The United States was defeated in two attempts to insert antiabortion statements into resolutions at the UN conference on the status of women. The review of progress in the decade since the 1995 Beijing conference ended as it began.
In an opening speech, UN secretary general Kofi Annan noted progress in women's improved life expectancy, ability to earn, and lower fertility rates and girls' access to primary education. He said that the situation was worse in other areas. Trafficking in women and children was increasing, and HIV/AIDS was increasing among young women.
At the beginning of the two week meeting, Ellen Sauerbrey, the US ambassador to the meeting, said that the United States would not reaffirm the Beijing platform, which the United States had helped to draw up, unless a statement was inserted saying that the Beijing platform did not create new international human rights, including the right to abortion.
The Beijing platform deals with abortion as a public health issue. It says that abortion should be safe where it is legal and that no criminal action should be taken against women who have an illegal abortion.
After complaints by many delegates, Ms Sauerbrey backed down, saying that she understood that the proposed amendment was redundant. The US government, under President George Bush, has taken a strong stand against abortion, which is legal in the United States. Since 2002, the United States has withheld funds for the UN population fund, on the grounds that some money might support coercive birth control in China. The US has never ratified the UN's 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The convention was signed by President Jimmy Carter but not ratified by the Senate.
At the end of the conference, when a US backed resolution on economic equality and entrepreneurial activity was under consideration, Cuba and South Africa proposed amendments that offended the United States, and Ms Sauerbrey tried to withdraw her own resolution. The Cuban amendment noted that globalisation might have deleterious effects, and South Africa noted that “neglect of women's reproductive rights severely limits their opportunities in public and private life.” That was the same language used in the Beijing platform. Parliamentary rules prohibited Ms Sauerbrey from withdrawing the US resolution, and it was passed with the Cuban and South African amendments.
The conference also passed resolutions calling for action to end sex trafficking, and to help women affected by HIV/AIDS.