State Department strikes reproductive rights, 'Occupied Territories' from human rights report

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post

State Department strikes reproductive rights, ‘Occupied Territories’ from human rights report

By Carol Morello April 20 at 4:56 PM

The State Department’s annual human rights report released Friday drops references to reproductive rights for women and stops using the phrase “Occupied Territories” to describe Israel’s presence in Gaza and the West Bank.

The report, which covers 2017, focuses less on societal attitudes and discrimination than in previous years and more on governmental actions that encourage or reward violence and bigotry. It is the first human rights report to reflect the Trump administration’s views and priorities.

In what is likely to be the most controversial change, the report strips a section labeled “reproductive rights” that outlined access to contraception and abortion, as well as maternal mortality rates, for every country. In its place is a section for each country called “coercion in population control,” documenting involuntary or “unethical” sterilization.

Separate sections on reproductive rights were introduced during the Obama administration in the 2011 report released the following year, at the end of Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/state-department-strikes-reproductive-rights-occupied-territories-from-annual-report/2018/04/20/46ef0874-44a6-11e8-ad8f-27a8c409298b_story.html

[sandensea]

1. Placating the far Isreali AND U.S. right in one fell swoop

The only thing this administration has proven competent at (which is why they're still there).