Focus on abortion has harmed women’s advancement, Vatican diplomat argues
February 27, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: A Vatican diplomat told the UN Human Rights Council that a focus on abortion in international forums over the past three decades has distracted from a needed focus on poverty, development, literacy, peace, and access to employment that “would have ensured a concrete advancement of women in society.”
“There is a tendency to disregard the family and to consider motherhood as an obstacle to women’s life,” said Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, apostolic nuncio and Permanent Observer to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland. “What we see instead is that women are often left alone without any support in their struggle to find a balance between their vocation to motherhood and family life and that to contribute to the society.”
He added, “What we see are women who have no economic means, who live in poor conditions, who are exposed to violence and, instead of being offered support, they are offered abortion, which is wrongly seen as an immediate solution to their conditions and suffering.”
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