Women New: June 23, 2009

Joan: Late breaking:

Jane: This weekend members of the National Organization for Women (NOW) elected Terry O'Neill, as president for the next four years. NOW is the largest grassroots feminist organization in the country. President-Elect O'Neill talked about violence against women as well as inequality. She said she speaks publicly about her own experience as an abused wife because keeping quiet continues the abuse. And she said that women are fed up with persistent inequality and are ready for change.

Joan: Congratulation president-elect O’Neill! Well, sorry to say we have a lot of news about violence some good and some bad, much of it arising from abortion and rape issues. And we have related news about the persistent inequality of women in this country that leaves us fed up! I for one am especially fed up that the United States refuses to sign on to CEDAW. CEDAW is the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and has been ratified by 185 countries, but not by the United States. Our country remains the only industrialized western country that has not ratified it. And I think the following report may give us some insight as to why. And the value of CEDAW was in the news this past week.

Jane: Yes. A paralyzed 16-year-old Peruvian woman, who is a rape survivor, has filed a claim against Peru. She filed her petition last week with the U. N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. She can do this because Peru ratified CEDAW in 1981, offering her this kind of protection. In her petition she claims that she is paralyzed because the Peruvian government failed to enforce the law entitling her to an abortion. Thanks to CEDAW, abortion is legal in Peru in cases of risk to a woman's health or life. Apparently when this young woman was 13 she was raped by a 34-year-old man. When she discovered that she had become pregnant, she attempted suicide by jumping off a building. Doctors treated her injuries, but refused to perform the necessary spinal surgery because she was pregnant. She miscarried as a result of her injuries, and the doctors did operate, but due to the delay, she remains paralyzed.

Joan: Very sad. But it is very interesting how abortion became legal in Peru. A similar case to this young woman’s was filed in the U.N. against Peru in 2002. In that one, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled in favor of a young woman who was forced to carry to term a fetus with fatal abnormalities. The U.N. Committee said that access to abortion in the case of threats to maternal health is a human right and Peru was ordered to change their abortion laws. Had Peru not signed CEDAW this case could not have happen. But women in the United Sates don’t have the kind of protection provided Peruvian women. So now perhaps we understand more about why our male legislators won’t sign on to CEDAW. Under CEDAW there is a committee that periodically reviews the progress being made by its adherents. This is the 21^st century, do you suppose we can get the United States to come into the 20^th century with respect to women’s right?

Jane: On the topic of abortion, one last follow up on the sad story of Dr. George Tiller, the doctor who was harassed and finally murdered for legally providing abortions for women in the third trimester of pregnancy. Katha  Pollitt had an excellent article in this week's issue of The Nation magazine. It makes me hopeful that more people will now understand why women have abortions late in a pregnancy. Quite simply, some problems that require termination aren't discovered until late in a pregnancy. I doubt it is a pleasant procedure. In her article, Pollitt mentions that "It was astonishing how many men were called upon to weigh in on abortion on national television " She also quotes Andrew Sullivan, a writer and blogger for The Atlantic magazine. Sullivan is a gay man, a Catholic and a political conservative. He said that after Tiller's murder, a lot of women wrote to his blog about their third trimester abortions. He said he was kind of shaken by the fact that--as he put it--almost all women that go to places such as Dr. Tiller's office are in desperate straits. He said, and Pollitt quotes him, "The children are very, very deformed or ill or will not survive birth or the mother's health is directly threatened. These are very grave and difficult circumstances." Sullivan doesn't mention it, but many women in these situations have other children to think about. How might completing such a pregnancy affect the entire lives of those living children? What if she dies from postponing her own treatment or from delivery? What of those existing children?.

Joan: I remember a comment from a woman who had had such an abortion, and I don't remember all the details but the gist was that she knew that if she carried the fetus to term she would have a child who would know only suffering and so, rather than have that happen, she made the choice that she would be the one who suffered instead. But Sullivan has never been a parent. Pollitt points out that Sullivan has been outspoken against choice for two decades and yet is only now finding out why women terminate pregnancies. Where was his basic research? But he still seems to be anti-choice. In any case, there seems to be a sub-text to Pollitt's article that says we can't begin to imagine the many circumstances that cause a woman to need an abortion, and the government--and maybe she would include the male talking heads-- shouldn't try to guess. I hope this little bit of good insight can come as a small memorial to Dr. Tiller in the wake of that atrocity. But as Pollitt's said, Terrorism works. Dr. Tiller's clinic will not reopen. Enough said.

Jane: Well, not quite enough said, because Operation Rescue announced last week that they will continue to target Dr. Leroy Carhart, a Nebraska abortion provider who has stepped up to carry on Dr. Tiller's legacy. Dr. Carhart was a close friend and colleague of Dr. Tiller. He announced last week that he will begin performing late abortions at his Nebraska clinic as long as the procedures fulfill the requirements of Nebraska law. He said he doesn't want to have more than three months go by before services are provided somewhere And he said, "As long as I get referrals from other doctors that say the fetus is not viable, then it's my intent to take care of those patients." Operation Rescue plans to seek an investigation of Dr. Carhart's Bellevue, Nebraska, clinic by the state the Attorney General.

Joan: Here is an interesting and promising report. A court in the Hubei Province of China has ruled against penalizing a 21-year-old waitress who fatally stabbed a Communist Party official who was attempting to rape her. According to CNN, the young woman was released because she acted in self-defense, surrendered to police, and had limited criminal responsibility due to manic depression. She may have been helped by world wide public opinion. The New York Times reported she received an outpouring of support online, despite the Chinese government’s attempts to quell communication about the incident

Jane: Violence against women is a world-wide problem and much needs to be done to fight this incredibly old evil. According to a survey by the South African Medical Research Council or MRC, one in four men in South Africa has admitted to committing rape. Of these. almost half claim that they have assaulted more than one person. Seventy-three percent of them said they carried out an attack before the age of 20.

The study was led by Professor Rachel Jewkes, who is the director of the MRC Gender and Health Unit. She is a medical doctor specializing in Public Health Medicine. Men used a PDA to answer questions, so they were guaranteed anonymity. The study confirmed that the incidence of HIV is very high there, more than one in four men between the ages of 25 and 45 is HIV positive. And more than 40% of men in their 30s are HIV positive. So a person raped by a man over the age of 25 has a one in four chance that the attacker was HIV positive. The South African government has been criticized for failing to address the crisis. It is estimated that only 7 % of of rape reports result in conviction. Research leader Jewkes said "The findings highlight the very high prevalence of rape and an HIV infected adult population in South Africa. She said that the study shows that rape is far too common, and its origins too deeply embedded in ideas about South African manhood, for it to be addressed only through arrest and prosecution of perpetrators. The report said a much broader approach to rape prevention is required, and it must include changing the ideas of masculinity, that are based on a marked gender hierarchy that is combined with sexual entitlement of men. Efforts to change these culturally driven issues require interventions in education as well as providing opportunities for employment and advancement. Meanwhile, a report earlier this month said that one child is raped in South Africa every three minutes, with 88% of rapes going unreported. It also found that levels of child abuse in South Africa are increasing rapidly. Researcher Jewkes said: "We need our government to show political leadership in changing attitudes. We need South African men, from the top to the grassroots to take responsibility."