Now there’s a headline:

Government quietly removes commitments to women’s rights after summit on freedom of beliefs

References to ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’ and ‘bodily autonomy’ have been removed from the FCDO statement

References to repealing discriminatory laws that threaten women’s “sexual and reproductive health and rights” and “bodily autonomy” have been removed from a statement published on the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) website.

…

Lisa Hallgarten​, head of policy and public affairs at Brook, which specialises in sexual health for younger people, told i: “The whole point of the original statement is to recognise the need to support the right to religious belief and practice, but ensure it is not at the expense of the fundamental rights of women and girls.

“By changing the language, the purpose and effect of this statement are fatally undermined, and religion appears to trump human rights.”

Keep the religious freedom part, ditch the rights of women and girls part. What could possibly go wrong?

Make no mistake: many religious rules and strictures are all about controlling and limiting women and girls. It’s an obsession. Gotta control them baby-havers, because they’re all sluts so the real people might end up feeding some other guy’s brat. Amen.

Stella Creasy, the Labour and Co-operative MP for Walthamstow, said of the amendments: “I think it reflects a worrying trend behind the scenes in Government to trade women’s human rights. Because there is no ambiguity, either you make a commitment to them or you don’t.

“The original [statement] makes a very clear commitment to sexual and reproductive rights and health, bodily autonomy and other laws, and recognises them as a source of discrimination. The amended version doesn’t.”

That’s why they amended it. The hell with women’s sexual and reproductive rights.