[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 30, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H89]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ON THE GLOBAL GAG RULE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Platts). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my extreme disappointment 
that the global gag rule has been imposed on U.S. assistance to 
international family planning programs once again. On his second full 
day in office, President Bush reinstated this Reagan-era restriction, 
gagging foreign private organizations from using their own funds to 
educate women and families about their full range of reproductive 
choices.
  For decades, U.S. aid to family planning organizations overseas has 
helped these groups provide invaluable services for women around the 
world. Our Nation has a history of helping women educate themselves and 
to providing access to needed reproductive health services. I assure my 
colleagues that piling on restrictions to censor what foreign 
organizations can and cannot do with their own private funds is nothing 
to be proud of.
  Each year in the developing world, nearly 600,000 women die from 
pregnancy-related complications. That is why our support for a full 
range of reproductive health services, including contraception, health 
workshops, counseling and maternal care becomes more important every 
day.
  By imposing the gag rule, President Bush is taking away a woman's 
right to make decisions, decisions that affect her reproductive health, 
her emotional and physical security, and her family's future. President 
Bush is imposing his own values on foreign groups, and he is limiting 
these groups to providing only the services that get his seal of 
approval.
  The truth is that family planning programs reduce the need for 
abortion. They promote safe motherhood and they increase child 
survival. Denying women birth control and counseling creates more 
unwanted pregnancies, more abortions, and more suffering. It is also a 
fact that more than 75,000 women die each year due to unsafe abortion. 
Without access to safe and affordable services, abortion will be less 
safe and will put more women's lives in danger.
  I know that the women of this House are more committed than ever to 
protect the rights of women around the world. We have a responsibility 
to work to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancy and improve the lives 
of women and children at home and abroad.
  Implementing a global gag rule is not the way to meet this goal.

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