On the 10th anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, the United States refused to join 85 heads of state in signing a statement that endorses a 10-year-old United Nations plan to ensure women's rights. In a letter to the U.N., the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kelly Ryan stated that the U.S. was committed "to the empowerment of women and the need to promote women's fullest enjoyment of universal human rights."
President Bush's administration withheld its signature because the statement included a reference to "sexual rights." My arms are up in despair! Countries such as Pakistan have signed this statement, yet the U.S. cannot sign it because of two small words.
In Pakistan today, women are still denied some basic rights, such as the right to education. Domestic violence and physical abuse - which includes rape, burning, "honor" killings and acid throwing - are still widespread. Pakistan is both a country of origin and a transit country for the trafficking of women. Despite these inequalities in Pakistan, President Musharaf is still able to recognize the importance of women's rights by signing the U.N. plan.
For the past four years, President Bush and his administration have been waging constant assaults on women's rights domestically. Attorney General John Ashcroft flooded health care providers across the nation with subpoenas for thousands of private medical records of women who had abortions. To defend the intrusion, the Department of Justice wrote that federal law "does not recognize a physician-patient privilege."
This is not only an attack on women but also on privacy. Many people will argue that President Bush is only assaulting women's reproductive rights as a part of a larger cultural battle. However, if abortion were his only target, then the administration would not be attempting to block women's access to contraceptives, which in turn drives down the number of abortions. Scientifically accurate information about contraceptives and abortions would not have begun disappearing from federal government web sites. However, evidently, this is not the case; Bush is waging a war against women and by refusing to sign the U.N. statement, it is obvious that he is doing so on a global scale.
The effects of President Bush's assaults on women are possibly greater abroad than they are domestically. On his very first day on the job, the President reinstated the "Global Gag" rule also know as the Mexico City Policy. This bars any health providers that receive U.S. aid from counseling women about their reproductive rights. By resurrecting the gag rule, the President publicized his disdain for freedom of speech to less-developed nations and emerging democracies. By doing so, President Bush has crippled the work of programs that worked to prevent hundreds of thousands of infant and maternal deaths worldwide each year. It seems strange that a President who preaches the value of life does not seem to value the lives of women and infants in less-developed nations.
The recent refusal to re-sign the U.N. statement and plan is not uncommon for the U.S. The Bush administration's
delegates to the U.N. Special Session of Children tried to block a plan to promote children's well-being and rights because of a small, three-letter phrase, "reproductive health services." In doing this, the delegates also opposed special efforts to aid young girls and young women who are victims of war crimes - which typically mean rape. The delegates were worried that the measure would provide these girls and women with information about reproductive health.
President Bush has intentionally made it look like his war against women's rights is a series of largely unnoted changes. In reality, it is a steady march into the past. What is of extreme importance is the real impact of the Presidential assault. Women's constitutional liberty has been threatened and as a result, women will needlessly die. The U.S. has prided itself on being a world leader in all aspects. However, if President Bush is re-elected, the only things that the U.S. will be leading the world toward are less women's rights and more deaths of women.
Amy Patanasinth is a junior majoring in international relations.<$><$>
