At Cairo in 1994, the Programme of Action adopted at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), section 8.25, declares that abortion should not be promoted as a method of family planning. This agreement also indicates that policymaking on matters such as abortion are the sovereign right of each nation – there is no internationally-agreed right to abortion. The document has a clear definition of reproductive health.
UNFPA, the leading multilateral agency encouraging universal access to reproductive health services, does not support or promote abortion. In June 1985, UNFPA adopted and remains guided by decision 85/19 which states that: "It is the policy of the Fund not to provide assistance for abortion, abortion services or abortion-related equipment and supplies as a method of family planning."
Most advocates of reproductive health information and services point both to research and to common sense to show it reduces the need for abortion. Click to see articulations of this thinking by Thoraya Ahmed Obaid of UNFPA, Family Health International, & the Guttmacher Institute.
Evidence clearly supports this thinking. For example, over half of the unintended pregnancies in the United States occur in women who are not using contraception, and half of all unintended pregnancies end in abortion in the US—nearly ¼ of all pregnancies. This suggests that increasing access to reproductive health information and services will decrease the number of abortions.
Relevant Links:
Study from NIH website demonstrates that reduction in abortion is statistically tied to increased contraception use.
Interesting Parallel: Bush, anti-choice movement using Dred Scott as “code” against choice movement.
