Back home, Bush takes a knock

2003-07-10 08:16

Washington - In a major blow to President George W Bush's foreign aid policy, the United States senate has backed a repeal of his ban on assistance to international family planning groups that fight for the availability of abortion.

By a vote of 53-43, senators rejected a motion to kill an amendment by Democrat Barbara Boxer of California that strikes down the so-called Mexico City policy, an anti-abortion measure reaffirmed by Bush on his second day in office.

The Boxer amendment, which has thus been allowed to stand, is attached to a state department foreign aid bill being debated by the chamber.

The Mexico City policy, often referred to as "the global gag rule," bars the US government from providing assistance to organisations that advocate abortion as one of family planning tools and openly counsel women about abortion services.

An elated Boxer said: "These organisations face two choices, they can either refuse US assistance or give up the right to speak freely," .

She said "the global gag rule" would be unconstitutional if it applied to family planning groups in the United States.

Raw emotion, heated debate

"How can we export a policy that denies free speech and still say we support democracy?" she asked.

The Mexico City policy has a tortuous history fraught with raw emotion and heated debate.

First announced by former president Ronald Reagan at a 1984 United Nations conference on population held in the Mexican capital, it set strict guidelines for US financial support to foreign family planning agencies.

The measure limiting the aid only to those that did not promote abortion as a method of birth control.

Faced with an outcry from around the world, President Bill Clinton rescinded Reagon's executive order in 1993 - only to draw condemnation from religious and conservative groups.

Bush, eager to shore up his conservative political base, reinstated the funding ban on January 22 2001, in a memorandum sent to the head of the US Agency for International Development.

"It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad," the president said in that document.

The White House had no immediate comment on the senate vote, but there have been reports Bush may veto the foreign aid bill if the Boxer amendment remains in it.

- AFX