Planned Parenthood Responds to U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft’s Visit to Kentucky
For Immediate Release: Dec. 10, 2019 (Updated: Dec. 10, 2019, 9:50 p.m.)
LOUISVILLE – Today, on Human Rights Day, Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky (PPINK) condemns U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft’s visit to Kentucky where she is hosting the United Nations Security Council in Frankfort and Lexington on Friday. PPINK expects more extreme anti-reproductive rights rhetoric during the visit, as Craft has proven to be yet another mouthpiece for the Trump administration’s aggressive attacks against access to reproductive health, including abortion.
Human Rights Day is observed by the international community every year on December 10th. A commemoration to the day in 1948 when the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. PPINK wishes to acknowledge that reproductive rights are human rights and Amb. Craft posits a grave threat to both.
The following is a statement from Tamarra Wieder, State Political Director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Indiana and Kentucky (PPAIK):
“As we internationally recognize the significance of Human Rights Day, we must also observe the atrocious actions ambassador Kelly Craft has taken in order to push anti-reproductive rights rhetoric not only to the global stage but soon here in the commonwealth. Craft’s attempts to remove references to sexual and reproductive health care for survivors is dangerous and does not represent the will of Kentuckians, which is to increase access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion.
“We can’t sit silently as Craft caters to the whims of politically driven ideological frameworks that stigmatize and shame pregnant people and most importantly, victims of sexual assault.
“We welcome the U.N. Security Council to Kentucky and warn that Craft’s wishes to ignore our reproductive freedoms are not in line with our needs, wants or ideas for a better, brighter Commonwealth.“On Human Rights Day, we affirm that reproductive health care is health care and health is a human right.”
Amb. Craft has taken a number of extreme actions, including threatening to veto a Security Council resolution on sexual violence until references to sexual and reproductive health care for survivors were removed. More on this and other actions initiated by Craft’s predecessor Nikki Haley are listed below:
- Stripped language affirming the right for survivors of rape to access sexual and reproductive health care in a U.N. Security Council resolution
- Appointed LGBTQ hate groups to serve on the 2017 U.S. delegation to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women
- Supported banning U.S. funding for UNFPA, the U.N. agency which supports reproductive and maternal health in over 150 countries
- Rolled back U.S. foreign policy positions promoting access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights
- Deputized U.S. delegates like Valerie Huber (HHS) and Bethany Kozma (USAID) to outline the administration's anti-women’s agenda throughout negotiations at the Commission on the Status of Women. At a closed-door event, according to reports, Kozma said the “U.S. is a pro-life nation.”
The U.S. mission is scheduled for Dec. 13-15 to Frankfort and Lexington, Kentucky with few details available on the visit.