    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 3 (Monday, January 25, 1993)]
    [Pages 85-87]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Remarks on Signing Memorandums on Medical Research and Reproductive
    Health and an Exchange With Reporters

     January 22, 1993

        The President. Please sit down, ladies and gentlemen. Today I am
    acting to separate our national health and medical policy from the
    divisive conflict over abortion. This conflict, which stems from the Roe
    v. Wade decision of 20 years ago, has brought to a halt promising
    research on treatment for serious conditions and diseases that affect
    millions of Americans, millions of American men, women, and children who
    include the members of my family and friends of mine and I'm sure
    virtually every other set of family and friends in the United States. We
    must free science and medicine from the grasp of politics and give all
    Americans access to the very latest and best medical treatments.
        Today I am directing Secretary of Health and Human Services Shalala
    immediately to lift the moratorium on Federal funding for research
    involving transplantation of fetal tissue. This moratorium, which was
    first imposed in 1988, was extended indefinitely in 1989 despite the
    recommendation of a blue ribbon National Institutes of Health advisory
    panel that it be ended. Five years later, the evidence is overwhelming.
    The moratorium has dramatically limited the development of possible
    treatment for millions of individuals who suffer from serious disorders,
    including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and
    leukemia. We must let medicine and science proceed unencumbered by anti-
    abortion politics.
        Today also marks the beginning of a new national reproductive health
    policy that aims to prevent unintended pregnancies. Our administration
    is committed to providing the kind of prenatal care, child care, and
    family and medical leave that will lead to healthy childbearing and
    support America's families.
        As a Nation, our goal should be to protect individual freedom while
    fostering responsible decisionmaking, an approach that seeks to protect
    the right to choose while reducing the number of abortions. Our vision
    should be of an America where abortion is safe and legal, but rare.
        Let me also say that our administration is particularly concerned
    with the epidemic of teenage pregnancy. The greatest human cost of our
    continuing national debate over reproductive policy is borne by our
    children and by their children. A few teenagers choose to have and raise
    children, and we must help them to succeed. But for millions a teen
    pregnancy is unintended, leaving the young woman and her partner totally
    unprepared for the responsibilities of parenthood. The social and
    economic price paid today and for the last several years by our Nation
    is enormous.
        So today I am also directing Secretary Shalala to act immediately to
    implement her intended suspension of the Title X family planning
    regulations that are also known as the ``gag rule.'' For almost 5 years,
    HHS has prohibited Title X recipients from providing their patients with
    full information and counseling concerning pregnancy. This dangerous
    restriction censors the medical information and advice that health care
    professionals can give their patients. As a result of today's action,
    every woman will be able to receive medical advice and referrals that
    will not be censored or distorted by ideological arguments that should
    not be a part of medicine.
        I'm also ordering today the Director of the Agency for International
    Development to repeal immediately what has become known as the Mexico
    City policy, that has effectively applied the ``gag rule'' to
    organizations that

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    receive United States funding, even when those organizations use non-AID
    funds for those activities. Today's actions will allow organizations
    that received AID funds to provide information regarding all family
    planning options to individuals in foreign nations. It will reverse a
    policy that has seriously undermined much-needed efforts to promote safe
    and effective family planning programs abroad and will allow us to once
    again provide leadership in helping to stabilize world population. Many
    believe that this is one of the most important environmental steps we
    can take.
        Today I am also directing Secretary of Defense Aspin to lift
    immediately the near-total ban on abortions at United States military
    facilities and to permit them to be performed at those facilities
    provided that the procedure is paid for entirely with private funds.
    This action will allow military hospitals to perform abortions and
    reverse a ban that has adversely affected the lives of scores of men and
    women who serve our Nation around the world, or members of their
    families.
        Finally, I am directing Secretary Shalala to instruct the Food and
    Drug Administration to determine whether the current import ban on the
    drug Mifepristine, commonly known as RU-486, is justified and to rescind
    the ban if there is no basis for it. Here in the United States, RU-486
    has been held hostage to politics. It is time to learn the truth about
    what the health and safety risks of the drug really are. If the FDA
    removes the ban, Americans will be able to bring the drug into the
    country for their personal use consistent with existing FDA policies
    that govern drugs not approved for distribution.
        I've also ordered HHS to immediately explore the propriety of
    promoting testing in the United States as well as the possibility of
    licensing and manufacturing according to the standards which govern all
    other drugs so reviewed by our Government.
        Taken as a group, today's actions will go a long way toward
    protecting vital medical and health decisions from ideological and
    political debate. The American people deserve the best medical treatment
    in the world. We're committed to providing them with nothing less.
        I'd like to say in closing a special word of personal thanks to the
    unbelievable number of Americans from all walks of life and all
    different political perspectives who have children with diabetes or who,
    like me, have lost relatives to Alzheimer's or have friends suffering
    with Parkinson's and other diseases who came up to me over the last year
    and made a personal plea on the fetal tissue issue. Their statements to
    me and their life stories had a far greater impact on me even than the
    actions of the United States Congress, which included, as you know, a
    very broad spectrum of Republicans and Democrats on this issue.
        I'd like now to sign these directives.

    [At this point, the President signed the five memorandums.]
        Thank you very much.

    President's Signature

        Q. Mr. President, was it ``William J.'' or ``Bill''?
        The President. After a considered policy debate--[laughter]--we
    decided that I should sign my full name to all official documents of the
    Government, and I'll continue to sign all my non--my letters ``Bill
    Clinton.''

    Zoe Baird

        Q. Let me ask you: George was having a really hard time explaining
    to us what you knew about Zoe Baird's problem, when you knew it.
        Press aid. Thank you.
        Q. Can you please explain----
        The President. No, I want to answer this.
        Q. ----that to us, so that the American public would really know?
        The President. I think the American people are entitled to know
    that. If you go back to my statement, I acknowledged that there were
    errors in the evaluation process, for which I take full responsibility.
    What happened was this. She voluntarily disclosed that; it was not in
    any way picked up in the vetting. It was, as you know, we were trying to
    make a Christmas deadline, which was probably my error, again, on this.
        So just before she was announced, but after I had discussed the
    appointment with her, I was told that this matter had come up. Nobody
    said anything to me about the

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    taxes. And what I was told was what you heard, in a very cursory way,
    was that an error had been made in the hiring of an illegal alien; that
    it had been made after consulting a lawyer who was an expert in this
    area, so basically they had acted on counsel's advice, but they were
    wrong; that they moved immediately to try to correct it, and the status
    had been corrected in terms of the legality of the person; and that the
    vettor's conclusion was there would be no problem.
        I have to tell you that during the course of these inquiries, I
    received other weightier warning, if you will, of things which had to be
    worked through with other potential nominees. In retrospect, what I
    should have done is to basically delay the whole thing for a couple of
    days and look into it in greater depth.
        But that was--I take full responsibility for that. This process is
    in no way a reflection on her. We would not have known any of this had
    she not disclosed it to us and to the United States Senate subsequently.
    So I will say again what I said this morning: I'm sorry about this. I
    still think she is an extraordinary person and a very able person who
    will have a rich and successful career, and I take full responsibility
    for what happened in the review process.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:22 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.