New York Center of Foreign Policy Affairs (NYCFPA) is worried and categorically opposes the recent attempt by the Trump administration to label abortion services funded by the NHS in the United Kingdom as a human rights violation. This dictum is issued under the recent U.S. State Department human rights audit and is a profound deviation of the internationally accepted theories on reproductive health, human dignity, and evidence-based policymaking.
Mischaracterization Of UK Reproductive Healthcare
This designation does not take into account legal and medical systems that regulate reproductive care in the United Kingdom. The policy will carry an implication of distorting the global discourse of human rights by presenting the common, regulated medical practices as a form of abuse of human rights and eroding accepted norms which safeguard the autonomy of the body and access to necessary medical care.
NYCFPA’s Call To The U.S. Government
NYCFPA urges the authorities in the United States of America to promptly re-evaluate this directive and reinstate a balance between U.S. foreign policy and the principles of human rights that are fundamental. It is not only a question of public health, but an essential part of personal liberty, equality, and non-discrimination to protect reproductive health.
Appeal To International Institutions
NYCFPA also calls on critical international organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to examine this issue with urgency. These institutions are at the core of protecting the rights to reproduction and making sure that the systems of human rights are not politicized and ideologically used.
Risks Of Politicizing Healthcare
The description of the UK healthcare services as a component of destructive ideologies by the administration is likely to stigmatise legal practice of medicine and promote limiting reproductive measures in other parts of the world. This framing can coerce partner countries to change their health care systems in regard to foreign political situations and this is likely to compromise reproductive rights across the globe.
Implications For U.S. Leadership
Diplomacy with reproductive policy undermines confidence in U.S. leadership on human rights and decades of bipartisan gains in advancing world health and gender equality. It is also dangerous to the health of millions of people who depend on available and safe reproductive health care especially those countries having weak systems.
NYCFPA’s Reaffirmed Commitment
NYCFPA restates that it is dedicated to promoting the foreign policy that is based on universal human rights standards, scientific evidence, and respect of bodily autonomy. We request the U.S. State Department to rescind this pernicious classification and to make sure that the U.S. diplomatic activities reinforce, as opposed to undermine reproductive health safeguards.
A Call For Global Cooperation
The increasing global health issues demand governments and multilateral institutions to collaborate to maintain non-politicized rights-based healthcare policies. NYCFPA has been determined to collaborate with civil society, policymakers, and international organizations in order to defend reproductive rights as a vital aspect of human dignity and worldwide human health.
