Pro-Life Statement on the Right to Development, UN Commission Next Week & Other Stories

Image retrieved from UN Web TV, 1st Meeting, 11th Session of the Expert Mechanism on the Right to Development (EMRTD), United Nations

United Nations

🗞 C-Fam delivered a statement at a UN meeting on the right to development asking member states to keep “sexual and reproductive health” and “reproductive rights” out of an upcoming treaty. The concern is that the UN system uses these terms as euphemisms for the imposition of controversial ideas related to human sexuality, family life, and abortion. You can watch the recording here.

Zimbabwe took the floor to further cement the points made by C-Fam. You can watch their intervention here.

🗞 The Commission on Population and Development is convening its 85th session in New York next week with the focus theme of “ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages.” Here is a C-Fam analysis from last year on the future of the UN “population establishment." To see the list of side events for next week’s session, head over here.

🗞 Inside the UN’s censorious underbelly “Whether the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who sadly withdrew her nomination for the post last week, or another qualified individual, the message from the Trump administration has already been made clear to bureaucrats at the global body that the United States will not be going along with radical abortion and gender ideologies that have driven its agenda in recent years.” Rebecca Oas shared her thoughts via Restoring America here.

International

🗞 Iceland is using the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism to pressure numerous countries around the world to change their pro-life laws. Check out C-Fam’s database keeping track of Iceland's abortion-related UPR submission here.

Domestic 

🗞 On the Hill, Democrats Defend Government-Backed Censorship of Americans “Democrats defended federal programs that were used to censor Americans under the guise of conducting research to combat terrorism and disinformation.” writes Stefano Gennarini in this week’s C-Fam Friday Fax.

🗞 State Department formally shutters USAID after Trump court victory “The State Department formally announced Friday it is closing the US Agency for International Development (USAID) after the Trump administration prevailed in a federal court case challenging the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting actions.” Read the NY Post reporting here.

Opinion

💭👩‍💻 U.S. Supreme Court Turns Down Pro-Lifers’ Challenge to Buffer Zone Laws “The U.S. Supreme Court has lost the chance to reinforce pro-lifers’ First Amendment rights in connection to abortion clinic buffer zones.” IYc blogger Chiara McKenna reflects on Coalition Life v. City of Carbondale, Illinois. Full article here.