“The sexual behavior of men can be a form of violence against women because it can result in pregnancy,” stated an official of the U.N. Secretariat earlier this week during negotiations at the annual U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), at which the U.N.’s typical loopiness has abounded.
The New York Times got into the game this week with an unsigned editorial claiming the Holy See, Iran and Russia are “trying to eliminate language in a draft communiqué asserting that the familiar excuses—-religion, custom, tradition—-cannot be used by governments to duck their obligations to eliminate violence.”
The Times accuses this “Unholy Alliance” of being indifferent to violence against women and of using religion to protect wife-beaters, reminding us that, “The efforts by the Vatican and Iran to control women are well known.”
Yet the claim that these groups are seeking to strip protections from women “is a flat-out lie,” as one person close to the negotiations told me. In fact what is happening is the Holy See and her allies are blocking proposals by the U.S. and E.U. that would be used to promote a right to abortion.
The U.S. and E.U. also are pushing language calling for comprehensive sexuality education covering the farthest frontiers of sexuality. Another of their goals is striking down sovereignty language that protects governments from marauding Western lawyers seeking to impose their views on traditional peoples.
If there is no document this year, blame falls squarely on the U.S., the E.U., and their allies, who are trying to use this process to advance their objectionable ideas.
