[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

[[Page 87]]

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.