The use of rape as a method of war is one of the most egregious acts of domination and debasement of women that the world has ever seen. Supporting a United Nations resolution to stand against this cruel crime is something that all international organizations can get behind to honor and elevate women.
Insisting that abortion language is included in these resolutions is not. It is a worn-out political agenda masquerading as the promotion of women’s rights — just because you repeat something over and over doesn’t make it true.
Last Tuesday, a UN Security Council resolution introduced by Germany on sexual violence in armed conflict passed without including abortion or abortion-related terms. This happened because the United States threatened to veto the resolution if these terms were included. Although news outlets interested in bringing down the Trump administration have tried hard to manipulate and convince the world otherwise, this administration is not soft on ending sexual violence in war zones, nor is it “watering down” women’s rights.
In removing abortion-related language in this resolution, the U.S. is not even taking a position on legalized abortion for rape victims — an issue that even pro-life Republicans are divided on, many of whom have stood for exceptions in anti-abortion law where it concerns victims of rape. The U.S.’s stance is addressing a much broader problem: the fact that abortion activists are obsessed with pushing the legalization of abortion into all UN documents and developing countries by tying it to women’s rights and women’s health.
In this case, as told by a foreign diplomat to the New York Post, abortion activists are “using wartime rape to ‘normalize abortion rights as the standard of care’ in all circumstances.” By Germany’s own admission, the removal of the language will do nothing to stop the UN system from including abortion services in conflict assistance.
Powerful countries forcing less developed nations into adopting abortion language into UN resolutions reeks of arrogant colonialism, an issue the international community has been warned against. Abortion is not an international right but clearly left up to the sovereignty of UN nation states (according to UN consensus since 1994.) Insisting on tying women’s rights to legalized abortion is an outdated mantra that drives a wedge between those fighting for equality and better lives for all women.
The majority of populations in 26 out of 40 surveyed countries around the world (most of whom have a population of about 50% women) believe abortion is morally unacceptable. Most of these countries lie in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Muslim-majority countries of Asia and the Middle East. The (millions) of people around the world who balk at the idea of promoting abortion do not lessen women’s rights with their views. They have a reasonable, freedom of conscience concern over taking the life of an unborn child.
Even more to the point, the promotion of a so-called right to abortion dominating liberal narratives at the UN does nothing to support the goals of health, prosperity, or the advancement of women and girls. Even the claims that legalizing abortion reduces maternal mortality rates is deceptive. According to the research of the UN and World Health Organization, 92% of these deaths are not from unsafe abortion but from hemorrhaging, sepsis, hypertensive disorder, HIV, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
To insist that women’s empowerment is intertwined with taking the life of an unborn child is to debase women, reducing them to sexual and reproductive objects who cannot think for themselves and turning a deaf ear to their real needs. If you want to know what women in developing countries need to empower them, listen to their voices. They need fully equipped hospitals and schools, food, and electricity. They need training and skills to enter the workforce or to own their own businesses — all issues that the Trump administration has been intent on solving including with three major initiatives for women in countries around the world.
The same old mantra is tired propaganda that only clouds the real and critical need to secure women’s rights, support their agency, and help them achieve a better life for themselves and their families. Move on, just because you say something over and over, doesn’t make it true.
Shea Garrison is vice president of international affairs for Concerned Women for America and a policy fellow at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
