UN Speaks Out Against US Decision To Override Abortion Rights

According to the UN Population Fund, 45 percent of abortions worldwide are unsafe, almost half of pregnancies are unplanned and more than 60 percent end in abortion.

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Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said that the Supreme Court ruling overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, far from preventing women from resorting to abortion, could endanger their lives.    

"Restricting access to abortion does not prevent people from seeking abortion, it only makes it more deadly." "Sexual and reproductive health and rights are the foundation of a life of choice, empowerment and equality for the world's women and girls," Dujarric said.

For her part, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said that this decision constitutes a "major setback," as it is detrimental to women's human rights and gender equality.

"This decision deprives millions of women in the United States, particularly low-income women and women belonging to racial and ethnic minorities, of autonomy, to the detriment of their fundamental rights," Bachelet said, noting that since 1997, more than 50 countries have made their abortion laws more flexible.

According to the UN High Commissioner, the decision goes against international law on the issue of safe, legal and effective abortion, upholding the autonomy of women and girls to decide "about their bodies and their lives, free from discrimination, violence or coercion."