UN Pressures US Over Abortion Restrictions

31.05.2019

The United Nations human rights office has been urging the USA to make sure access to abortion is upheld amid pro-life state legislation being passed throughout the country.

“We are very concerned that several US states have passed laws severely restricting access to safe abortion for women, including by imposing criminal penalties on the women themselves and on abortion service providers,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told Reuters Television.

Anti-abortion legislation is “inherently discriminatory,” primarily affecting minorities and impoverished women, she claimed. She said abortion bans limit women’s options, forcing them to have underground operations and “jeopardizing the life, health and safety of the women concerned.”

She said the UN is calling on the US to ensure abortion access for all women.

“So we are calling on the United States and all other countries to ensure that women have access to safe abortions. At an absolute minimum, in cases of rape, incest and foetal anomaly, there needs to be safe access to abortions,” Shamdasani said.

The UN’s message to the United States comes following pro-life legislative victories in eight states. These include Missouri, where lawmakers passed a bill banning abortions after a heartbeat could be detected in the womb, and Alabama, which passed legislation earlier in May banning abortion in nearly all circumstances.

Life News. May 22.