In a welcome move upholding the family as foundational to society and promoting women’s rights and health, at a virtual ceremony on 22nd October 2020, thirty two countries signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration. What was truly ground-breaking, however, was the declaration that, despite arguments put forward by the UN, there is no international right to abortion, and that abortion, specifically excluded from sexual and reproductive health, should not be promoted as a means of family planning.
The Declaration was sponsored by Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Uganda, and the United States. Other signatories included Bahrain, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Gambia, Haiti, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Nauru, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Zambia. The UK is notably absent.
Read full text here:
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/geneva-consensus-declaration-english-11-10-2020.pdf
