Empower women to end victimization

I take issue with Jeanne Monahan's Nov. 20 guest column, “Sex-trafficked women victims twice over.” I applaud the Obama administration's decision to cut off the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as the primary recipient of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' human trafficking grant funding.

The Catholic Church has a history of complicity in sex abuse and shielding perpetrators from the legal consequences of their actions. The recent example of this is the pedophile priests in the clergy, but historically some priests in a pastoral context have advised abused wives to return to their abusive husbands to preserve the family unit and to continue to reproduce, adding more stress to the family.

I am suspicious of Monahan's so-called evidence, this study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry linking abortion to depression, suicide and anxiety. We should factor in that females who are vulnerable to sex trafficking often suffer from low self-esteem and depression. There are many studies linking feelings of powerlessness to these same mental health problems. These women and girls should be afforded the dignity and respect they deserve to control their reproductive capabilities whether through the difficult decision regarding a pregnancy which is the result of rape or current access to contraception.

The Catholic Church does not get it. To end male victimization of females, and perhaps the victimization of children as well, fully empower women. The first step might be welcoming women into the priesthood.

Ann Kinney Long

Cedar Rapids