WASHINGTON, DC –(ENEWSPF)–October 22, 2015. Today, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) in a letter with 26 of their Senate colleagues urging President Obama to ensure the United States is adequately supporting the reproductive health needs for women and girls in conflict-affected zones by removing unnecessary barriers to safe abortion. This action is desperately needed because of the increased use of rape as a tool of warfare perpetrated by groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria and Iraq on women and girls, as detailed by The New York Times in “Boko Haram Militants Raped Hundreds of Female Captives in Nigeria” and “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape.” The senators implored the President to improve efforts to support the reproductive healthcare needs of survivors of sexual assault in conflict-affected zones as a part of the United States’ strategy to combat these terror organizations.
