UNITED NATIONS (CNS) — On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Dec. 10, petitions for and against declaring abortion as a “universal right” were presented to U.N. members. More than a year ago, Marie Stopes International, a London-based abortion advocacy group, initiated a petition drive calling for “women’s rights to contraception and safe abortion” to be “protected and supported through reformed laws and policies at all levels.” The group presented their signatures during a U.N. General Assembly session marking the anniversary of the 1948 U.N. declaration. The group’s Web, www.globalsafeabortion.org/calltoaction.html, noted that 651 people had signed the petition: “Global Call to Action for Women’s Access to Safe Abortion” by Dec. 10. The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute in New York launched a petition of its own in October called the “U.N. Petition for the Unborn Child and the Family.” The petition, posted online at www.c-fam.org/publications/id.95/default.asp, had gathered more than 367,000 signatures, including 165,000 from English-speaking countries, by Dec. 10.