Senate Rejects U.N. Disabilities Treaty

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked ratification of a U.N. treaty that promotes equal rights for disabled people, saying the measure shouldn’t be brought up in the lame-duck session and could cede U.S. sovereignty to the global body.

Supporters of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities said the treaty is nonbinding and wouldn’t change or challenge U.S. law. They said the international pact is based on the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and would help protect disabled Americans abroad.

But a 61-38 vote in favor of the treaty fell five votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass all treaties. Eight Republicans and two independents supported the measure, while not one Democrat voted against the treaty.

The United Nations adopted the treaty in 2006. President Obama signed it in 2009, though it failed to move through the Senate — which must ratify all treaties — until this year. It has been signed by 154 nations and ratified by 126.

Critics fear the treaty could strip Americans of fundamental rights, such as denying parents the ability to home-school a child with disabilities if the U.N. committee — or another body carrying out its recommendations — determined it would be in the best interests of the child. Some also worry that language calling for the disabled to have equal rights to reproductive health services could lead to abortions.

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