FRIDAY FAX

December 31, 2004
Volume 8, Number 2

UN-Funded Pro-Abortion Group Attacks Costa Rica's In Vitro Ban

The Center For Reproductive Rights (CRR), the most active pro-abortion
litigant in the United States and a major global pro-abortion force, has
filed supporting documents in a case against Costa Rica that is now
pending before an international human rights commission. The outcome of
the case could have repercussions on pro-life legislation throughout the
Americas.

Costa Rica's Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court issued its
landmark pro-life ruling in 2000, finding that "the human embryo is a
person from the moment of conception ... not an object," so that its life
and must be protected by the law from conception, and banning in-vitro
fertilization (IVF) due to the "disproportionate risk of death" to embryos
used in the procedure.

The Chamber's decision has been challenged by Costa Rica's only IVF
clinic and ten infertile Costa Rican couples, who have filed a complaint
with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The CRR filed
an amicus brief earlier this month in support of their claims.

The challengers allege among other things that the Court's ruling
violates various provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights,
which was ratified by Costa Rica in 1970. However, the American Convention
itself contains a "Right to Life" provision stating that "Every person has
the right to have his life respected. This right shall be protected by law
and, in general, from the moment of conception. No one shall be
arbitrarily deprived of his life." The challengers want to limit this
clause by arguing that "the right to life is relative, and...it is subject
to limitations when it is opposed to the protection of other fundamental
rights."

The CRR openly admits that it uses international law to promote
abortion, saying in a recent report that it has "pioneered using
international human rights law and legal mechanisms to secure women's
reproductive rights," and that it has "filed groundbreaking legal cases in
the inter-American human rights system." The CRR considers this case
important because "Depending on the Inter-American Commission's final
decision, governments and courts across North and South America could cite
its ruling...in developing and interpreting their countries' laws on
reproductive technologies, contraception and abortion."

The Commission is due to consider the case in March, 2005. It will then
issue a report recommending actions to be taken by Costa Rica, and if its
recommendations are not adopted within three months, it may submit the
case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where any decision would
be binding on Costa Rica.

CRR is one of the most aggressive promoters of abortion in the world
and is financially assisted by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). UNPFA,
however, denies they support abortion.

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

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