ABORTION/ No right to abortion exists in international law

Last week, Professor Robert George of Princeton University presented the so-called San Jose Articles in a press conference at UN headquarters in New York. The purpose of this document is to rebut the false assertion that there is an international right to abortion.

During the press briefing, Professor George said: “The Articles will support and assist those around the world who are coming under pressure from U.N. personnel and others who say falsely that governments are required by international law to repeal domestic laws protecting human beings in the embryonic and fetal stages of development against the violence of abortion.”

These 9 articles are the outcome of the work of 31 experts in international law, international relations, international organizations, public health, science/medicine and government. The signers include law professors, philosophers, Parliamentarians, Ambassadors, human rights lawyers, and delegates to the UN General Assembly.

The purpose of the San Jose Articles is also to demonstrate that the unborn child is already protected in human rights instruments and that governments should begin protecting the unborn child by using international laws.

The San Jose Articles website contains extensive information about this initiative; ilsussidiario.net is pleased to publish the text of the articles here.

The Text of the San Jose Articles

Article 1.  As a matter of scientific fact a new human life begins at conception.

Article 2.  Each human life is a continuum that begins at conception and advances in stages until death. Science gives different names to these stages, including zygote, blastocyst, embryo, fetus, infant, child, adolescent and adult. This does not change the scientific consensus that at all points of development each individual is a living member of the human species.

Article 3.  From conception each unborn child is by nature a human being.

Article 4.  All human beings, as members of the human family, are entitled to recognition of their inherent dignity and to protection of their inalienable human rights.  This is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and other international instruments.