As posted here yesterday, the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives of the United States killed a bill that had been passed UNANIMOUSLY in the Senate that would have fought the practice of forced marriage of very young girls. The Republicans in the United States House of Representatives, the gang of thugs who are about to take it over, VOTED FOR CHILD RAPE.
the bill, S. 987, passed unanimously in the Senate (all 100 Republicans and Democrats), and was sent on to the House yesterday for final passage.
And as soon as it landed there, the Republican leadership set out to defeat it. First, just after noon yesterday, Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen sent a "Dear Colleague" letter to House Republicans forcefully urging them "to oppose the Senate bill, S. 987, the “International Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act of 2010,” when it comes up for a vote today in its current version."
This letter then went on to argue--without merit--that the bill would cost $108 million and urged votes for a "new" alternative bill crafted by Ros-Lehtinen.
In fact, S. 987 is an authorizing bill and contains no new funding. Rather, the bill was purposefully crafted to make the most effective use of existing U.S. international assistance by ensuring effective coordination among various development efforts.
And after that the Republican Whip, Eric Cantor issued what was, in effect, marching orders:
Later in the day, at 6:53 pm just before the vote was to be held, Eric Cantor's office sent out a "whip alert" to Legislative Directors of Republican offices, which now also contended that they should vote against the bill based on "pro-life" concerns.
What "pro-life" concerns? I find it literally impossible to say, since for one thing the bill itself seeks to protect and promote the life, health and survival of girls who are being married as young as age eight, and for another thing the bill, in that it seeks to prevent child marriage in the first place did not address the needs of already-married girls and young women who for obvious reasons otherwise need access to reproductive health care.
Let me repeat: This bill seeks to prevent children from being married and by extension from forcing young girls into sexual relations in a custom that is nothing but a blatant abuse of human rights.
The Republican Party, the "family values" party, the "pro-life" party voted as a bloc in the House of Representatives FOR THE RAPE OF CHILDREN, ensuring the early deaths of many young girls and the babies their bodies are too small and underdeveloped to give give birth to safely.
This is such an outrage that if it doesn't become as important a talking point as the trivia that so absorbs so much attention, I don't think any of us escapes the shame. As Eric Cantor appears on the Sunday morning BS shows, I doubt he will be asked about this. It's up to us to shame them into passing it. It's up to us to point out that this is a REAL instance in which the federal government is promoting pedophilia, child rape, the mutilation and deaths of children.