US Signs Geneva Consensus Declaration Emphasizing No Int' Right To Abortion - Pompeo

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2020) The United States has signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration to emphasize that there is no international right to abortion and each nation should independently determine its laws on the matter, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.

"Today, we are taking the next step as we sign the Geneva Consensus Declaration. At its very core, the declaration protects women's health, defends the unborn and reiterates the vital importance of the family as the foundation of society," Pompeo said. "The declaration restates that there is no international right to an abortion that goes even further affirming that every country has its own sovereign right to determine its own laws with respect to abortion."

Pompeo said the United States has stated clearly that there is no international obligation on the part of states to finance or facilitate abortion.

"During our administration US tax payer Dollars will never go to foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning. We are also at the State Department fully applying the law prohibiting the use of Department funds to lobby an abortion," Pompeo said.

The secretary of state noted that 32 nations have now signed the declaration and this is the first instance an international coalition has been established around the issue of protecting human life.

The co-sponsoring nations include the United States, Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia and Uganda.

"Together we represent every major religion of the world," Pompeo said. "It's a group of countries that respects life and the United States is proud to stand with each and every one of them," Pompeo said.

US Health and Human Services Alex Azar said on the occasion of signing the declaration that a clear marker has been put down that United Nations agencies can no longer reinterpret and misinterpret agreed-upon language without accountability and member states set the policy for the world body to pursue rather than the other way around.

"Without apology, we affirm that governments have the sovereign right to make their own laws to protect innocent life and write their regulations on abortion. The stakes are too high to permit radical, divisive agendas to hinder the ability of women in countries at all stages of development to attain better health," Azar said.