by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Thousands of radical feminists are expected to arrive in New York next week to attend the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) where they will push their pro-abortion agendas on government delegations.
Samantha Singson of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institutes writes that this year’s CSW is significant because it marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Beijing Conference on Women, where feminists first tried – and failed – to establish a “right” to abortion.
They haven’t stopped trying, however, and more than 6,000 representatives from various feminist organizations haveegistered to attend this year’s CSW.
While governments gather in a conference room to discuss how they have helped the world’s women progress, non-government organizations (NGOs) will be holding their own events to push their ideas, Singson writes. A number of these side events will focus on “sexual and reproductive rights,” “access to reproductive health services,” and abortion.
“While most pro-life organization were denied the opportunity to hold events over ‘space constraints,’ many prominent abortion advocates such as Ipas, the International Planned Parenthood Federation and the Center for Reproductive Rights were given slots,” Singson writes.
The NGOs are also circulating documents for presentation to the delegates. Catholics for Choice (CFC) – formerly known as Catholics for a Free Choice – has been circulating a joint declaration calling on “all Christians” to take aim at Nicaragua and El Salvador’s strict pro-life laws with the slogan that “Jesus never condemned therapeutic abortion.”
“Apart from the push by NGO activists, the abortion issue regularly causes heated debate among member states at CSW,” Singson writes.
“At last year’s meeting, negotiations went down to the wire as Norway and the European Union insisted on language related to ‘sexual and reproductive health.’ Delegates sequestered themselves behind closed doors in late-night sessions over the contentious language, with attempts to insert new, ambiguous language rebuffed.”
This year’s CSW will take place from March 1 through March 12.
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