Urge senators to vote against CEDAW treaty

To the editor:

In 1980, President Carter signed the U.N. Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, also known as CEDAW. President Clinton failed to get it ratified in 1996.

In June, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on CEDAW and was to hold another one this week. U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer are trying to get this treaty ratified by describing conservatives as anti-woman. Perhaps it's time to investigate the real agenda to be achieved through CEDAW.

The agreement favors a gender-neutral military, redefines social and cultural norms, revises textbooks according to feminist ideology, creates a federal network of child-care facilities and wage control, locks the United States into a perpetual treaty allowing abortions at any time for any reason and allows a federal takeover of all family law, including marriage, divorce, child custody and property.

The treaty would be monitored by a committee of 23 feminist experts such as Hillary Clinton.

Ratification of CEDAW would create a massive interference with U.S. laws and with our federal-state balance of powers, diminishing the rights and benefits American women now enjoy. Please urge your senators to reject CEDAW.

CHRISTINE E. STEPHENS

Cape Girardeau