Reversal of the Mexico City Policy
and, as SPUC’s Director John Smeaton, says,
“Obama signs order to abort the world’s poor”
When he was campaigning, President Obama had said that he wanted to reduce abortion. It was only four days into his administration when he signed an executive order whose intent is to increase the number of abortions.
In place during President Bush’s terms of office, the Mexico City Policy stated that no federal funding be made to organizations that promoted or provided abortions overseas in countries where abortion is illegal. Organizations that do promote and/or provide abortions are still allowed to receive funding if they agree not to promote or provide then in countries where they are illegal. Many such organizations have refused to make such a commitment and call the Policy a “Gag Rule.”
There will not be a change in the amount of money going to organizations that work to provide family planning and other health services in less developed countries. However, instead of money going to organizations that do not promote/provide abortion, the money will be going to those who do promote and/or provide it. Clearly, the net result will be more abortions.
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President Obama, America’s abortion President, has wasted little time in using his powers to kill the unborn and, in my view, pro-life people worldwide are facing an historic challenge which can be summed up in two words: peaceful resistance.
This afternoon he signed an order “that will put hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into the hands of organizations that aggressively promote abortion as a population-control tool in the developing world” according to the US National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).
NRLC explains: “Obama’s order overturns the ‘Mexico City Policy’, under which funds in the US ‘population assistance’ programme go only to overseas organizations that pledge not to ‘perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning’.
My picture, [not shown], shows children in Kenya where Dr Stephen Karanja, the head of the Kenyan Catholic Doctors Association, said about the result of the US election: “They have no business electing a person who is going to destroy our countries. And that is what they have done. This is something that a lot of people don’t realise, that what these Americans do affects innocent people thousands and thousands of miles away.”
Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the NRLC, explains, “One effect of Obama’s order will be to divert many millions of dollars away from groups that do not promote abortion, and into the hands of those organizations that are the most aggressive in promoting abortion in developing countries. President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control.”
NRLC goes on to explain that contrary to some misunderstandings, enforcement of the Mexico City Policy did not reduce the amount of money spent on the programme, nor will Obama’s order increase the amount (which is $461 million in the current fiscal year). Rather, the policy affects what type of groups qualify for grants under the programme. Obama’s order will result in a redirection of funds to groups such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which are ideologically committed to the doctrine that abortion on demand must be universally available as a birth control method.”
Douglas Johnson of NRLC warns: “This is the first in an anticipated series of attacks on longstanding pro-life policies, as the new administration pushes Obama’s sweeping abortion agenda. That agenda includes repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which would result in tax-funded abortion as a birth control method in the U.S., and imposition of sweeping pro-abortion mandates on private employers through health-care reform legislation.”
The Obama phenomenon will affect political decision-making worldwide. All our lives will be affected. Pro-life people must organize and encourage powerful, peaceful resistance at every level in society. The right to life must be made the top priority issue at general elections in every country by all right-minded citizens. The great US election party is over. The first killings have been ordered by America’s new abortion President – and we’ve all got a lot of work to get on with.
Friday, January 23, 2009 http://spuc-director.blogspot.com/2009/01/partys-over-obama-signs-order-to-abort.html
Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 5-6 St Matthew Street, London, United Kingdom, SW1P 2JT, +44 20 7222 5845. www.spuc.org.uk