Network asks president whether she was aware of Jas sum zena's stance and international ties on abortion

The Network for Protection from Discrimination has sent an open letter asking President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova whether she was aware of the political views and international ties of the women's group whose representatives she met on October 6.

Questions about links to international anti‑abortion networks

In the letter the Network points out that Ana Dukoska, president of the organization Jas sum zena, is a co‑founder of the international network Mothers for Freedom together with Rachel Scott and Kimberly Fletcher, founder and president of the American group Moms for America. The Network says Moms for America publicly positions itself against the right to abortion and that last October the initiative Mothers for Macedonia was promoted in Ohrid as part of that network.

The Network further alleges that Moms for America has a political wing that participates in political processes and evaluates candidates on their stance about abortion, and that the organization lobbied for changes that contributed to the removal of federal protections for abortion rights in the United States.

The letter addresses a series of direct questions to the president: “Therefore we publicly ask President Siljanovska‑Davkova: When she gives public space and institutional legitimacy to representatives of ‘Jas sum zena’, is she fully aware of their role in founding ‘Mothers for Freedom’ and of the political positions and activities of ‘Moms for America’? Does she know that this organization actively lobbied for changes that contributed to the overturning of federal protection of the right to abortion in the USA? Does the presidential institution consider women’s economic empowerment to include their right to decide about their own bodies, pregnancy and reproductive health? And finally: Will we allow the right to abortion, for which generations of women before us have fought and which for decades we have regarded as part of our emancipation, to become the subject of ideological bargaining again?”

The Network urged institutions, companies, donors, media outlets, professional networks and civil society organizations to carefully reconsider partnerships and check which values and affiliations they lend visibility to, warning that contemporary anti‑gender and anti‑human‑rights movements sometimes cloak themselves in seemingly acceptable themes such as family, motherhood, child safety, women’s leadership, economic empowerment and innovation.

Photo: press material from the event