A blow against the cause of Forced Abortion
Editorial Note: This isn't Furnishings and China, but it's important and interesting (and it's very much about Fashion!). Please read on....
You may have missed this in the drama and glamour of that Alza who-sis guy that got killed in Iraq yesterday (6/8), but the guy who caused many of the problems back home, Tom DeLay, left Congress yesterday, due to his continuing legal problems. With him goes the advocacy for the folks who own the sweatshops on the Marianas Islands.
The Marianas Islands are an American protectorate, which means (among other things) that clothing made there can bear the "Made in the USA" label. To the manufactuers, it's the best of both worlds: old-fashioned sweatshops that makes stuff cheap, and the ability to pass off their stuff as "homemade", while charging premium prices.
Sweatshops are bad enough, but when you throw sex slavery and forced abortions into the mix, it gets downright nasty - and, unfortunately, that's what's happening here. Young girls are being lured to this "Island paradise" with the promise of good paying jobs. What they get when they arrive are a sweatshop job and prostitution on the side. (The Marianas is quite a destination for rich businessmen, like Neal Bush, who like the hookers). If these women get pregnant, by way of prostitution or not, they are forced to have an abortion. I am resolutely pro-choice, but that means PRO-CHOICE: Have the kid or don't have the kid. That's not what's happening here.
For years, the Democrats (whom everyone keeps accusing of being both just like the Republicans AND without a plan) have been trying to introduce legislation that would assure that the workers in these places would be subject to American labor laws which would mean decent working conditions, decent wages and - suprise, suprise - no forced abortions. But every year, Tom DeLay - who makes a big deal out of his supposed Christian faith and "pro-life" creds - killed this legislation. He felt that this situation was just dandy, and said to a meeting of the aforementioned businessmen "You are a shining light for what is happening to the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market system"
Today, with the departure of Delay, house representatives George Miller (D-CA), Hilda Solis (D-CA), and John Spratt (D-SC) are introducing "The United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act" which is designed to correct these horrible injustices.
Once again, the Democrats are proving themselves to be the REAL party of people who are pro-life.
You may have missed this in the drama and glamour of that Alza who-sis guy that got killed in Iraq yesterday (6/8), but the guy who caused many of the problems back home, Tom DeLay, left Congress yesterday, due to his continuing legal problems. With him goes the advocacy for the folks who own the sweatshops on the Marianas Islands.
The Marianas Islands are an American protectorate, which means (among other things) that clothing made there can bear the "Made in the USA" label. To the manufactuers, it's the best of both worlds: old-fashioned sweatshops that makes stuff cheap, and the ability to pass off their stuff as "homemade", while charging premium prices.
Sweatshops are bad enough, but when you throw sex slavery and forced abortions into the mix, it gets downright nasty - and, unfortunately, that's what's happening here. Young girls are being lured to this "Island paradise" with the promise of good paying jobs. What they get when they arrive are a sweatshop job and prostitution on the side. (The Marianas is quite a destination for rich businessmen, like Neal Bush, who like the hookers). If these women get pregnant, by way of prostitution or not, they are forced to have an abortion. I am resolutely pro-choice, but that means PRO-CHOICE: Have the kid or don't have the kid. That's not what's happening here.
For years, the Democrats (whom everyone keeps accusing of being both just like the Republicans AND without a plan) have been trying to introduce legislation that would assure that the workers in these places would be subject to American labor laws which would mean decent working conditions, decent wages and - suprise, suprise - no forced abortions. But every year, Tom DeLay - who makes a big deal out of his supposed Christian faith and "pro-life" creds - killed this legislation. He felt that this situation was just dandy, and said to a meeting of the aforementioned businessmen "You are a shining light for what is happening to the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market system"
Today, with the departure of Delay, house representatives George Miller (D-CA), Hilda Solis (D-CA), and John Spratt (D-SC) are introducing "The United States-Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Human Dignity Act" which is designed to correct these horrible injustices.
Once again, the Democrats are proving themselves to be the REAL party of people who are pro-life.
posted by Catalina Vel-DuRay @ Friday, June 09, 2006
1 Comments:
At 3:35 PM,
Anonymous said…
Your findings in the CNMI are realistically true. Not only in the garment but as well in the night clubs, massage parlor and other strip clubs that women are sometimes hired as a waitress but ended up to become sex slaves or their employer are selling them to prostitution. if you happen to read previous months news a lot of local and chinese bosses are brought to justice because of force sex slave. US congress should promptly work on the bill to correct these abuses.
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