Argentina joins pro-life coalition

Oswald Clark, U.S. Correspondent:

On August 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) accepted the United States taking on the role as the next rotating Secretariat of the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD), a 2020 document affirming support for the right to life around the world.

The document was signed by the U.S. and 31 other countries in the waning days of the first Trump administration and the Joe Biden administration withdrew from the body in 2021. Brazil and Hungary took turns leading the GCD group but after Viktor Orban lost the Hungarian election earlier this year to Péter Magyar who is not committed to the previous government’s pro-family policies, the body was looking for new leadership.

The Declaration states “there is no international right to abortion, nor any international obligation on the part of States to finance or facilitate abortion.”

The Declaration also affirms the state’s “essential priority of protecting the right to life” and promoting “strength of the family and of a successful and flourishing society”; that “every human being has the inherent right to life”; and that “in no case should abortion be promoted as a method of family planning” and that “any measures or changes related to abortion within the health system can only be determined at the national or local level according to the national legislative process.”

A joint statement by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said the Secretariat of the GCD would be housed in the HHS’s Office of Global Affairs, which will “carry this work forward through a whole-of-government” toward “supporting families, promoting women’s health, and protecting children at all stages of life.”

Today, 41 countries are signatories to the Declaration, including, once again, the United States. Three original signatories have left the GCD: Brazil, Columbia, and Poland. Most signatories are Muslim-majority and African countries, but also Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, and Russia.

The latest country to join was Argentina. In July, the Argentinian think tank Political Network for Values held events in Buenos Airies at which Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno met with Valerie Huber, who works within the Department of Health and Human Services and was the architect of the Geneva Consensus Declaration. Two weeks later, Quirno and HHS Director of Global Affairs Bethany Kozma held an event in Buenos Aires to sign the Declaration. Agustín Caulo, Argentina’s Secretary for Religious Affairs and Civilisation, was also present at the signing.

Kozma said, “I expect that countries will see Argentina is a leader in the Western Hemisphere,” she said, “and I am hopeful that other countries will race to see who will be the next country to sign on.”