Rep. Chris Smith

Washington D.C., Feb 27, 2010 / 06:57 pm (CNA).- At a recent House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) addressed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the international promotion of abortion. Calling unborn children the most at-risk minority today, he said abortion is a form of child mortality.

“Pregnancy is not a disease. The child in the womb is neither a tumor nor a parasite to be destroyed,” he said at the Feb. 25 hearing on the International Affairs Budget for 2011.

Rep. Smith voiced concern that the Global Health Initiative (GHI) Consultation Document listed unintended pregnancy between HIV and tropical disease, seeming to relegate it to the status of a disease.

The Congressman also commented on the Obama administration's elimination of the Mexico City Policy, saying that non-government organization partners of the initiative may seek to integrate abortion with “the many necessary and noble undertakings funded by the GHI.”

He asked the Obama administration to consider the views of those who see abortion as “violence against children” that poses significant risks both to women and to children later born to those women.

“Safe abortion,” he said, is “the ultimate oxymoron.”

“Child dismemberment, forced premature expulsion from the womb by chemicals like misoprostol, deliberate child starvation by RU486, can never, ever be construed to be benign, compassionate or safe.”

He cited the United Nations’ fourth Millennium Development Goal, which advocates the reduction of child mortality.

“Abortion is child mortality,” he commented. “Secretary Clinton, the most persecuted and at risk minority in the world today are unborn children.”

Rep. Smith cited studies showing an increased risk of breast cancer among post-abortive women and a “clear link” between abortion and mental illness in women.

Other studies show a significant association between abortion and subsequent premature births.

“Preterm birth is the leading cause of infant mortality in the industrialized world after congenital anomalies,” he added, listing several ailments and diseases to which preterm infants are more prone.

The Congressman also cited the document which came out of the 1994 Cairo meeting of the United Nations International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). The document says governments should help women avoid abortion and also reiterates the primacy of national sovereignty on abortion.

He then warned against U.N. treaty implementations and some U.N. organizations that are pressuring nations to “legalize, facilitate, and expand” access to abortion.

Rather, Rep. Smith advised, access to proper maternal care, skilled birth attendants and safe clinics should be promoted.

He closed his comments by condemning China’s forced abortion policy for women who become pregnant without government authorization.

“Silence in the face of massive crimes against women in China… shouldn’t be an option.”

Secretary Clinton listened to Rep. Smith's comments but did not respond.

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