five (1 votes)
Healthcare Prof:
5 (1 votes)
A House appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday approved legislation that Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) stated would allow the federal government to give contraceptives but not money to international groups that have been barred from receiving U.S. aid due to their abortion policies, the AP/San Diego Union-Tribune reports (Abrams, AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/5).
The so-called “Mexico City” policy bars U.S. funding from going to international groups that support abortion, even with their own money, through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities. The policy was originally implemented by former President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984, removed by former President Clinton and reinstated by President Bush during the very first days of his presidency. Bush in September 2003 issued an executive order that prevents the State Department from giving family planning grants to international groups that provide abortion-related counseling (Kaiser Daily Women’s Wellness Policy Report, 5/8).
Lowey stated the legislation approved by the House panel leaves the Mexico City policy intact, but Republicans disagreed and cited a threat by Bush to veto legislation that would change current abortion-related policies and laws (AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/5). Bush last month in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stated he will veto legislation that would weaken federal policies or laws on abortion, including measures that would “allow taxpayer dollars to be used for the destruction of human life” (Kaiser Every day Women’s Health Policy Report, 5/4).
Douglas Johnson, legislative director with the National Right to Life Committee, said the language concerning contraception would remove a policy that stops funding to groups “aggressively promoting abortion” and directs those funds to groups that agree to the conditions. Terri Bartlett — vice president for public policy at Population Action International, a not-for-profit research group — said, “Contraceptives prevent abortion, plain and simple.” She added, “Cutting off the flow of contraceptives to females and couples in impoverished countries makes no sense at all.”
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to vote on the legislation next week, and the House could take it up in two weeks, the AP/Union-Tribune reports (AP/San Diego Union-Tribune, 6/5).
The Hill Examines Abortion-Related Provisions Democratic Lawmakers Might Repeal, Alter in Spending Bills
The Hill on Tuesday examined abortion-related provisions, including the Mexico City policy, Republicans who oppose abortion rights expect Democratic lawmakers on the House Appropriations Committee in the next two weeks to repeal or alter as the panel begins the fiscal year 2008 appropriations process.
The panel also might alter or repeal the Kemp-Kasten provision, an unnamed lobbyist for an abortion-rights group stated, The Hill reports (Bolton, The Hill, 6/5). The policy requires funding to be blocked for agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund, if the president determines that the group “supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization” (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 11/30/04).
According towards the Hill, 34 Republican senators and 155 House Republicans recently signed letters to Bush promising to vote to sustain vetoes of legislation that would weaken federal policies or laws on abortion (The Hill, 6/5).
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