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01/24/09 06:20 AM

Obama ends ban on aid tied to abortion

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Friday struck down the Bush administration’s ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information. The move was welcomed by liberal groups and denounced by abortion foes.

The ban has been a political football between Democratic and Republican administrations since GOP President Ronald Reagan first adopted it 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush reinstituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.

“For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us,” Obama said. “I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.”
He said the ban was unnecessarily broad and undermined family planning in developing countries.

“In the coming weeks, 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,” the president said.

Obama issued the presidential memorandum one day after the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion.

The Bush policy had banned U. S. taxpayer money, usually in the form of Agency for International Development funds, from going to international family planning groups that either offer abortions or provide information, counseling or referrals about abortion as a family planning method.

Critics have long held that the rule unfairly discriminates against the world’s poor by denying U. S. aid to groups that may be involved in abortion but also work on other aspects of reproductive health care and HIV/AIDS.

Supporters of the ban say that the United States still provides millions of dollars in family planning assistance around the world and that the rule prevents anti-abortion taxpayers from backing something they believe is morally wrong.

Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the rule during the presidential campaign.
Clinton said Friday evening that Bush’s policy made it more difficult for women around the world to gain access to essential information and health care services.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the move “will help save lives and empower the poorest women and families to improve their quality of life and their future.”

House Minority Leader, John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, “Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do.”