CNN host Brooke Baldwin closed the 3:00 PM ET hour of CNN Newsroom by mentioning that “the UN Security Council passed a resolution to protect wartime rape victims” before complaining that “it was missing some key language that mentioned sexual and reproductive health.” Baldwin brought in CNN Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Michelle Kosinski to discuss the matter further. Kosinski attributed the absence of the language to the Trump administration and proceeded to portray the administration as heartless for taking the language out of the resolution.
A perplexed Baldwin asked Kosinski, “So the language was removed because of protests from the Trump administration?” Kosinski responded: “Yes. I mean, they are really the only ones that had a problem with this. That’s why, in the human rights community, among people at the State Department, this is not only jaw dropping that they needed this language removed but it’s also appalling to many people.”
Kosinski talked about how the original document “made reference to health services, sexual and reproductive health, providing those services to women, making sure it’s nondiscriminatory,” in addition to including language about “psycho-social services, legal, health services, taking into account specific needs of persons with disabilities.”
After summarizing the language as a “well-rounded paragraph just saying we need to provide these services to people,” Kosinski mentioned that “all of that is gone” in the final draft of the resolution, which the UN Security Council voted on.
Kosinski said “there is no reference anywhere in this resolution to health services, to sexual and reproductive health specifically. That is because the Trump administration sees that kind of language, however vague, as code for abortion.”
The Trump administration would have very good reason to believe that the phrase “reproductive health” serves as a code word for abortion; as UN agencies such as the Commission on the Status of Women and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women have gone on a “crusade to make abortion an internationally recognized legal right,” according to Live Action.
In addition, the United Nations Population Fund’s 2014 “State of World Population Report” proclaimed that “young people require a wide range of sexual and reproductive health services” including “safe abortion care.” Kosinski did not bother to mention that many UN agencies have signed onto the international pro-abortion agenda; instead dismissing the administration’s objection to the promotion of “reproductive health” as irrational.
Towards the end of her monologue, Kosinski also noted that “it was the US siding with China and Russia to take out another part of this document that would have allowed for monitoring and reporting of these kinds of atrocities in war.” Kosinski surely mentioned this in an effort to paint the Trump administration as sympathetic to authoritarian governments. She continued: “Only the U.S, China, and Russia were opposed to this. So to US allies, also, this is quite surprising.”
What’s not surprising is that CNN continues to act as a mouthpiece for the pro-abortion movement as well as the Democrats as they try to paint the Trump administration as extreme, right-wing pro-lifers who side with authoritarian governments.
A transcript of the relevant portion of Tuesday’s edition of CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin is below.
CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin
04/23/19
03:56 PM
BROOKE BALDWIN: Moments ago, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution to protect wartime rape victims, but it was missing some key language that mentioned sexual and reproductive health. Michelle Kosinski is our CNN Senior Diplomatic Correspondent and she’s with me now. It’s a pleasure to see you.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI: Hi, you too.
BALDWIN: So the, the language was removed because of protests from the Trump administration?
KOSINSKI: Yes. I mean, they are really the only ones that had a problem with this. That’s why, in the human rights community, among people at the State Department, this is not only jaw dropping, that they needed this language removed, but, but it’s also appalling to many people. Because this was a resolution to help victims of rape during wartime. And throughout the original document, which we were given by sources, you could see how they’ve made reference to health services, sexual and reproductive health, providing those services to women, making sure it’s nondiscriminatory, all of this language that you would expect to see when you’re talking about rape, rape victims. For example, in the original language that we have, it said, psycho-social services, legal, livelihood support, health services, taking into account specific needs of persons with disabilities. So it’s this well-rounded paragraph just saying we need to provide these services to people. The next day, someone…someone gave us a draft that had been marked up to try to form a compromise with the Trump administration because they wanted all this language removed. And they simply made reference to a prior resolution and took out all the specifics. But even that wasn’t enough for the Trump administration here. In the final draft, which the U.S. did not veto, but voted for, all of that is gone. So there’s no reference anywhere in this resolution to health services, to sexual and reproductive health specifically. That is because the Trump administration sees that kind of language, however vague, as code for abortion. And it was the U.S. siding with China and Russia to take out another part of this document that would have allowed for monitoring and reporting of these kinds of atrocities in war, to set up a system for monitoring this. Only the U.S., China and Russia were opposed to this. So to U.S. allies, also, this is quite surprising.
