Island nation of Mauritius gives way to UN pressure to legalize abortion

by Matthew Cullinan HoffmanTue Sep 13, 2011

 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The African island nation of Mauritius is on the verge of legalizing abortion in an apparent response to pressure from the United Nations, according to a local media source.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women has urged the Republic of Mauritius to depenalize the killing of the unborn because it signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1984. Mauritius lies off the coast of Africa about 600 miles east of Madagascar, and has a population of 1.3 million.

Although the treaty does not mention abortion, in recent years the CEDAW Committee has interpreted its mandate for “access to health care services, including those related to family planning,” as requiring the deadly procedure to be legalized. the rest

A 2009 World Health Organization report showed that Mauritius boasts the lowest maternal mortality in Africa, while also being one of the most protective of the unborn. The same WHO report showed that countries such as Ethiopia, which have been pressured to legalize abortion, have not been successful in reducing maternal death. In fact, Ethiopia’s rate is 48 times greater than that of Mauritius.