Disabilities Treaty Defeated in U.S. Senate

The Senate voted today on ratification of the U.N. treaty on persons with disabilities and it went down to defeat by a vote of 61-38. Two-thirds of the 99 present and voting were needed for ratification.

I gave a number of reasons it was opposed a few days ago in these pages. The primary reason for many groups was that this was the first hard law treaty ever to mention “reproductive health,” which is defined by the World Health Organization as including abortion. Much deadly mischief can come from even an innocuous mention of this term.

This was a hard vote for many Senators because it was supported by very sympathetic groups, like veterans and disabilities groups. The bravest vote against the treaty was probably Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who has been the GOP leader in disabilities for a long time.

This defeat heralds other good news for the near future with regard to the U.S. and those pesky U.N. treaties. If this treaty, which was supported by such sympathetic groups, failed, then we can expect any attempt to ratify even more flagrant treaties, like the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to fail by even greater margins.

It should be noted that the Holy See opposed this treaty at the time it was negotiated and opposes it still.