Lawful Killings: The Real War on Women

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Where are they? Hillary, Sandra Fluke, Harry Reid, Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Where are their cries for Ibrahim and her “right to choose” her faith? Maybe Ibrahim’s pending execution in Sudan doesn’t fit into the narrative that there is a war on women nor does it fit the battle cry for a woman’s right to murder a fetus in order to stir up the Democratic base. Maybe these folks missed Ibrahim’s recent plight.

The case against Meriam Ibrahim, 27, is a laser focus on the real war on a woman’s right to choose. It is the right to practice as a Christian without the fear of death. My feelings of anger toward this Sudanese Sharia system consume me, and my heart breaks for this mother who is shackled to the floor with her two children awaiting execution in Khartoum, Sudan because she will not deny Christ. Where are her defenders? Are we not a global society?

Ibrahim, raised as a Christian by an Orthodox Christian Ethiopian mother, whose Muslim father abandoned the family when she was six years old while the family lived in a refugee camp in Sudan, and whose faith was determined to be that of her father’s, was found guilty of adultery (for sleeping with her Christian husband) and apostasy (for converting her faith even in light of the evidence that she was not raised Muslim) and sentenced to death by hanging.

In 2011, she married biochemist Daniel Wani, 27, who lives in New Hampshire and is a United States citizen. He was returning to bring his wife home. Notwithstanding Wani’s cry for help to the U.S., the Sudanese government will not recognize the familial relationship. Because the court considers the children Muslim, they will not release them to Wani to be parented. After Ibrahim’s execution, the fate of their children hangs in the balance but is assured not to include their biological father – Wani. This is a humanitarian tragedy that the U.S. should not ignore. Pressure should be applied for our government to assert its influence to avert this execution and reunite this family home in the United States.

Seventeen Republicans and seven Democrats support Senate Resolution 453, sponsored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) on May 21, 2014, that condemns the charge of apostasy and death sentence of Meriam Yahia Ibrahim Ishag and calls for the release of her and her son.

It also encourages U.S. efforts to support religious freedom in Sudan, which includes requiring that Sudan abide by international standards of religious freedom before normalizing relations or lifting sanctions. It reaffirms the commitment of the United States to end religious discrimination and to pursue policies that guarantee the basic human rights of all individuals.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) introduced the companion bill in the House (H. Res. 601) on May 28, 2014, with 11 co-sponsors, all of which are Republicans with no Democrats as of this post. It seems this is largely an issue for the GOP. (Perhaps if Ibrahim were fighting for the right to abort her baby and not fighting for her own life, there would have been more support from the other side of the aisle.)

With regret, resolutions are not enough, anyway. This practice of restricting religious freedom is a way of life around the world; most often the girl’s own family are the judge and jury carrying out honor killings against them over more than just faith but also for marriage, sex, and pregnancy. These murders are widely acceptable abroad, and the philosophy behind them fights to find tolerance here in the U.S. The distinction between the U.S. and other countries on the issue of religious freedom is one of the virtues that makes America an “exceptional” country.

When liberals forsake the plight of women being murdered and only champion women’s rights around abortion, they miss our calling not only as an exceptional nation, but also as an exceptional people.

Let Sudan hear your prayers for Ibrahim. You are exceptional.

Marc Little is the author of The Prodigal Republican: Faith and Politics. His web site is The Prodigal Republican.