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NRL News
ACTION
ALERT: WASHINGTON (February 27, 2007)—The U.S. Senate could vote this year on whether to ratify a treaty that some international bodies have interpreted to prohibit any limitations on abortion. The treaty is called the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or for short “CEDAW” (pronounced “SEE-daw”). NRLC strongly opposes ratification of the CEDAW because the treaty already has been construed to condemn virtually all limits on abortion by the U.N. committee that is charged with enforcing it, by the European Parliament, and by pro-abortion litigating groups. Many other pro-life organizations also oppose ratification of the CEDAW, including Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Focus on the Family, and the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. What Is the CEDAW? The CEDAW is a treaty that was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1979. Since then it has been ratified by 185 nations, but never by the United States. President Jimmy Carter signed the treaty and sent it to the Senate in 1980, but the Senate has never voted on whether to ratify it—in part because of serious questions about the impact it could have in many areas of U.S. law, including laws pertaining to abortion. Although the CEDAW does not mention the word “abortion,” Article 12 does require signing nations to “eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality between men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.” Since about 1995, Article 12 and other provisions have been creatively interpreted by official bodies, ranging from the European Parliament to the U.N. CEDAW Committee, to condemn limitations on abortion, on grounds that any restrictions on abortion constitute discrimination against women. In a February 1 letter to the Senate, NRLC noted, “The official U.N. CEDAW compliance committee . . . has used CEDAW as the basis for criticizing at least 37 different U.N. member nations and pressuring them to weaken or repeal laws protecting unborn children. “Among the targets of such criticisms by the CEDAW Committee have been Ireland (‘The Committee is concerned that, with very limited exceptions, abortion remains illegal in Ireland’); Poland (in January 2007); Mexico (‘The Committee recommends that all states of Mexico should review their legislation so that, where necessary, women are granted access to rapid and easy abortion’); and Portugal (‘The Committee is concerned about the restrictive abortion laws in place in Portugal’). . . . The CEDAW Committee also has explicitly held that nations should provide public funding of abortion, and even has criticized nations that have laws in place to allow medical professionals to opt out of providing abortions.” The NRLC letter to the Senate concluded: “In summary: the CEDAW, if ratified, would be used to assert an international obligation on the federal and state governments to provide public funding for abortion, to refrain from adopting or enforcing restrictions on partial-birth abortions, to refrain from adopting or enforcing laws to protect the rights of parents with respect to their minor daughters, to eliminate conscience-protection laws, and otherwise to condemn any limitations on abortion. . . . For these reasons, a vote in favor of a ratification resolution is a vote in favor of all of these sweeping pro-abortion policies, and will be accurately so characterized in our scorecard of key roll call votes for the 110th Congress.” Prospects in 2007 Democrats took over majority control of the Senate (51-49) last January. This made Senator Joseph Biden (D-De.) the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Biden, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, is a supporter of the CEDAW. The last time Biden chaired the committee, in 2002, he was able to win the committee’s approval for the treaty. But Biden did not bring the CEDAW to the Senate floor that year, apparently judging that, in the face of opposition from NRLC and other pro-life groups, the treaty would have fallen short of the two-thirds vote necessary for ratification. Now, however, Biden and other Senate Democrats are under pressure from liberal advocacy groups to press the treaty to a vote of the full Senate. All but a few of the Senate’s 51 Democrats already have endorsed the CEDAW. However, many of the 49 Republican senators have never taken a position on it. Even if every Democratic senator voted in favor of ratification, treaty supporters would need 16 Republican senators’ votes in order to achieve the required two-thirds margin (if every senator votes). Immediate Action Requested Please urge your two U.S. senators to oppose ratification of the CEDAW (pronounced “SEE-daw”), an international treaty against “sex discrimination,” because it is being used on a regular basis to attack laws protecting unborn children. “Ratification of the CEDAW can be stopped,” says NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. “It requires the votes of only one-third of the senators, plus one, to block ratification of a treaty.” You can telephone any senator’s office through the U.S. Capitol switchboard, 202-224-3121. If you are not sure who your senators are, just tell the operator which state you live in, and you will be directed to the correct offices. In addition, please visit the Legislative Action Center on the NRLC website at http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/home/. Once you are there, just click on the “Action Alert” on the CEDAW. The website tools will allow you to easily send an appropriate e-mail message on the CEDAW to each of your senators. PLEASE NOTE: Because of security procedures, there are often long delays in the delivery and counting of U.S. mail on Capitol Hill, so we highly recommend the use of phone and e-mail. If you wish to send a letter as well, we suggest you send it by fax. You can obtain the fax number for most senators under the senator’s profile on the NRLC Legislative Action Center. Your Message Whatever methods you choose, you should make it clear that you are a constituent, politely urge the senator to “oppose ratification of the CEDAW (pronounced ‘SEE-daw’) treaty,” and ask for a written response explaining the senator’s position. Please Keep NRLC in the Loop! It will greatly assist NRLC’s lobbying effort against the CEDAW if you send a copy of any response you receive from a senator regarding the CEDAW (or any other pro-life issue). Please send such responses either (1) by e-mail, Legfederal@aol.com, or (2) by fax 202-347-3668, or (3) by U.S. mail NRLC, Federal Legislation Dept., 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004. Thank you!
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