In a continuing effort to appease his Right Wing political base, President Bush is alienating some of the U.S.’s most supportive allies abroad and threatening the focus of the U.N. Special Session on Children. Diplomats say the Bush administration’s obsession with language in the summit’s final resolution has shifted the focus of the conference from improving the lives of children through healthcare, education, and protecting them from violence to abortion and what the administration deems “traditional values.” Fearing implicit or explicit support of sex education, birth control, or abortion counseling, the administration continues to object to the phrase “reproductive health services,” and does not support other clauses in the resolution that would, for example, provide rehabilitation services for girls who are the victims of war crimes. However, the language in question was already agreed to in previous U.N. conferences and demonstrates President Bush’s determination to advance his reactionary agenda and impose ideology that does not reflect the laws of the United States on other nations.
For more information, see the Feminist Daily News from August 28 and August 29.
