Report from the United Nations
Hungarian Member of CEDAW Committee Defends Life
By Linda Ash
February 6, 2006
Last
year, several members of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) Committee continually bombarded the leaders
of the countries under review with questions about abortion rights and a push
for the legalization of prostitution.
However, I was drawn to the Hungarian representative on the CEDAW Committee, Krisztina Morvai. It was obvious in her dialogue and questioning that she was against both abortion and the legalization of prostitution. Her ideology was and remains to be the rare exception to the UN's liberal mantra.
Ms. Morvai has been busy this past year trying to educate her feminist cohorts of the destructive effects of both abortion and prostitution. She has planned and organized lectures where specialists and even those who have experienced the degradation of prostitution and abortion have testified before the CEDAW Committee of their experiences and resultant pain and anguish.
Ms. Morvai's statement to the delegates from Croatia last year remains imbedded in my memory:
“I have a dream that some day abortion will be a historical memory. Abortion is a demanding, painful intervention. It is terrible physically and emotionally for women. It is forced rhetoric on the part of feminist organizations that abortion is a 'choice.' No woman would 'choose' an abortion just to have the experience. I have friends who have had five, six and more abortions. Unfortunately they use it as a means of birth control. Again I say it is a terrible thing. Congratulations to you, Croatia , for its decline in your country.”
At one point in the dialogue between the Australian delegation and members of the CEDAW Committee, one of the Australian delegates referred to "abortion and other forms of brith control." I immediately saw a red flag, and so did Ms. Morvai.
The next opportunity to speak was taken by Ms. Morvai. “The comment was made by a distinguished member of the committee, suggesting that ‘abortion is a form of family planning,' she said. “We do not, nor should we, promote abortion as a form of family planning. It is a cruel and invasive procedure, and women are harmed by the process.”
The dialogue from one committee member encouraged the introduction of RU-486 as a form of safely terminating pregnancy. Ms. Morvai became quite passionate as she suggested strongly that, “If you introduce RU-486, may I strongly encourage you to include educating your women as to what exactly is going to happen to their bodies when they take that medication. They will take a pill that immediately tells their body to go into premature labor, but they will deliver a dead baby…a baby with a head, arms, legs and a torso. And after all of this education and support of those who want to end their pregnancies, do you provide counseling and support for the young women who decide to carry their babies to full term? They need support and should be helped with their decision, as well.”
This year, I haven't heard one member of the committee promote the legalization of prostitution, and fewer and fewer spoke out on pushing abortion rights. Could one woman make such a difference? I know Ms. Morvai has. Unfortunately there are those among the liberal minded who see her influence. They have complained to the Hungarian government, and Ms. Morvai will not be reappointed to the CEDAW Committee after her term ends later this year. Meanwhile, she is doing her best to influence and inform. Never underestimate the power of one.
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