It is said that we are furthest behind on goal 5, which deals with maternal health but also with child health. Last year, countries agreed to make it a priority and move forward with it. In June 2009, Canada co-sponsored a resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council that recognizes maternal mortality and morbidity as a pressing human rights issue.
This year, we are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, in the context of which governments from around the world, including Canada, reaffirmed that reproductive rights are based on the recognition of the fundamental right of all couples and individuals to freely and responsibly decide the number, the spacing and the moment of births, the right to have access to information and means to decide, and the right to receive the highest level of sexual and reproductive health.
We earned that fundamental right here in Canada. We fought and now it is written: women have a right to abortion. How is it that having control over our own bodies is part of our fundamental right but we do not promote it abroad although we want to move ahead with the goal we are furthest behind with? How is it that we do not promote this right in the poorest countries where women have no choice and where, often, their husbands dictate their choices? I do not understand, and if there is no global consensus on all services, including abortion and contraception, we will completely miss the target. I think we will have to forget about achieving the goal for the year 2015.