POPULATION CONFERENCE OVERCOMES VATICAN OBSTACLE

Delegates at the United Nations population conference may have reached a broad consensus on the issue of abortion -- but the Vatican is not likely to sign off on it. The new text places priority on making family planning available to reduce the need for abortions. It says abortion should not be encouraged as a method of family planning and its legality should be left to individual countries. Tim Wirth, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs, told TIME senior writer Eugene Linden that most countries had signed on to the compromise language. "We won," Wirth told Linden Thursday night. Still, many delegates are furious at the Vatican for stalling the talks while it pressed its abortion stand.