An editorial in yesterday’s Opinion Journal reminded us that Judge Samuel Alito isn’t the only Bush nominee coming under fire. So is Ellen Sauerbrey, President Bush’s nominee to be the next Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the United Nations.
A former Maryland legislator and gubernatorial candidate, Ms. Sauerbrey is being attacked as a “crony” of the President’s-she did run his 2000 campaign in Maryland. But the real reason liberals don’t want her is that supports the Bush administration’s withholding $34 million from the U.N. Population Fund because the agency has made financial contributions to China’s policy of forced-abortions to limit family size.
The IWF has no position on abortion-but I’m going out on a limb and say that many of us would agree that forced abortion is wrong. Infanticide and imprisonment are also used to implement China’s population control policies.
Opinion Journal comments:
“One would think that women’s organizations would applaud this decision–and the appointment of an American woman who champions it. Mandatory limitations on family size and involuntary sterilizations hardly represent ‘reproductive freedom’ or ‘a woman’s right to choose.’ Instead, groups such as Planned Parenthood have protested that Mr. Bush is denying women access to reproductive health and family planning services. Planned Parenthood is also attacking Ms. Sauerbrey.”