In a statement issued on September 2, President Biden called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to leave a Texas pro-life law—that restricts abortion after an unborn child’s heartbeat is detected—in place “an unprecedented assault on women’s constitutional rights” and vowed to “launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision.” Biden touted his own concern for women’s rights, saying the situation in Texas is an example of why he decided to create a Gender Policy Council “to be prepared to react to such assaults on women’s rights.”
President Biden can style himself as a champion of women’s rights all he wants, but his recent decision to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan—which triggered the most significant women’s rights crisis of our time—makes it abundantly clear that he is not the champion of women he purports himself to be.
Over the past two weeks, Americans have watched in horror as the Taliban regimen of terror has taken control of Afghanistan. Scenes of mass chaos have flooded the news. Men, women, and children frantically trying to board airplanes; families with all of their belongings fleeing through the streets; women throwing their babies over barbed wire fences in a desperate attempt to save their lives—these are the current realities in Afghanistan.
Despite Taliban promises of tolerance—including offers of amnesty to former government officials and soldiers and guarantees of women’s rights “within the norms of Islamic law”—the Afghan people, especially women, are rightfully preparing for the worst.
For the Afghan women who lived under the Taliban’s control from 1996 to 2001, the fear of returning to a life dictated by the Taliban is overwhelming. Under previous Taliban rule, women could not attend school, work outside the home, or even leave the house without a male escort. Women who did not comply were beaten and sometimes killed. The life of a woman in Afghanistan under the Taliban was a life of coerced submission and fear.
After the United States and our allies defeated the Taliban in 2001, the lives of Afghan women improved significantly. Women had the ability to leave their houses alone, attend college, and embark on careers.
President Biden’s decision to withdraw from Afghanistan—and ignore warnings from military intelligence that doing so would enable a Taliban takeover—changed all of this. Just days after encouraging women to return to work and school, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid issued a “temporary” policy stating women should stay in their homes. “We are worried our forces who are new and have not been yet trained very well may mistreat women…For now we are asking [women] to stay home until the situation gets normal.” This was the allegedly temporary policy the last time the Taliban had power, too. Once again, Afghan women’s lives are being threatened if they dare to venture outside their homes.
Yet, when referencing “unprecedented” assaults on women’s rights in his recent statement, President Biden was not referring to the terrors of life for women under the Taliban. No. He was referencing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to interfere with a pro-life Texas law that protects unborn children in the womb after a heartbeat is detected.
After seeing so much death and destruction in Afghanistan, one would hope that President Biden would be moved to protect the innocent and the vulnerable. Yet, once again, President Biden has sworn to do everything in his power to put those incapable of defending themselves at risk. He warned he would “launch a whole-of-government effort to respond to this decision.” Just to be clear, the decision he is referring to is Texas’ decision to save the lives of unborn baby boys and girls. While mothers in Afghanistan struggle to survive and protect their children from an oppressive terrorist regime, President Biden’s focus is on ensuring that abortionists in Texas can exploit women and end the lives of their children.
Perhaps President Biden should re-evaluate what he considers “unprecedented assaults” on women’s rights, including oppressive terrorist groups prohibiting women from leaving their homes through threats of violence instead of duly-elected representatives enacting legislation to protect people without a voice. The women of Afghanistan deserve better. And the women of Texas—including the unborn baby girls in the womb—do, too.
Mary Szoch is Director of the Center for Life and Human Dignity at Family Research Council.