at all represent the views of this region,” said Galvez.

She said she hopes that there will be more tolerance at the world conference, “and that it is made clear that not all social groups advocate anti-family practices like abortion and homosexuality.”

The goal of these regional meetings is to create documents that will be sent to UN headquarters in New York. The documents are to represent the “objectives” of Latin America during next year’s World Conference on Women.

The next regional meeting will be in Puerto Rico from June 28 to July 2.