BREAKING NEWS: Pro-life success at Rio as abortion excluded from outcome document, report SPUC lobbyists

Rio de Janeiro

The Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development has witnessed a notable pro-life success, with abortion being excluded from the text of the conference's outcome document. SPUC, which has UN recognition as a non-governmental organisation (NGO), lobbied throughout the document's negotiations and in the conference's preparatory sessions.

Pat Buckley, one of SPUC's UN representatives, reports*:

"The outcome document (known as 'The Future We Want') has been a major battleground for months with attempts to insert anti-life measures including abortion and population control under the guise of so-called 'reproductive rights' or 'reproductive health services'. The finally-agreed text, to be signed by heads of state on Friday, has no reference to 'reproductive rights' and no mention of 'reproductive health services'.

"This pro-life success was won by a group of countries together with the Holy See, among others including Russia, Poland and several Latin American countries. Pro-abortion groups are furious at the result. The next phase of the Rio+20 meeting begins today with the high-level meeting of leaders who must vote on the text's adoption."

The pro-life success is particularly welcome considering last week's call by world science academies for the Rio conference to adopt a policy of world population control.

*With thanks to Marie Smith of the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues (PCNI) www.pncius.org

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