U.S. Signs Global Anti-Abortion Pact, Declaring ‘There Is No International Right to Abortion’

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar virtually signed a non-binding global declaration against abortion along with more than 30 countries. It promised a commitment “to work together to: Reaffirm that there is no international right to abortion,” according to declaration. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1970s that the Constitution protects a pregnant woman’s freedom to choose to have an abortion. But the Trump administration has been open about wanting to undermine those protections. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States has defended the dignity of human life everywhere and always,” Pompeo said at the virtual signing ceremony. “We’ve also mounted an unprecedented defense of the unborn abroad.” Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he was “disturbed” by the declaration.