Earth Summit: Dispute on abortion holds up agreement

Ten words proposed by Canada to halt female circumcision and safeguard abortion rights became the final stumbling block to a deal at the Earth Summit.

The problem was over a paragraph calling for better health services "consistent with national laws and cultural and religious values", a form of words the United Nations had wrongly recorded as agreed in preliminary negotiations in Bali in June. Some countries feared the wording could endorse the practice of genital mutilation, a practice common in the Horn of Africa.

Canada wanted to add the words "and in conformity with all human rights and fundamental freedoms", but the United States, the Vatican and some developing countries said the phrase could allow women to choose abortion in places where it is outlawed. Advocates of the new wording said linking health to human rights could also help to slow the spread of Aids, because governments would no longer be able to make decisions on contraception on religious grounds alone.

America said it was not opposed to a link between human rights and health care, but would not accept an addition to the text, which it said was agreed in the preparatory briefings. "The language was endorsed by all of us," said the American negotiator John Turner. Abortion is controversial in many parts of the US, although Mr Turner played that down. "The issue of the strong positions for right to life and choice have not come up."

The dispute went to the summit's main committee last night. "If it's not [included], the Johannesburg text will be a very bad day for women," Mary Robinson, the UN human rights commissioner, said.