FRIDAY FAX

March 7, 2003                                                             
                         Volume 6, Number 11

US State Department Coaches Pro-Abortion NGOs, Says Senate Staffer 

	A high-ranking Senate staff member charged this week that State
Department officials consistently undermine President George W. Bush’s
pro-life international policies. The staff member, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, told the Friday Fax that members of the State Department
coach nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on how to circumvent  “Mexico
City policy,” which forbids US money from going to groups overseas that
promote or perform abortions. “Mexico City policy” can be called the
centerpiece of the administration’s international pro-life position.
Because of the activities of these State Department officials, this staff
member charges that “Mexico City policy” has even become “an empty shell.”

	Mexico City policy was first enacted by an executive order of President
Reagan in 1984, but was suspended by President Clinton on his first day in
office. However, in a strong signal that he sought to redirect US
international family planning money away from abortion promotion and
toward other development priorities, President Bush reinstated the Mexico
City Policy as one of his first official acts.

	According to the staff member, however, not everyone in the executive
branch shares President Bush’s commitment to the issue. It is alleged that
when NGOs apply to the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for
funding, State Department employees recommend that they describe their
activities to promote or provide abortions in the most general terms, most
usually as the promotion of “reproductive health.” As long as these NGOs
remain vague enough on their applications, USAID does not suspect a
possible conflict with the Mexico City policy. Thus, according to the
Senate staff member, because of the State Department’s advice, foreign
NGOs that promote or perform abortions are receiving US money to do so,
against the direct wishes of the president.

	The issue of the Mexico City policy has regained prominence because of
President Bush’s recent announcement of a new $15 billion US AIDS
initiative for Africa and the Caribbean. A heated debate has begun over
whether or not to extend the Mexico City Policy to apply to this AIDS
prevention program. A group of pro-abortion public health advocates sent a
letter to President Bush calling the Mexico City policy “a bureaucratic
burden,” and arguing that “groups that offer significant HIV/AIDS
prevention services who may also…provide legal abortions or information
about them, [should not be required] to duplicate their staff, facilities
or administration.”

	Conservative groups are also putting pressure on the administration.
Eighteen groups, including the Family Research Council, Eagle Forum, and
Concerned Women for America, sent a letter to President Bush urging him to
extend Mexico City to the AIDS program.

	Pro-life and pro-family organizations may wonder about the utility of
expanding a program that may be “an empty shell.” The Bush administration
has signaled that it intends to tighten up the application of the Mexico
City policy.

Copyright – C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). 
Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required

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