Civil Society groups have condemned the requests made by the US Government’s request to remove references to sexual and reproductive health from the UN Covid-19 humanitarian response plan (HRP).
In a letter to the UN secretary-general António Guterres on Monday, John Barsa, the acting administrator for the US agency for international development (USAid), called on the UN to “stay focused on life-saving interventions” and not include abortion as an essential service.
“The United States stands with nations that have pledged to protect the unborn,” acting Administrator of USAID John Barsa wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres on Monday. “To achieve global unity toward this goal, it is essential that the UN’s response to the pandemic avoid creating controversy. Therefore, I ask that you remove references to ‘sexual and reproductive health,’ and its derivatives from the Global HRP, and drop the provision of abortion as an essential component of the UN’s priorities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Though the US blocked a UN Security Council resolution that called for a global ceasefire aimed at collectively addressing the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the globe earlier this month, Barsa said the references risked undermining a united response to the crisis.
He threatened to freeze funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) unless it committed to reform, added that now was “not the time to add unnecessary discord to the Covid-19 response”.
“Now is not the time to add unnecessary discord to the Covid-19 response,” Barsa wrote.
Françoise Girard, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, said Barsa’s letter was “very worrisome”.
“Threatening to cut funding would be a terrible blow to the WHO and the global health response to Covid-19. It’s the only global agency tasked with [dealing with] pandemic health emergencies.
“So the USAid letter has kind of taken off the mask, which is that ultimately they have been gunning for the WHO for years,” she said.
“Sexual and reproductive health and rights has been in concept documents for more than 25 years at the UN so to say there is no consensus or agreement is just false.”
Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Centre, said the letter was “a disgraceful and dangerous attack on essential health services at the worst possible time”.
“USAID should be ashamed for its outlandish attempt to use coronavirus as a means of dismantling a long-standing sexual and reproductive health rights framework from the UN’s pandemic response,” said Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE). “When the United States steps away from an internationally agreed upon SRHR framework, it steps away from protecting women’s right to life.”
“We’re watching you and we will hold you accountable every step of the way throughout this response,” Sippel said.
UN health documents often refer to sexual and reproductive health and say it is central to the international agency’s broader goal of accelerating development, particularly efforts to improve mother and child mortality and health care. Global health experts say now is not the time to launch an attack on sexual and reproductive services.