How NOW?

The National Organization for Women (NOW) calls itself the "largest organization of feminist activists in the United States. NOW has 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia."

The website describes NOW's purpose:

Since its founding in 1966, NOW's goal has been to take action to bring about equality for all women. NOW works to eliminate discrimination and harassment in the workplace, schools, the justice system, and all other sectors of society; secure abortion, birth control and reproductive rights for all women; end all forms of violence against women; eradicate racism, sexism and homophobia; and promote equality and justice in our society.

NOW's home page has articles on a laundry list of issues, but the primary focus is by far the demonization of Samuel Alito. Derailing his nomination to the Supreme Court is the most important issue in NOW's world. It's all about abortion, as if that's the most significant issue concerning women today.

One article deals with women's rights outside the U.S., "Hundreds March from El Paso to Mexico in Protest of Femicide."

On Dec. 3 NOW introduced its campaign to help stop violence against women in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico. NOW held a press conference and rally in El Paso, Texas, followed by a march across the border to Mexico in protest of the unsolved murders of Juarez women.

I don't have a problem with that. However, what I'd like to know is why NOW is silent about the plight of women in Afghanistan.

A search of NOW's website reveals that Afghanistan dropped completely off the organization's radar screen in Spring of 2002. Prior to that, NOW dodged giving the policies of the Bush Administration credit for the progress made in the status of women in Afghanistan after the U.S. overthrew the Taliban.

Why?

It's simple.

NOW is not about supporting women.

It's about supporting a radical Leftist agenda. It's about criticizing President Bush and conservatives.

This story out of Afghanistan should cause NOW to at least issue a statement condemning the brutality of the Taliban and pledging solidarity with women in that country.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- militants beheaded a teacher in a central Afghan town while his wife and eight children watched, officials said Wednesday, describing the latest in a string of attacks targeting educators at schools where girls study.

Four men stabbed Malim Abdul Habib eight times late Tuesday before decapitating him in the courtyard of his home in Qalat, said Ali Khail, a spokesman for the provincial government of Zabul, where the attack took place.
The assailants made Habib's wife, four sons and four daughters watch, Khail said. His children were between the ages of 2 and 22. No other family members were hurt.

The insurgents killed Habib, 45, after he refused to go with them to meet their commander, said the victim's cousin, Esanullah, who goes by only one name.

The attackers fled and Habib's wife called the police, Khail said. Police are questioning three people who were guests in the victim's home at the time.

Habib was the headmaster of Shaikh Mathi Baba high school, which is attended by 1,300 boys and girls.

Zabul, a remote and mountainous province populated mainly by Pashtuns and bordering Pakistan, is a hotbed of Taliban militancy. The former Taliban regime prohibited girls from attending school as part of its widely criticized drive to establish what it considered a "pure" Islamic state.

Zabul province's education director, Nabi Khushal , blamed Taliban rebels for the killing.

"Only the Taliban are against girls being educated," he said. "The Taliban often attack our teachers and beat them. But this is the first time one has been killed in this province."

...Hundreds of thousands of girls have returned to school since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001.

A UNICEF spokesman said the attacks were "incredibly worrying."

"Militants are clearly trying to intimidate communities and force families not to send their girls to school," Edward Carwardine said. "We hope these incidents will not deter families. ... Fortunately, so far we have not seen a decline in girls attending."

...Esanullah said Habib resumed a more than 20-year teaching career two years ago after the Taliban threatened him while he was working for an aid group helping the disabled. Since then, the Taliban had warned him twice to stop teaching.

...In the past year, Taliban insurgents have occasionally put up posters around Qalat demanding girls' schools be closed and threatening to kill teachers, Khushal said.

Why isn't NOW speaking out about this savagery?

Why aren't these "feminists" demanding that something be done in response, such as sending more troops to secure the region in order to make it safe for girls to attend school?

Again, it's very simple. NOW doesn't really care about promoting justice. Frankly, I don't think the group really cares about women.

The group is mainly about promoting abortion rights, not women's rights. It's about carrying out the agenda of the radical Left and attacking conservatives.

In effect, NOW has helped to make "feminism" synonymous with "liberal extremism."

There's so much more to women's rights than abortion on demand.

Giving money to NOW amounts to contributing to the culture of death, not fostering the advancement of women.

If you care about women's rights, don't contribute to NOW.

If you want to support a group bent on killing the unborn, if that "right" drives you, make out a check to NOW.