This archive report was first published on 14 November 2019.
Published on November 14, 2019, a controversy-ridden International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD25) forum in Nairobi saw the United States and the European Union openly clash over what the former claimed was a hidden pro-choice agenda.
The US delegation argued that pro-life and pro-family groups had been barred from attending the event, citing a lack of transparency as the reason for their concerns.
They stated that “any outcomes from this summit are not intergovernmentally negotiated, nor will they have been the result of a consensus,” and urged states not to honour the more than 1,250 global commitments that have already been made.
On the other hand, the EU and its aligned nations, including Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Guinea, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, expressed their support for universal access to informed reproductive health choices for women.
A joint ad hoc delegation of 10 members of the EU Parliament, headed by Evelyn Regner and Norbert Neuser, who were joined by the EU Ambassador to Kenya Simon Mordue, said they supported the Nairobi meeting and its attendant commitments.
Ms Regner stated, “We don’t only support them fully but we’re going further to commit €1 billion towards sexual and reproductive health and rights which are absolutely important because seven women per day are dying in Kenya because of unsafe abortions and other conditions,” adding: “These are fundamental rights and we believe money should be dedicated to comprehensive sexual education and service provision, measures that could prevent these women from dying.”
However, the US team claimed that sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) was coded language for abortion.
Huber Valerie, the head of the US delegation, said, “The term SRHR has been used to aggressively promote practices like abortion. There is no international right to abortion,” and added that the “legislative process should reflect the democratic expression of the will of the people through their freely elected representatives.”
