Council of Europe, Planned Parenthood Attack US Pro-Life Foreign Policy

Council of Europe Calls on Bush to Lift Ban on Overseas Family Planning Aid

Conselho da Europa pede ajuda a ONGs castigadas pelos EUA

Impact of the "Mexico City Policy" on the free choice of contraception in Europe

Kein US-Geld mehr für Verhütung

Council of Europe Calls on U.S. To Lift 'Mexico City' Policy

Council of Europe, Planned Parenthood Attack US Pro-Life Foreign Policy

European Group Asks Bush to Recall Pro-Life Mexico City Policy

Council of Europe, Planned Parenthood Attack US Pro-Life Foreign Policy

The Mexico City Policy, the pro-life centerpiece of Bush administration foreign policy, was attacked on two separate fronts this week. On Tuesday, the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly voted 89 to 8 to condemn the Mexico City Policy and to encourage President Bush to rescind it.

At the same time, a group of abortion providers and population control advocates, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, released a report claiming that, because of the policy, the administration was responsible for killing women and for subverting democracy throughout the developing world.

The Mexico City Policy was first enacted as an executive order of President Reagan at a population conference in 1984, and it forbade the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding foreign abortion providers or promoters. President Clinton dropped the policy on his first day in office, and President Bush reinstated it as one of his own initial acts in office. Last month, the Mexico City Policy was extended to apply to State Department funding of family planning programs, as well as to USAID funding.

The Mexico City Policy has long been derided as “the global gag rule” by its detractors, but the intensity and coordination of the current attacks seem greater than before. Ans Zwerver, a Dutch Socialist and a guiding force behind the Council’s decision, told the Agence France-Presse that the Mexico City Policy “is a contradiction in itself, it is not pro-life, but rather against it,” because “all women should have access to abortions performed under ‘secure and accessible’ conditions.” Zwerver also said that the policy has had “an insidiously negative influence on the climate of opinion relating to reproductive and sexual health services.”

In a report called “Access Denied,” Population Action International, Ipas, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Engender Health and Pathfinder International claim that the policy is maiming and killing women, and stifling democratic debate.

However, during testimony before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2001, the economist Dr. Maria Sophia Aguirre stated that “the fact that some organizations want to advocate abortion and to perform abortions does not mean that US tax money should pay for it. Nothing in the Mexico City Policy forbids these groups from advocacy. It simply denies the use of funds for this purpose.”

Also, despite the Mexico City Policy, the US remains the world’s largest provider of funds for international family planning programs, spending well over $400 million annually.

The groups involved in the “Access Denied” project have a long history of radical activism. Population Action International was founded in 1965 to foster the population control agenda. On its website, it still warns that world population could balloon to over 18 billion people. Ipas manufactures abortion devices for the developing world, and claims that girls over the age of ten should have access to “safe, legal abortion.”

Kein US-Geld mehr für Verhütung
STRASSBURG - Mit grosser Mehrheit hat der Europarat am Dienstag in Strassburg die internationale Familienpolitik der USA als lebensfeindlich verurteilt.

"Die Bush-Administration hat alle Zahlungen an ausländische Organisationen eingestellt, die irgendeine Beziehung zur Abtreibung haben. Dadurch können diese Organisationen jährlich Hunderttausende vor allem ärmerer Frauen nicht über Verhütungsmöglichkeiten informieren", sagte die niederländische Berichterstatterin Ans Zwerver in der Parlamentarischen Versammlung des Staatenbundes.

Die Folge dieser Politik sei ein deutlicher Anstieg von illegalen und unsachgemässen Abtreibungen sowie schwangerschaftsbedingten Sterbefällen.

Die USA sind mit 43 Prozent der Mittel für Familienplanung der grösste Geldgeber an die Vereinten Nationen. Doch könne nicht akzeptiert werden, dass die US-Regierung ihre Meinung der Welt aufoktroyiert, sagte die britische Sozialistin Christine McCafferty.

Nach Schätzungen der Weltgesundheitsorganisation WHO sterben jährlich weltweit mehr als eine halbe Million Frauen an den Folgen der Schwangerschaft. Zusätzlich verlieren jährlich 70 000 Frauen ihr Leben bei 40 Millionen Abtreibungen.
sda-news vom 1. Oktober 2003

Daily Reproductive Health Report

International News | Council of Europe Calls on U.S. To Lift 'Mexico City' Policy
[Oct 02, 2003]

The Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly on Tuesday voted 89-8 to adopt a resolution calling on President Bush to abandon the so-called "Mexico City" policy, which prevents federal funding from going to international family planning groups that provide any abortion-related services, Agence France-Presse reports (Agence France-Presse, 9/30).
The Mexico City policy -- which was originally implemented by President Reagan at a population conference in Mexico City in 1984, removed by President Clinton and reinstated by Bush on the first day of his presidency -- bars U.S. money from international groups that support abortion, even with their own money, through direct services, counseling or lobbying activities. Bush last month issued an executive order that prevents the State Department from giving family planning grants to international groups that provide abortion-related counseling, effectively extending the Mexico City policy, which previously applied only to USAID. However, the new order exempts agencies in Africa and the Caribbean that would benefit from Bush's five-year, $15 billion global AIDS initiative (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, 9/25).
The council's resolution calls for an "enlightened debate with the United States on the harmful effects of the re-establishment of the 'Mexico City policy' in an attempt to encourage President George W. Bush to cancel it," according to Agence France-Presse.
Ans Zwerver, a Dutch member of the parliamentary assembly, said that the Mexico City policy "is a contradiction in itself, it is not pro-life, but rather against it." Zwerver added that all women should have access to abortions performed under "secure and accessible" conditions.
The United States has observer status in the 45-member Council of Europe, which aims to promote human rights and democracy in Europe, according to Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse, 9/30).

European Group Asks Bush to Recall Pro-Life Mexico City Policy

by Paul Nowak
LifeNews.com Editor
October 4, 2003

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly voted 89-8 to adopt a resolution telling President Bush to recall the pro-life Mexico City Policy, and re-open US funding to groups that provide or promote abortions.

The Council, which focuses on promoting human rights and democracy in Europe, is calling for an "enlightened debate with the United States on the harmful effects of the re-establishment of the 'Mexico City policy' in an attempt to encourage President George W. Bush to cancel it," according to Agence France-Presse.

"[The policy] is a contradiction in itself, it is not pro-life, but rather against it," claimed Ans Zwerver, a Dutch Socialist and member of the parliamentary assembly. "All women should have access to abortions performed under ‘secure and accessible’ conditions."

Pro-life groups say the council's stand makes no sense.

"According to their logic, the Bush administration is not really 'pro-life,' because it refuses to fund women's 'safe' abortions in the developing world," said Douglas Sylva, Vice President of the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute. He called the resolution the latest in "the increasingly over-heated rhetoric" of those seeking to overthrow the President Bush's pro-life foreign policy.

Bush instituted the pro-life policy on his first day in office in 2001. It ensures that federal tax dollars do not go to organizations that perform abortions in other countries or lobby countries with pro-life laws to change their law.

A group of abortion businesses and population control advocates, including the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, released a report entitled "Access Denied" which claims that the Mexico City Policy is responsible for the death of women and the subversion of democracy throughout the world.

However, their claims are overstated in the opinion of some experts.

"The fact that some organizations want to advocate abortion and to perform abortions does not mean the US tax money should pay for it," economist Dr. Maria Sophia Aguirre stated during her testimony before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 2001. "Nothing in the Mexico City Policy forbids these groups from advocacy. It simply denies the use of [United States] funds for this purpose."

The Mexico City Policy was first enacted as an executive order of President Reagan at a population conference in 1984, and it prohibited the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from funding foreign abortion businesses or promoters.

President Clinton recalled the policy on his first day in office.

President Bush has kept the pro-life policy throughout his presidency, and last month extended it to apply to the State Department funding of family planning programs, in addition to USAID.