[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 58 (Thursday, May 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3926-S3927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE RESOLUTION 307--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE WITH RESPECT 
TO MOTHER'S DAY THAT THE UNITED STATES SENATE SHOULD REJECT THE UNITED 
 NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN 
 (CEDAW) AS IT DEMEANS MOTHERHOOD AND UNDERMINES THE TRADITIONAL FAMILY

  Mr. HELMS submitted the following resolution; which was ordered to 
lie over, under the rule:

                              S. Res. 307

       Whereas motherhood is a God-given right of women to bear 
     and rear children;
       Whereas, since 1914, the United States has officially 
     observed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day to display 
     public expression of love and reverence for all American 
     mothers;
       Whereas Mother's Day is recognized by the United States and 
     many other countries in affirmation of the invaluable role 
     mothers play in providing a family upbringing for children;
       Whereas the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination 
     Against Women integrates a derogatory sentiment toward 
     motherhood as manifested in the Convention's January 3, 2000 
     Committee Report on Belarus specifically condemning symbols 
     such as Mother's Day;
       Whereas the Senate affirms its commitment that the United 
     States should work with other nations to enhance the 
     protection of the fundamental right of motherhood, including 
     the condemnation of coercive population control programs 
     where expectant mothers are forced to undergo abortions or 
     sterilizations;
       Whereas the Convention's agenda to promote abortion 
     worldwide invades the laws of countries that hold a religious 
     or moral belief that abortion is the destruction of innocent 
     human life and that it subjects expectant mothers to physical 
     and emotional trauma;
       Whereas the Convention seeks to supplant the primary care 
     and nurturing provided by stay-at-home mothers with 
     institutionalized daycare facilities as advocated in the 
     Convention's August 12, 1997 Committee Report on Slovenia, 
     which stated that children cared for at home are deprived of 
     ``educational and social opportunities offered in formal 
     daycare institutions''; and

[[Page S3927]]

       Whereas more than a hundred United States-based family, 
     religious, and educational organizations representing 
     countless millions of Americans strongly oppose United States 
     ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of 
     Discrimination Against Women: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the tenets of the Convention on the Elimination of 
     Discrimination Against Women are incompatible with the 
     tradition and policy of the United States to uphold 
     motherhood and to regard motherhood with the highest degree 
     of honor and respect;
       (2) the Convention would create negative perceptions toward 
     motherhood; and
       (3) the Senate should not give its advice and consent to 
     ratification of the fundamentally flawed Convention on the 
     Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

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