United Nations conference cancels pro-life workshop, calls it ‘too controversial’

The 68th United Nations Civil Society Conference is taking place this week in Salt Lake City, Utah, focusing on “building inclusive and sustainable cities and communities.” Yet there is one group the U.N. was apparently not willing to be inclusive of – pro-lifers. Family Life International was set to present a workshop, titled “The Family and Protection of Life, Women and Girls in Sustainable Communities,” only to have it canceled at the last minute.

According to Merrilee Boyack, executive director of Family Watch International, the group was not given notice that the workshop had been canceled until Saturday night, with the conference set to begin on Monday, August 26.

“They said it was not well rounded and that it was too controversial,” Boyack told the Salt Lake Tribune. “I’m like, which part was too controversial? That we want to protect women? That we want to protect girls? No, I’m sure it was that we wanted to protect babies. But this is really astounding and very unprofessional.” Boyack also claimed that her group has been working with the United Nations for decades, and has never had a workshop canceled before now.

READ: Backwards: United Nations calls abortion bans ‘torture’ and ‘extremist hate’

Meanwhile, Matthew Rojas, a spokesman for the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, said the workshop should not have been approved in the first place. “We are sorry for the miscommunication in notifying them late and not giving them the opportunity to sort of have that,” he said. “The group members who were going to be on the panel, the groups that they were representing have a history of not being inclusive. There were not other voices on that panel talking about a really complicated issue. That was really where the concern came down for the workshop committee.”

There were three total workshops being presented by Family Watch International, with only the pro-life workshop being canceled.“Obviously, it was the pro-life element that they were objecting to,” Boyack told the Deseret News. She shared an e-mail she received from a member of the workshop committee with the Salt Lake Tribune, which said the workshop was not “well rounded enough” and that there “is too much controversy around the issue today.”

“We have never, ever seen this happen in 20 years,” Boyack said. “To have this be so last minute, when we have speakers coming in from all over, was just shocking, very unprofessional and very disrespectful.”

It’s not a surprise that the United Nations would be hostile to pro-lifers; it is an extremely pro-abortion organization which seeks to spread abortion throughout the globe, even where it’s not wanted. The U.N. has decried abortion bans as “torture,” and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is believed to be complicit in China’s coercive One-Child Policy, which has resulted in women being dragged off the street and forced into abortions. UNFPA has also worked to increase birth control and abortions in Africa, listing most of the continent as “highest need,” with the majority of the program described as “integrated sexual and reproductive health services.” This is despite the fact that many Africans are pro-life, and some — including scientist and activist Obianuju Ekeocha — have gone so far as to describe these efforts as the continuation of colonization.

The United Nations is hostile to pro-lifers; that much is obvious. What is laughable, though, is that any group wouldn’t be welcome, simply because of an ideological agreement, at a conference supposedly devoted to — of all things — inclusivity. Is inclusivity only allowed when people toe the pro-abortion line? That’s the message the U.N. has decided to send.

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