[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 16 (Tuesday, February 6, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E118-E119]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            GLOBAL GAG RULE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 6, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, on his second day in office--also 
the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade--President Bush acted to reimpose 
the ``global gag rule,'' a policy begun in the Reagan years to restrict 
international family planning assistance. I am seriously concerned 
about what this step will mean for the more than 150 million women 
worldwide who currently want access to family planning resources. I am 
concerned as well that President Bush's action might be only the first 
step in a longer-term effort to chip away at women's reproductive 
rights.
  Not only would the reimposition of the ``global gag rule,'' keep 
women's rights advocates around the world from working to prevent the 
suffering that results from unsafe abortions, but such restrictions 
would also prohibit international family planning organizations from 
spending their own, non-U.S.-finds to provide legal abortion services 
or to advocate for changes in abortion laws in their own countries.
  In explaining this step, President Bush stated that he did not want 
taxpayer dollars to be spent to perform or promote abortions overseas. 
This is a misrepresentation of the nature of international family 
planning funding. Currently, no U.S. funds are spent to perform or 
promote abortions overseas, nor can they be under current U.S. law.
  President Bush also stated that he hoped the reimposition of 
restrictions would help make abortions more rare. But when the policy 
was previously in effect, it didn't achieve this stated goal. Instead, 
according to the Center for Reproductive Law and Politics, it reduced 
access to health care and caused more unintended pregnancies and more 
abortions.
  Anti-abortion activists remain adamantly opposed to using U.S. aid 
for international family planning programs. Yet as the Denver Post 
points out, an investment in these programs is important ``not only to 
save women from horrible deaths, but also to quell the population 
explosion in impoverished nations. . . . Using tax dollars to prevent 
unwanted pregnancies is far more cost-effective than spending huge sums 
to feed starving populations who remain unenlightened about family 
planning.''
  Mr. Speaker, I agree, and for the benefit of our colleagues, I am 
submitting for inclusion in the Record the full editorial from the 
Denver Post, another editorial from the Boulder Daily Camera, and a 
letter to the Denver Post in opposition to the ``global gag rule'' 
written by former Colorado first lady Dottie Lamm, who also served as a 
delegate to the UN Conference of Population and Development in 1994.

                 [From the Denver Post, Jan. 24, 2001]

                       Global Gag Rule Backfires

       Nobody likes abortions--not the women who have them nor the 
     activists who believe in a woman's right to choose.
       Yet the most adamant anti-abortion activists were rejoicing 
     Monday when President Bush instituted a ban that likely will 
     spur even more abortions in Third World countries.
       Bush banned federal aid from international organizations 
     that perform or ``actively promote'' abortion as a family 
     planning method.
       Yet those are the same groups that promote birth control so 
     women can avoid abortions. And because illegal abortions are 
     rampant in Third World countries, those organizations cannot 
     eliminate abortion discussions from their services.
       Such groups must be able to counsel women who are seeking 
     illegal abortions. Without such counsel, many women die 
     during illegal abortions--and many don't learn about family 
     planning methods that can make abortion unnecessary.
       The only way to stem the high rate of abortions in such 
     countries is to make family planning readily available. But 
     when the U.S. strips money from family planning groups, it 
     also strips hope that Third World women will have access to 
     birth control.
       So Bush's action, while oddly satisfying to anti-abortion 
     forces, ironically guarantees that abortions will continue to 
     increase.
       Opponents denounced it as an ``international gag rule'' on 
     discussion of abortions, a move that would be 
     unconstitutional if imposed in the United States.
       Yet some anti-abortion activists even question why the U.S. 
     should provide any family planning to foreign countries. 
     ``I'm not sure it's an effective use of our tax dollars . . 
     .'' said Chuck Gosnell, president of the Colorado Christian 
     Coalition.
       The Post, however, has historically upheld the need to 
     support worldwide family planning--not only to save women 
     from horrible deaths, but also to quell the population 
     explosion in impoverished nations.
       Using tax dollars to prevent unwanted pregnancies is far 
     more cost-effective than spending huge sums to feed starving 
     populations who remain unenlightened about family planning.
       We deeply regret Bush's action Monday, and we urge the 
     administration to reconsider the ultimate effects of such a 
     ban.

                                  ____
                                  

                 [From the Daily Camera, Jan. 25, 2001]

                            Bush the Divider

       During his campaign, President George W. Bush sought to 
     keep the hot-button issue of abortion off the radar screens 
     of both the media and the voters.
       When pressed, he pointed to his long, strong anti-abortion 
     record. But often he tempered that message by saying ``good 
     people can disagree'' on the issue--as well he might, given 
     his wife Laura's recent remarks in favor of keeping abortion 
     legal, and his mother's similar sentiments. He also suggested 
     he might be a moderate on the issue when he said repeatedly 
     that many hearts and minds would have to be changed before 
     the nation was ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 
     Supreme Court decision that made access to abortion a 
     constitutional right.
       Following the disputed election--in which pro-choice Al 
     Gore won the popular vote by more than a half million votes--
     many abortion-rights supporters hoped that Bush's lack of a 
     mandate would keep his anti-abortion instincts in check.
       Some of those same optimists even crossed their fingers and 
     hoped that John Ashcroft, Bush's profoundly anti-abortion 
     nominee for Attorney General, was telling the truth when he 
     said his personal views would not affect his enforcement of 
     abortion-related laws, from clinic access to Roe v. Wade 
     itself. Ashcroft went so far as to declare that he considers 
     the landmark case ``the settled law of the land.''
       Such hopes surely were dashed Monday--Bush's second full 
     day in office--when he marked the 28th anniversary of Roe v. 
     Wade by reinstating the ``global gag rule,'' which prevents 
     overseas family planning organizations that receive U.S. aid 
     from even discussing abortion or lobbying for legalized 
     abortion in their countries.
       Using U.S. funds to pay for actual abortions, or even to 
     promote abortion, already is prohibited under the annually-
     renewed Helms Amendment, adopted in 1973. This ``gag rule'' 
     was tied on by President Reagan in 1984 and maintained by 
     President George H.W. Bush. It was overturned in the opening 
     days of President Clinton's first term.
       Bush's reinstatement is mostly a symbolic bone thrown to 
     his anti-abortion supporters, since statistics show the gag 
     rule hasn't reduced abortions in the past. But forcing family 
     planning agencies to choose between desperately-needed 
     dollars and providing full and accurate information means 
     that many women will go without any care at all.
       Bush also took pains to issue encouraging words (albeit 
     through a proxy) to an anti-abortion protest in the capital 
     Monday: ``. . . you are gathered to remind our country that 
     one of those ideals is the infinite value of every life.''
       And, to complete a Monday trifecta, Bush's chief of staff 
     Andrew Card told reporters that the new administration is 
     ``reviewing'' the recent Food and Drug Administration 
     approval of the abortion pill, RU-486.
       And so, despite recent public opinion polls that show about 
     60 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in 
     all or most cases, despite hopeful predictions that he would 
     hew to a moderate line in the wake of his tenuous election 
     victory, Bush the self-declared ``uniter'' has thrown down 
     the abortion gauntlet from the outset.
       Some political analysts have suggested he may be trying to 
     fatten his supporters on the socially-conservative right with 
     treats right now so they'll still be sated later on in the 
     banquet, when the time comes to reach compromise with hungry 
     Democrats.
       That may be. But surely Bush could have chosen a less 
     contentious issue to mollify his conservative base. By 
     rushing in to demonstrate his allegiance to those who would 
     impose their beliefs on the nation and ban abortion, he has 
     demonstrated in his first week that he missed some important 
     lessons of his sketchy victory.

                                  ____
                                  

                 [From the Denver Post, Jan. 24, 2001]

                            Gag Rule Decried

     Re: ``Abortion opponents jubilant,'' Jan. 23 news story.

       President Bush's re-instatement of the gag rule on 
     international family planning aid is

[[Page E119]]

     the worst example of ``compassionate conservatism'' possible.
       As Sylvia Clark, a life-long Republican and president and 
     CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said 
     Monday:
       ``In short, the U.S. government will be telling the 
     desperately poor women of the developing world, `Don't you 
     dare ask about abortion options, because if you do, you will 
     lose access to the family planning that could prevent you 
     from ever needing an abortion in the first place.' ''
       Some history here: From 1984-1993 Ronald Reagan's ``Mexico 
     City Policy'' prohibited recipients of international family 
     planning assistance from providing abortion services or 
     offering medical advice to women dealing with an unintended 
     pregnancy.
       President Clinton rescinded that policy in early 1993.
       Right now, nearly two out of every five pregnancies 
     worldwide are still unintended. Early and frequent pregnancy 
     contributes significantly to the deaths of infants, children 
     and women in developing countries, where a woman dies 
     literally every minute in childbirth or because of 
     complications of pregnancy.
       But, when contraceptive prevalence rates rise, rates of 
     unintended pregnancies, maternal deaths and abortion go down.
       Restrictions on international family planning assistance 
     will do nothing to stop abortion. In fact they will increase 
     the number of times desperate women turn to abortion as a 
     means to control family size.
       Instead of reinstating the gag rule, Bush should have made 
     good on his original promise stated to The New York Times 
     ``to find common ground and reduce the number of abortions 
     that happen.''
       Yet, President Bush's gag rule policies will promote 
     exactly the opposite. It will increase the number of 
     abortions that happen. For shame, Mr. President!
                                                      Dottie Lamm,
                                                           Denver.

     

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