Newspapers Publish Editorials, Opinion Piece Responding To Obama's Repeal Of 'Global Gag Rule'

Newspapers published editorials and an opinion piece Tuesday in response to President Obama's repeal of the "global gag rule," also known as the "Mexico City" policy, which denied federal funding to international family planning organizations that provide abortion services or information about the procedure. Summaries of the editorials and opinion pieces appear below.

Opinion Piece

~ Bronwen Maddox, The Times: President Obama's reinstatement of U.S. funding to international family planning organizations is "reassuring," especially after his "pronounced desire to court both sides of the street," columnist Maddox writes in an opinion piece in The Times. Maddox continues that Obama "has done as much, in that one act, to show how the U.S. might now help [developing] countries, particularly in Africa, as Bush did in the billions of dollars that he poured into that continent." Although the former funding policy was "aimed at abortion," it prohibited funding to international groups that "might support abortion somewhere in their activities," including USAID, which is the "largest supplier of condoms in the developing world." Maddox concludes that although it might "be too much" to "expect U.S. voters to detach" family planning initiative from their "own culture wars," many countries "will be grateful that they have done so at least for one presidency" (The Times, 1/27).

Editorials

~ Sarasota Herald Tribune: President Obama was "right" to repeal the "punitive policy" that was the "global gag rule," a Herald Tribune editorial says, adding that the policy "hampered international aid groups tasked with giving women information they need for reproductive health and safety." The editorial adds that there is "nothing pro-life" about the "preventable deaths" of the 68,000 women who die annually after undergoing "unsafe" abortions, according to the World Health Organization. The editorial concludes that Obama's repeal of the policy "brings common sense back to the political table" by enabling international family planning organizations to "give accurate, needed information, without risking a major funding loss that inhibits that provision of other important services," such as sex education and contraception (Sarasota Herald Tribune, 1/27).

~Los Angeles Times: Although it was "right" for Obama to overturn the rule, Congress "should make it law that [the U.S.] will fund abortion services as part of its international health aid," a Los Angeles Times editorial says. Bush's funding policies "kept the funding flat for contraception that would have prevented AIDS transmission and [unintended] pregnancies," with "'funding priorities'" that "reflected a stubborn refusal to acknowledge the conditions confronting women" in developing countries. According to the editorial, the repeal of the "global gag rule" is "just a first step toward correcting years of ineffective, moralistic policies that sought to roll back reproductive rights at the expense of women's health." The editorial adds that the "best scenario would be congressional action that positions this country for the long term to favor global health over ideological convictions" (Los Angeles Times, 1/27).














~ Louisville Courier-Journal: Obama "acted wisely and humanely in reversing" the "global gag rule," a Courier-Journal editorial says. According to the editorial, Republicans "who condemned the move as divisive ... should save their breath" because the regulations were not "about women's health or even about abortions; they were panders to the anti-abortion lobby and the religious conservatives." According to the editorial, policies like the "global gag rule" increase the number of abortions, because "abortions represent little of what the affected organizations do, but withholding funds curtails their work in the areas of sex education, contraception and pre-natal care." It continues that Obama "saw a bigger picture than abortion," adding, "He saw a chance to help some of the world's poorest women avoid unwanted pregnancies, receive better maternal care and prevent" HIV/AIDS. It concludes, "That's the sort of vision Americans should expect of their president" (Louisville Courier-Journal, 1/27).


Reprinted with kind permission from nationalpartnership. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


© 2009 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.