A Vatican delegation has told the UN's Commission on the Status of Women that abortion does not liberate women.
A statement from the Holy See delegation was delivered to the UN Economic and Social Council's 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women earlier in the week by Professor Mary Anne Dantuono.
The commission chose at its priority theme this year, "The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child".
The statement from the Holy See said that it was "incongruous that, at a time when the sensitivity of women's issues appears stronger than every, the world is now obliged to confront new forms of violence and slavery directed especially at women".
Professor Dantuono said that violations of the rights of women, adolescents, and young girls were committed and "even tolerated" in many fields.
"Women bear the brunt of the world's child prostitution, sexual exploitation, abuse, domestic violence, child labour and human trafficking. The international sex trade has become an important industry as degrading as almost any mistreatment of women prior to it.
"This trade is often passed over in silence because it is considered a part of supposedly democratic freedoms and is too deeply rooted in places or is too lucrative to confront, so my delegation commends those states and organisations that have stepped forward in recent times to combat and draw attention to this scourge."
