Resolution voted in Avignon during the GA

In memory of Lise Bedossa

Recalling Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (December 10, 1948), Article 12 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its optional Protocol (CEDAW/CEDEF) ratified by 151 states and entered into force in 1981, the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action (September, 1995), affirming the right for women to have control over their sexuality and to decide freely, and responsibly, on matters relating to their sexual and reproductive health, free from any coercion, discrimination and violence, the European Parliament resolutions explicitly recommending to legalize abortion and asserting that to deny access to abortion is a form of violence against women, the European Convention on Human Rights (November 4, 1950), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (December 2000), the international guidelines of UNESCO on sex education (January 10, 2018), the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and against domestic violence (Istanbul Convention adopted on April 7, 2011 and entered into force on August 1^st, 2014),

Considering that Argentina’s vote in December 2020, in favor of legalizing abortion (only allowed in 4 countries of the Latin American subcontinent), will boost the struggle of women to guarantee their rights and give it an international and intergenerational strength,

Aware that abortion is a fragile right that is still not very accessible on a global scale and practiced by only 4% of the world population and 39.5% of women, that more than half of recorded abortions are done clandestinely, and therefore in precarious conditions, that there is a clear desire to restrict the right of access to abortion, with for example:

• the joint declaration, in October 2020, of 32 countries (including the United States, Brazil and Hungary), against abortion laws, under the pretext of preserving the well-being and health of women, as well as strengthening family ties,
• Poland’s decision to apply a judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal, dated October 2020, declaring that the existing law, already most restrictive, is incompatible with the Constitution, which amounts to a total ban on abortion and means a violation of human’s rights,
• the possibility for doctors to appeal to the “conscience clause” authorizing them not to practice acts that could offend their moral and/or religious convictions,
• the practice of acts of violence aimed at disrupting access to establishments performing abortions, by exerting moral and psychological pressure and threats against medical personnel or pregnant women who have come for an abortion,

Conscious of the need to combat the practices of violence, qualified as “offenses of obstruction” (recognized and sanctioned in France by 1993 and 2004 laws), which freely disseminate and transmit on the Internet false allegations and indications, of such a nature as to intentionally mislead women about the characteristics or medical consequences of abortion,

THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF WOMEN CALLS ON ITS AFFILIATED COUNCILS AND THEIR MEMBERS:

• to cooperate with other partners, including other NGOs, in fighting against any limitation of the right to abortion;
• to work for a universal and unconditional legal access to abortion;
• to keep a close watch on abortion practices in all ICW countries;
• to educate and inform women so as to warn them against the danger of “fake news” which is conveyed on the Internet by anti-abortion movements;
• to involve young people and women, young women in particular, in decision-making;
• to urge the necessity of implementing and enforcing sanctions against anti-abortion sites and social networks disseminating fake news;
• to remove barriers restraining the access to abortion;
• to promote within formal and informal school systems an education which gives a most important place to individual human rights and, more particularly, to women’s rights.