November 14, 2005, 8:21 a.m.
Sisterhood vs. Sauerbrey
The Left plays abortion politics with women’s lives.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote this week on the nomination of Ellen Sauerbrey to be assistant secretary of State for the bureau of population, refugees, and migration. California Democrat Barbara Boxer will reportedly make the case against the former Maryland lawmaker's confirmation. Senator Boxer's argument goes something like this: Ellen Sauerbrey, who is pro-life, reliably represents the policy positions of the administration she has served.

While an orchestrated campaign of hostile editorials dishonestly casts Sauerbrey as a political crony in the tradition of FEMA's hapless Michael Brown, in truth, she is being blackballed by the feminist Left owing to the Bush administration's position on abortion and its refusal, backed by Congress, to fund abortions through donations to international organizations. Ellen Sauerbrey is far more than a "Bush loyalist," although as his nominee she would no doubt plead guilty to being loyal to the president's agenda. And, that's her sin in the eyes of the monolithic sisterhood.

Sauerbrey has spent 30 years in public life. She served for 16 years in the Maryland House of Delegates (1978-94) where her formidable skills were recognized by her male colleagues when they elected her as their minority leader. She came within 3/10 of one percent of being elected governor of Maryland in 1994. I first met Sauerbrey when she served as chairman of ALEC, the bipartisan organization of 7,000 state legislators. In 2001, Sauerbrey was a U.S. delegate to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and she has been the U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Woman for the past four years. She has been a forceful voice on behalf of suffering women who have no voice of their own.

In making the case against this experienced, multitalented public servant, Senator Boxer will be representing the opposition of a host of left-wing women's groups who have appointed themselves gatekeeper. They are imposing an entry fee before admission to the worldwide effort to alleviate the desperate suffering of millions of women. Although Charlotte Burch, executive director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership has argued, "There is a need to create greater space and opportunity for women with various perspectives to be heard as public leaders — in elected office and as public writers and shapers of opinion," she doesn't mean it. Burch is a leading opponent of Sauerbrey's nomination because, as far as the Left is concerned, there is only space for abortion-rights advocates in the international campaign against the abuse and exploitation of women.

While an articulate committed advocate like Ellen Sauerbrey would seem perfectly suited to build a consensus and rally resources on behalf of women in desperate straits, for the international sisterhood the abortion-rights agenda trumps any fight against the horrific circumstances women and young girls face around the world. The scourge of sex trafficking, the domestic abuse of women, genital mutilation, and widespread illiteracy all take a backseat to the feminist campaign to elevate abortion on demand to an internationally recognized human right.

After echoing the phony "crony" charge, the Providence Journal faulted Sauerbrey because "she pushes Bush-administration abortion politics on the world, frustrating international efforts in family planning [read: abortion]. If anyone needs reproductive-health services [read: abortion], it is refugee women." If anyone needs a proven leader to build a consensus on the need to address their plight it is refugee women. Another nominee for the important assistant-secretary post can also be expected to represent the Bush administration's views, but this nominee's superior skills and demonstrated commitment would be hard to match. Next time someone lectures about the need to find common ground in order to help women in need, remember the orchestrated attacks against Ellen Sauerbrey. Although she represents the shared resolve to alleviate suffering, the absolutist feminist Left will yield no ground in their myopic mission.

— Kate O'Beirne, National Review's Washington editor, is author of the upcoming Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports.

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