And I don't mean Product of Sums experssion
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FRIDAY FAX

December 17, 2004
Volume 7, Number 52

Radicals Host Anti-Family Conference in China

Following close on the heels of the pro-life and pro-family Doha
(Qatar) International Conference on the Family, the pro-abortion forces
met in a similar four-day conference in Sanya, China last week in what
some see as an attempt to counteract the Doha platform. The World Family
Summit was sponsored mainly by the Chinese government and organized in
part by China's National Population and Family Planning Commission. The UN
also played an unofficial but active role in organizing the conference,
and many representatives of feminist, gay and pro-abortion movements
participated.

Like the Doha Conference, this Summit also claimed the role of
observing the tenth anniversary of the International Year of the Family.
However, unlike the Doha Conference, which was welcomed by the UN General
Assembly as an official commemoration of that anniversary, this Summit was
neither recognized nor sanctioned by the UN. Moreover, the Summit opened
on December 6, the very day that the UN officially ended its year-long
celebration of the International Year of the Family with a consensus
resolution that recognized the Doha Declaration, co-sponsored by 149
countries, as an outcome of that celebration and did not mention the
Summit.

The participants of the Summit adopted the Sanya Declaration, which is
subtitled the "World Declaration for a Global Family Policy." In contrast
to the Doha Declaration, which called upon states to "ensure that the
inherent dignity of human beings is recognized and protected through all
stages of life," the Sanya Declaration states the need for a reduction in
"unwanted pregnancies" through the increased availability of "reproductive
health services, especially family planning."

Further, while the Doha Declaration called upon countries to "uphold,
preserve and defend the institution of marriage," the Sanya Declaration
says that families are "as different as alike," and "various forms of the
family exist in different social, cultural, legal and political systems,"
and insists that "respecting their diversity and peculiarity is
mandatory."

The Sanya Declaration also calls upon states to "encourage the
participation of adolescents in the design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of...health programmes that include sexual and reproductive
health," while the Doha Declaration asked nations to "reaffirm and respect
the liberty of parents...to ensure the religious and moral education of
their children in conformity with their own convictions."

The Summit also hosted several exhibitions by Chinese companies
involved in the research and manufacturing of contraceptive, abortive and
sexual enhancement products, including the China Family Planning
Association, a full member of the International Planned Parenthood
Federation (IPPF).

Copyright 2004 - C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute).
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required.

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