Nairobi, Kenya – The US has thrown considerable weight behind opponents of the Nairobi Summit on Population and Development (ICPD25), saying it will only support family planning programmes that offer alternatives to abortions. 

The statement by Valerie Huber, the US special representative for global women’s health, on the Summit’s closing day, added fuel to the already fiery opposition to the conference mounted by Kenyan church-based and anti-abortion groups, which have been protesting in the streets as well as holding their own parallel event alongside the conference venue.

Huber said that while the US was a long-time supporter of family planning and had invested heavily in programmes to combat gender-based violence, prevent early childhood marriage, and end human trafficking, those initiatives shouldn’t compromise “the inherent value of every human life – born and unborn.”

“The U.S. is committed to promoting a healthy understanding of child spacing and non-coercive family planning to help couples either achieve or prevent pregnancy. The U.S. is the largest bilateral funder for family planning. That hasn’t changed,” Huber said.

“Our global health programs, including those for family planning, are consistent with the ICPD pronouncement that abortion is not a method of family planning and that programs should seek to provide women alternatives to abortion,” she said.

She added that while the US was “sharing this statement of our commitment to empowering women and girls to thrive, it “is not to be used as an endorsement of the commitments” of the ICDP25 Summit, which went beyond the agreement negotiated by UN member states at the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD).

Speaking later to reporters, Huber added that the US still regarded the 1994 Cairo ICDP agreement as the foundation for international action:

“We wish to emphasize that the agreement reached in Cairo remains the solid foundation for addressing the new challenges in a consensus-driven process,” she said. “The ICPD programme of action was reached by consensus … We are deeply concerned about the priorities of this conference. We do not support reference in international documents to ambiguous terms and expressions such as sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), which do not enjoy international consensus.

“The use of the term may be used to support practices like abortion.”

Huber appeared in the press conference alongside Kenyan Parliamentarians that were opposed to the meeting’s outcomes.

Her statement came as the conference ended with a “Nairobi Summit Statement” affirming the right of women to access safe abortions as part of achieving “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights as a part of universal health coverage (UHC).” That, the statement said, should include “zero unmet need for family planning information and services, and universal availability of quality, accessible, affordable and safe modern contraceptives.

As part of achieving “zero preventable maternal deaths and maternal morbidities,” the statement supported “a comprehensive package of sexual and reproductive health interventions, including access to safe abortion to the full extent of the law, measures for preventing and avoiding unsafe abortions, and for the provision of post-abortion care, into national UHC strategies, policies and programmes, and to protect and ensure all individuals’ right to bodily integrity, autonomy and reproductive rights, and to provide access to essential services in support of these rights.”

The official Summit statement also affirmed the right to safe abortion in humanitarian emergencies and conflict zones, noting the importance of  “…access to safe abortion services to the full extent of the law, and post-abortion care, to significantly reduce maternal mortality and morbidity, sexual and gender-based violence and unplanned pregnancies under these conditions.”

The three-day Summit, marking the 25th anniversary of the landmark Cairo ICDP event, was intended to be a moment where world leaders pledged to redouble efforts to end preventable maternal deaths, achieve universal access to family planning, and end violence and harmful practices against women and girls, such as rape, female genital mutilation and child marriage.

However, the focus on those aims has been blurred by the steady drum-beat of opposition by anti-abortion groups, including a demonstration Monday as well as the parallel conference event, followed by Huber’s statements on Thursday. More than 100,000 people have signed a petition to reject “the pro-abortion and sexualisation agenda at [the] ICPD+25 Nairobi summit.”

We are concerned that the ICPD+ 25 process excluded pro-life and pro-family voices input, and that the ICPD+ 25 outcome document does not represent the majority of the people of the world,” said Anne Mbugua, the chair of the Kenya Christian Professional Forum ( KCPF). The group had planned a second protest on Thursday, that was cancelled due to police fears that it could get out of hand.

“We don’t agree with the agenda of ICPD25. We have made it very clear that its agenda is not [what] we stand for. Even the president has made it very clear, saying we have to stand for the family. Even members of parliament and members of the church have spoken very clearly. The US has spoken against the event,” Ann Kioko, campaigns director for CitizenGo in Africa, was quoted by The Guardian as saying.

In her statement to reporters, Huber, said that indeed, the US “would have appreciated more transparency and inclusiveness process of  preparation of the conference including the criteria for civil society participation.

“While the Cairo programme of action was negotiated and implemented by the entire UN General Assembly,” she said only a small group of countries was consulted on the planning and modalities of the Nairobi 2019 summit.

“Therefore the outcomes are not a result of intergovernmental negation or as result of a consensus. As a result they should not be considered normative.

“We call in member states to maintain the original and legitimate 1994 ICPD principles.”

Image Credits: Twitter: @CitizenGO.