Aug 26, 2004 / 22:00 pm
In a victory for advocates of the unborn, the latest draft of a UN document to protect the rights of people with disabilities contains strong language condemning state-mandated abortions on the basis of "pre-natal diagnosis of disability," reported the Friday Fax.
Article 8 of the draft document reads: "States Parties shall undertake effective measures to the prohibition of compulsory abortion at the instance of the State, based on pre-natal diagnosis of disability."
It also says that "States Parties recognize and protect the inherent right to life of all persons with disabilities” and that "disability is not a justification for the termination of life."
A UN committee is in the middle of a two-week negotiation over the final details of the International Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, according to the Friday Fax, a publication of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute. The document is not expected to be complete for another year.