Obama overturns ban on overseas abortion funding

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama has overturned what he described as an "unwarranted" eight-year ban on US government funding for family-planning groups which carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

Shortly after he signed an executive order canceling the restrictions, on the third full day of his presidency, Obama said in a statement the ban had "undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries," and that the issue had become too politicized.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counseling, referrals or post-abortion services.

First introduced by Republican president Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been repeatedly overturned by Democratic administrations and reintroduced by the Republicans.

Obama's action reversed the orders of president George W. Bush, who when he came into office in 2001 immediately froze funds to many family planning groups working overseas.

"It is clear that the provisions ... are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law," Obama said.

For too long, he added, the ban "has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us."

The order won Obama praise from Democratic lawmakers, family planning and women's rights groups, and drew angry condemnation from pro-life organizations and Republicans.

With the restrictions lifted, more "healthcare entities can receive US funds for family planning and reach a bigger pool of women," Tait Sye, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America told AFP.

Kim Gandy, head of the National Organization of Women, said Obama had reversed a policy that "has forced international family planning organizations to make an impossible choice between providing comprehensive reproductive health care and receiving funds that enable them to help women in need."

"Women around the world have died as a result of this heartless policy," she said.

According to Population Action International (PAI), the gag rule resulted in Nepal's largest family planning provider losing two-thirds of its total supply of contraceptives and saw the number of women in Ghana who sought care for complications after an abortion soar after contraceptive supplies were cut off to a large clinic there.

Women in developing countries, where access to contraception is poor, often turn to abortion as a means of birth control, a World Bank report has said.

Tod Preston, vice president of PAI, said lifting the gag rule was "an important step to save women's lives around the world.

"Family planning should not be a political issue; it's about basic health care and well-being for women and children," he said.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Obama's repeal of the ban was "a welcomed and important step" that would help ensure women and children have full access to health information and services.

Democratic Senator John Kerry applauded Obama for sending "a powerful signal around the world that the United States is once again back in the business of good public policy, and ideology no longer blunts our ability to save lives around the globe."

More than 250 health and human rights organizations from around the world sent Obama a letter, thanking him for ending a policy "which has contributed to the deaths and injuries of countless women and girls."

United Nations Population Fund Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said Obama's decision to restore funding was "an essential step towards creating a world where all women have the opportunity to participate as equal members of society."

Anti-abortion groups were up in arms and vowed to fight the move.

"We were prepared for this and we will work very hard in Congress to see what we can do to get this overturned," Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, told AFP.

"I think it's a horrible tactic to take toward third world countries if the best we can do for them is provide organizations with the money needed to perform abortions on their children," she said.

Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, said lifting the gag rule was tantamount to "exporting a culture of death," and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor said he was "saddened by this decision and the lives that will be lost because of it."

Obama overturns ban on abortion funding

Now this is the kind of CHANGE we're waiting for....

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 08:26:00 01/24/2009

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Friday overturned an eight-year ban on US government funding for family planning organizations which carry out or facilitate abortions overseas, a White House official said.

Obama signed an executive order cancelling the restrictions, on the third full day of his presidency, spokesman Bill Burton said.

With the restrictions lifted, more "healthcare entities can receive US funds for family planning and reach a bigger pool of women," Tait Sye, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) told Agence France-Presse.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counseling, referrals or post-abortion services.

First introduced by Republican president Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been repeatedly overturned by Democratic administrations and then reintroduced by the Republicans.

Obama's action overturned the orders of president George W. Bush, who when he came into office in 2001 immediately froze funds to many family planning groups working overseas.

Anti-abortion and anti-conservative groups had previously condemned Obama for the move, but liberal groups welcomed the decision.

According to Population Action International (PAI), the gag rule resulted in funds being cut off to family planning clinics in 29 countries, including Lesotho, a tiny southern African country which has been ravaged by AIDS.

Among clinics in Lesotho affected by the funding freeze was one which had distributed 400,000 condoms from 1998-2000, PAI said.

Nepal's largest family planning provider lost all USAID-donated contraceptives, or two-thirds of its total supply, because of the gag rule, and the number of women in Ghana seeking care for complications after an abortion nearly doubled after contraceptive supplies were cut off, PAI said.

Women in developing countries, where access to contraception is poor, often turn to abortion as a means of birth control, a World Bank report published in May said.

Tod Preston, vice president of PAI, called the lifting of the gag rule "an important step to save women’s lives around the world.

"Family planning should not be a political issue; it’s about basic health care and well-being for women and children," Preston said in a statement.

The PPFA hailed Obama for "lifting the stranglehold on women’s health across the globe with the stroke of a pen."

"No longer will health care providers be forced to choose between receiving family planning funding and restricting the health care services they provide to women," the organization said in a statement.

But anti-abortion groups were up in arms and vowed to fight the move.

"We were prepared for this and we will work very hard in Congress to see what we can do to get this overturned," Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, told AFP.

"We've got a president who is rabidly in favor of abortion even though he says he's not," Brown said.

"I think it's a horrible tactic to take toward third world countries if the best we can do for them is provide organizations with the money needed to perform abortions on their children. It's an outrage."

Conservative lawmakers also slammed the move. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it was "counter to our nation’s interests," while House Republican Whip Eric Cantor called it "a divisive action."

Cantor said he was "saddened by this decision and the lives that will be lost because of it."

Abortion is a hot-button issue in the United States, pitting pro-life conservative groups against more liberal, pro-choice Americans who back a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

A 1973 decision by the Supreme Court legalized abortion and gave the United States some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the world.

According to a poll conducted by Gallup in May, more than a quarter of Americans (28 percent) believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances, while 17 percent back a total ban on abortion.

A majority of Americans -- 54 percent -- think abortion should be allowed under certain circumstances, the poll showed.

Why Is Reproductive Health Still "Controversial" in the Philippines?

Date: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Source: RH Reality Check (U.S.)
Author: Carolina Austria

The pending bill on reproductive health care in the Philippines is often deemed controversial simply because some outspoken members of the powerful Roman Catholic hierarchy consider it so. To the conservative Catholic hierarchy, the most controversial portion of the bill has to do with contraception (which it equates with abortion) and sex education.

However, a recent survey indicates that the majority of Filipinos (a lot of them Roman Catholics) do not seem to think family planning is controversial. Over fifty-two percent of a representative sample agreed that modern family planning methods should be included in public health care and sixty-eight percent of respondents agreed that family planning services should be provided for by law. Over fifty-four percent even support sex education in schools.

But how did an otherwise banal piece of legislation, which simply provides standards, infrastructure and a budget for public health care services ever become so divisive? Given the differences that do exist among faiths (and those who are non-believing) on the issues of contraception, abortion and sex education, is a consensus about the role of government possible?

One attempt to shed some light on how these issues are framed, discussed and debated in the public was conducted by the Ateneo School of Government (ASG). It studied how the media frames population issues and reproductive health, and found that some of the most dominant frames used by the media in the last four years include the themes of "population control," "contraception" and "abortion."

Despite the clear references by advocates to "rights," "health" and "women's reproductive choice," these frames were rarely picked up and did not prominently feature in the media. The researchers cited the few in media who did utilize these frames and acknowledged Rina Jimenez David as one of the most consistent.

Dr. Antonio G.M. La Viña, ASG Director and Dr. Clarissa David, Professor at the UP College of Mass Communication, who led the study, said the ASG study can help facilitate a genuine discussion of the issues around rights, reproductive health and even the Catholic faith. By recognizing the role that media plays in framing the issues being debated, the study also presents a challenge to both sides in the debate, who after all, influence the media through their positions and statements.

On one hand, they noted how advocates on either side of the debate often tend to "talk past" each other, rarely meeting head on what the other side is saying about a certain issue. Dr. La Viña observed that this indicates that those engaging in the debate do not really listen to what the other side is saying.

Dr. La Viña's observation in fact rings true when one considers how many of those who are opposed to the idea of reproductive health as rights still refuse to acknowledge that "population control agendas" and the idea of demographic targets have always been challenged and resisted by human rights advocates, not the least of them, women's rights groups. The same observation can be made about some RH advocates who at times have will invoke the separation of church and state, interpreting secularism to mean the exclusion of religion in the policy debate.

In the past, whenever media made a reference to the "Catholic" position on RH including family planning and contraception, it usually resorted to quoting the opinion of the Catholic hierarchy based on teaching against contraception in the Humanae Vitae, disregarding the differences of views among Catholics. Many in the local media highlight the "sensational," fanning the fires of controversy by zooming in on the clash between outspoken Bishops and the bill's proponents in Congress.

In the past few years, however, Filipino Roman Catholics have also begun speaking out about their different views on reproductive rights. Most recently, a group of Professors from the Ateneo de Manila, a Jesuit founded Roman Catholic university came out in support of the bill on reproductive health. Using no less than Roman Catholic social teaching as a basis for their position, the group of prominent academics included theologians, philosophers, doctors and social scientists.

Apart from being acrimonious, the debates on RH (and all matters relating to sexuality in public policy) have often seemed futile, with no possible compromise in sight. But the ASG study gives us important insight on how the debate on the right to reproductive health is severely limited when the "frames" used by media (and advocates on either side) end up formulaic. Instead of a lively public discussion, which engages the issues where they are most felt, participated in by those affected, "media exchanges" that have become the exclusive domain of high-profile Bishops, experts and lawmakers, seemingly lead us nowhere near possible compromises.

The examples by groups like Catholics for RH and the ADMU faculty, however, show us a different development and imparts important lessons: while differences need not be settled with finality, what remains important is openness. Having the conviction to take a stand does not lie solely in stating that position but by bravely (and sincerely) listening to others different from your own.

63% favor Reproductive Health Bill—poll

By Joel Guinto
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:08:00 01/19/2009



MANILA, Philippines — Sixty-three percent of Filipinos favor the Reproductive Health Bill that is being deliberated on in the House of Representatives that proposes more funding for a government campaign to promote natural and artificial family planning and which the Catholic Church opposes, results of an independent survey showed.

Only eight percent said they were not in favor of the Reproductive Health Bill at the House and 29 percent were ambivalent on the matter, according to a Pulse Asia Inc. survey of 1,200 adults nationwide on Oct. 14-27.

About 82 percent of the survey respondents said they believed the government should educate couples on modern family planning methods, both natural and artificial, Pulse Asia said.

The survey showed 68 percent were aware of the Reproductive Health Bill and 32 percent were not.

The 63 percent that said they favored the bill included respondents unaware of it, Pulse Asia said.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has adopted the stand of the Catholic Church on artificial family planning.

Her deputy spokesperson, Lorelei Fajardo, told reporters in Malacañang: “The President has always been open to all the suggestions, especially to the sentiments of the public. But as of now, we know her stand on the RH Bill. I'm sure she would consider all of this."

The survey showed 93 percent of Filipinos said it was important for couples to have the ability to plan their families for their own sake and practically no one said it was unimportant. Another 91 percent said family planning was important for the sale of the country.

Forty-nine percent said they would follow what their religion told them on family planning while 44 percent were ambivalent on the matter, according to the survey.

Another 44 percent said the government should pass a law specifying the number of children that a couple can have.

Mass Cards for Papa Roy

PAPA ROY CALVO

Today, a staunch RH supporter and Media Advocate ROY CALVO, more popularly known as Papa Roy passed away due to a heart attack.

I still could not believe it.. many of us couldn't. I had to call Sentay, one of his media angels in Eastern Samar to confirm the sad news. Then the call from Penelope, who works closely with him in the radio station... I couldn't stop crying...

Sentay said he even held his usual radio program at 4am, then drove to bring his children to school. But apparently, he was really not feeling well already that he asked his wife to accompany him at the hospital. There, he had the attack and they never revived him...

Papa Roy is a very good friend. He is one of the media coordinators I have worked with that really became close to me. I remember him telling me that he and his media angels at Eastern Samar have their hearts involved in doing the advocacy project because of me, and that doing the work made all the difference because I was working on it with them. I could never forget that because it makes the whole advocacy doubly meaningful...

I also remember him teasing me while Cecil and I were having dinner last Dec 2008 here in Manila. Over the phone, I told him that when he visits here, we'll also set a date and we'll dine out, my treat... I guess I'll just have that dinner date with you Papa Roy in the next life...

Papa Roy with his Media Angels...

Papa Roy and Chi during happier times - Media Christmas Party 2006

From left: Papa Roy, Sentay, guy from ES, UNFPA PPC at that time Jun Grata,Eden, Penelope, Shane, girl from ES, UNFPA AFA at that time and wife of Luis, and the senior Calvo, Roy's Dad...

PAPA ROY, We will miss you... May you rest in peace...