The arguments For and Against (Paraphrased):
For: We strongly oppose sections 131-33, the `Global Democracy Promotion Act'. We do not think abortion related activities should be carried out even with `their own' money. We wish to erect a wall of separation between family planning and abortion. We don’t believe foreign organizations have the right to free speech. We believe that family planning overseas will reduce the number of abortions by providing contraception instead. It makes no sense to hire abortionists to run programs that are aimed at reducing abortion. We don’t believe we should fund abortion advocates, even although they are not abortionists themselves, to distribute contraceptives. We believe that Int. Family Planning organizations are in the business of family planning and not abortion. We think family planning is something entirely distinct from abortion. We intend to offer an amendment during floor consideration of this bill that will enforce the Gag Rule. Against: We strongly agree with sections 131-33, the `Global Democracy Promotion Act. It overturns the President's January Executive Memorandum reimposing the global gag rule. This memorandum strips foreign Non-Gov. Operations that implement the U.S. population program overseas of their autonomy and their rights to free speech. The President's memorandum prohibits foreign Non-Gov Operations from using their own non-U.S. monies to offer abortion services in countries where abortion is legal, to counsel women regarding all of their legal options and provide referrals for those services, or to advocate in their own countries for more humane abortion laws. If a similar prohibition were applied to U.S. citizens, it would be unconstitutional.
U.S. Does Not Fund abortion. Let us be clear: U.S. tax payers' dollars do not pay for abortion. We find it disturbing that the proponents of the Gag Rule continue to misstate this fact: The United States does not fund abortion overseas nor abortion advocacy
For a woman in some developing countries, pregnancy can be a death sentence. The reality is that in the developing world, 600,000 women a year die due to pregnancy. Sixty percent of those pregnancies are unintended. Many of these deaths are due to backstreet abortion. |
