The United Nations international conference on population and development in Cairo has approved a 20 year “programme of action,” which contains such far reaching goals as reducing infant, child, and maternal mortality; improving education (especially for girls); and providing universal access to family planning.

Much of the conference was taken up with discussion of the controversial paragraph 8. 25, which alludes to abortion and is found under the chapter on health, morbidity, and mortality. For months leading up to the conference, the Vatican and various Islamic officials accused the draft …