The executive order is not on the White House website yet, but Barack Obama did it.
(Update: Mexico City Policy and Assistance for Voluntary Population Planning )
He has signed an order rescinding the Mexico City Policy.
Obama signs order reversing abortion-funds policy
President Barack Obama has signed an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.
Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president. Known as the "Mexico City policy," the ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since GOP President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. Democrat Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but Republican George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first acts in office.
Obama signed it quietly, without coverage by the media, late on Friday afternoon, a contrast to the midday signings with fanfare of executive orders on other subjects earlier in the week.
Why did Obama sign this order quietly, late on Friday afternoon?
It was a cowardly act.
Your tax dollars will pay for abortions abroad.
The Washington Post puts a decidedly liberal and positive spin on Obama's order. Naturally.
Obama issued a memorandum rescinding the Mexico City Policy, also known as the "global gag rule," which President Ronald Reagan originally instituted in 1984, President Bill Clinton reversed in 1993 and President George W. Bush revived in 2001.
...Obama's decision was praised by family planning groups, women's health advocates and others for allowing the U.S. Agency for International Development to once again provide millions of dollars to programs offering medical services, birth control, HIV prevention and other care.
"For eight long years, the global gag rule has been used by the Bush administration to play politics with the lives of poor women across the world," said Gill Greer of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in London.
The decision marked Obama's latest break with his predecessor. The order Bush signed reviving the policy was the first of his administration and was signed on his first day in office, whereas Obama's first -- signed Thursday -- ordered the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.
The decision also appeared to be another sign of Obama's attempts try to bridge even the widest political divides. Obama signed the order one day later than had been expected -- avoiding the confrontational step of doing so on the same day that thousands of abortion opponents participated in a March for Life on the Mall to protest the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.
Jim Wallis of the progressive evangelical group Sojourners praised Obama for not signing the order on the day of the march and instead marking the day by issuing his first presidential statement about abortion, which called on all sides to find common ground, such as working to reduce abortions.
That is so lame on so many different fronts.
Obama, in his infinite wisdom, lifted the "global gag rule" in order to quit playing politics with the lives of poor women across the world.
I don't want my tax dollars funding the slaughter of innocent human life. This isn't some humanitarian mission. It's a humanitarian disgrace.
It's ridiculous to suggest that Obama was trying "to bridge even the widest political divides" by avoiding confrontation with activists gathered in Washington to participate in the annual March for Life.
Obama does not get points for waiting 24 hours to provide U.S. tax dollars to support abortions abroad.
Instead of lifting the Mexico City Policy on Thursday, he signed a statement calling on all sides of the abortion issue to find common ground. Whoop-dee-doo.
What a leader! What respect for life! What a load!
Obama's assault on human life begins.
5 comments:
This is why you don't elect a "world citizen" to be President of the United States.
His priority isn't even on minimizing costs for the procedure in THIS COUNTRY. His first priority is for American taxpayers to fund INTERNATIONAL abortions.
I'm disgusted and completely unsurprised.
Great blog, by the way.
I don't see why it's cowardly to have done this on a Friday afternoon because that's the time when an event will get the most attention. The reason for this is that most work gets done on weekdays. As a result, the big news for the weekend tends to be whatever was important on Friday. Therefore, a story will get the most attention if it happens Fri.-Sun. On Mon. or Tue., a story is most likely to get lost in the cracks.
But none of this day-of-the-week stuff matters that much. A story like this is guaranteed to get lots of publicity regardless of the manner in which it's executed.
Brian, you're joking, right?
You don't really believe that late on Friday afternoon is when a story will get the most attention.
If you do, you are one of a kind.
Obama is a coward. With a stroke of his pen, he began his war against human life and he's hoping it won't be noticed.
Coward.
Saying that he is ordering tax dollars to fund abortions is very misleading. The order is not to pay for abortions, but to fund organizations that provide medical assistance to women in poor countries irregardless of whether or not they provide pregnancy-preventative materials and education, OR abortion...in other words, Planned Parenthood clinics. Aside from that, to call a man a coward because he doesn't believe the same thing you believe is not very bright. Also, there are a great number of causes that taxpayers have to pay when they're not "for" it, such as business subsidies. We should be more concerned with the corporate welfare that taxpayers have to pay for. Obama is a deeply religious man, and he's right...we should find common ground...like educating people who are having sex.
You say Obama is a deeply religious man. He's a Christian.
But he doesn't act like one.
Christians do not support killing the unborn.
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