The United States has come out against the right of women all over the world to have abortions. This on the eve of a U.N. meeting on the tenth anniversary of a resolution adopting a platform to work toward global equal rights for women. The U.S. amendment to the platform would have the signatories agree that the resolution does "not create any new international human rights" and that they do "not include the right to abortion" in the platform.
This is, of course, consistent with the current administrations oft stated 'faith based' policies. No one should be too surprised by this announcement. There are also many conservatives in other countries, most notably Muslim, that agree with the Bush administration's position.
The admonition to the committee that it not "create any new international human rights" is particularly ominous. What other rights might a meeting on women's equality 'create' that would be so problematic that they must be proscribed in advance. And why is our government so worried about the possibility that anyone might actually end up with more rights that they currently have?
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