WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Wednesday, the House International Relations Committee unanimously passed a resolution to affirm the goals of International Women's Day, which is commemorated annually on March 8th. Started by communists, International Women's Day will be celebrated at the UN on Friday with a conference featuring a UN official who has praised China's devastating family planning practices. The Family Research Council (FRC) has called on Congress not to put the U.S. stamp of approval on a movement that does nothing to put an end to brutal coercive abortion and forced sterilization practices around the world.

"Wrapped up in a nice sounding package, the UN sponsored 'International Women's Day' and its commemoration will be nothing more than a radical feminist celebration of abortion," said Dr. Pia de Solenni, fellow at FRC's Center for Human Life and Bioethics. "At the same time, the real health, social, and political needs of women throughout the world are put on the back burner."

Nafis Sadik, former head of the UN's pro-abortion family planning agency and current special envoy to Asia for AIDS, will be leading the UN festivities. Ms. Sadik is a vocal proponent of China's odious one-child population control program that includes, among other outrages, forced abortions.

Pro-abortion groups have embraced International Women's Day as an affirmation of their agenda, and in particular, are using the occasion to push for ratification of the anti- woman, anti-family treaty called CEDAW (Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Dr. de Solenni noted that much of the wording of the resolution that passed out of the House International Relations Committee Wednesday was reminiscent of language used by abortion groups to push for CEDAW. "Again, another poison pill wrapped in candy-coated language about women, CEDAW would be detrimental to American women because it would replace America's superior non-discrimination laws with laws endorsed by countries such as Iraq, Nigeria, and Peru, countries that allow such things as death by stoning, female circumcision or forced sterilizations."
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