Washington, DC -- "We applaud President Bush for ending an eight-year crusade by the Clinton-Gore Administration to promote the killing of unborn children in developing nations," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the nation's major pro-life group.
President Bush today signed an order restoring the "Mexico City Policy." That policy was in place from 1984 until January 22, 1993, when President Clinton nullified it on his third day in office. By acting promptly -- before a February 15 deadline set by Congress -- President Bush ensures that this vital pro-life policy will govern funding for the entire current fiscal year. The policy requires that private overseas organizations, to be eligible for funding under the U.S. population-control aid program, must agree not to perform abortions (except to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest), and not to "actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" -- for example, by campaigning to weaken or repeal the pro-life laws of foreign nations -- either with U.S. funds or any other funds.
Johnson noted that under the first Bush Administration, over 350 overseas organizations accepted funds under the Mexico City Policy, and that the policy had no effect whatever on the overall level of funding for the "population assistance" program.
Despite its claim that it wanted abortion to be "rare," from its inception the Clinton-Gore Administration regarded abortion as "part of the overall approach to population control," as White House spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers put it in 1993. The Clinton-Gore Administration also advanced the ideological doctrine -- sometimes referred to as the "Wirth Doctrine" -- that abortion is a "fundamental right" that must be legalized and freely available to every woman in the world, and it provided large grants to private organizations to promote that agenda.
"The Clinton Administration's pro-abortion crusade collided with the cultural and religious values of many developing nations, and engendered much resentment towards the United States among the governments and peoples of those nations," Johnson said.