Feature Story - March 2009
New Administration Changes Course On Abortion Policy Overseas; Is U.S. Next?
First unveiled by the Reagan administration at a United Nations conference in 1984, the policy barring U.S. money from funding international family planning clinics that promote abortion or provide counseling or referrals about abortion services, was reversed by President Clinton in 1993 and reinstated by President Bush in 2001.
As one of his first official acts in office, President Obama signed an executive order directing U.S. funds to organizations that perform and promote abortions overseas.
During his campaign for the White House, the President also pledged to enact legislation, should it reach his desk, that would essentially eliminate every federal, state and local measure that limits or restricts abortion.
One day after the annual March for Life was held in Washington to commemorate the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing abortion, and in just his third day in office, the President rescinded the so-called Mexico City Policy or "global gag rule."
In rolling back the policy, President Obama stated, "It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.
For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of back and forth debate that has served only to divide us. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.
It is time that we end the politicization of this issue. My administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.
I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies. They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls."
Several pro-life and other organizations were quick to denounce the President's directive.
National Right to Life Committee Legislative Director, Douglas Johnson, commented, "President Obama's order will put hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of organizations that aggressively promote abortion as a population-control tool in the developing world. Much of this will consist of money diverted away from groups that do not promote abortion, and into the hands of those organizations that are the most aggressive in promoting abortion in developing countries.
When he was campaigning last fall, Mr. Obama told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions; but by issuing this order, he effectively guaranteed more abortions by funding groups that are ideologically committed to the doctrine that abortion on demand must be universally available as a birth control method.
President Obama's January 23 order is only the first in an anticipated series of attacks on longstanding pro-life policies, as the new administration pushes his sweeping abortion agenda," Johnson said.
Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said, "It is very disappointing that President Obama has reversed the Mexico City Policy. An administration that wants to reduce abortions should not divert U.S. funds to groups that promote abortions."
Concerned Women for America President, Wendy Wright, stated, "By overturning this policy, President Obama steers tax dollars to political allies, offends the morality of millions of Americans, funds abortion efforts in countries where abortion is illegal, and breaks a campaign promise to reduce abortions."
Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director, Andrea Lafferty, said, "President Obama promised that he would govern from the center if elected, but his signing of an executive order overturning the Mexico City Policy shows that he is committed to spreading abortion around the world. This is hardly governing from the center on the sanctity of human life.
President Obama has shown his hypocrisy once again regarding the right to life of the unborn. He says he wants to reduce abortions, but signed an executive order that exports abortions abroad, and will result in the killing of millions of babies overseas," said Lafferty.
Likewise, American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow, said, "President Obama wasted no time in letting the nation know what many pro-life Americans suspected–President Obama is committed to promoting pro-abortion policies. His decision to delay the action one day–to avoid it coinciding with the 36th anniversary of the landmark decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade–is still a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who find abortion repugnant and the taking of innocent human life."
However, the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the progressive Evangelical group, Sojourners, countered, "I am encouraged that President Obama's first action on abortion was to release a statement supporting a common- ground approach to reducing abortion, even as he also reiterated his policy on supporting legal choice. Even more significant was his decision not to issue an executive order rescinding the Mexico City Policy on the day of the anniversary of the Roe decision and the annual March for Life. For the past two decades, this particular rule has become a back-and-forth of instituting and repealing as administrations have changed.
In breaking the symbolic cycle, President Obama showed respect for both sides in the historically polarized abortion debate, and called for both a new conversation and a new common ground. I hope this important gesture signals the beginning of a new approach and a new path toward finding some real solutions to decrease the number of abortions in this country and around the world," Wallis said.
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice President and CEO, the Rev. Carlton Veazey, said, "After eight years of a policy that contributed to the suffering of women and children worldwide, President Obama has put the United Sates back on the path of charity, hope and compassion -- by overturning the global gag rule. Although some political conservatives publicly implored President Obama not to rescind the rule for fear it would rattle pro-lifers, President Obama has reaffirmed that the United States is a caring and humane world citizen, and has removed injurious barriers to funding family planning services for some of the world's poorest women."
Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, called the President's executive order "tremendously encouraging."
"It marks the first step on President Obama's journey toward restoring confidence in America and America's foreign policy. President Obama has started to make good on his promise to renew the United States' global leadership on sound, scientifically accurate health policies," O'Brien said.
Domestically, when campaigning for president in 2007, then-Illinois-Sen. Obama promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), should it clear Congress, which would repeal all federal and state restrictions on abortion.
The more than 550 federal and state laws that FOCA would nullify include the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, the Hyde Amendment (restricting taxpayer funding of abortions), parental consent and notification laws, restrictions on abortions performed at military hospitals, restrictions on insurance coverage for abortion for federal employees, health and safety regulations for abortion clinics, and limits on the use of public facilities (such as public hospitals and medical schools at state universities) for abortions.
Americans United for Life Vice President of Legal Affairs, Denise Burke, said, "FOCA is a cynical attempt to prematurely end the debate over abortion, and declare ‘victory' in the face of mounting evidence that the American public does not support the vast majority of abortions being performed in the U.S. each year, and abortion has a substantial negative impact on women.
It will not protect or empower women. Instead, it would protect and promote the abortion industry, sacrifice women and their health to a radical political ideology, and silence the voices of everyday Americans who want to engage in a meaningful public discussion over the availability, safety, and even desirability of abortion," Burke said.
In response, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) co-chair of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said, "FOCA is not our top priority right now."
Also, NARAL Pro-Choice America President, Nancy Keenan said, "We deal in reality. You have to be pragmatic, realistic and, in the end, strategic." Keenan added, the "votes just aren't there" to enact major changes to abortion-related policies.
In the meantime, efforts are underway on both the federal and state levels to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, one of the nation's largest providers of family planning and abortion services.
To do away with federal funding for groups such as Planned Parenthood, which is limited to non-abortion services such as counseling and birth control, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) has introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act.
On the local level, Family Research Council is contacting virtually every state lawmaker in the country, with a plea to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood during the current economic downturn. Planned Parenthood currently receives $337 million from public sources to help run its 880 clinics nationwide.
FRC Vice President for Government Affairs, Tom McClusky, said, "During these economic times, when states are rethinking their investments, subsidizing abortion is probably not the kind of thing that they want to be known for."
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