Barack Obama to reverse 'global gag rule' on family planning organisations

[BurtWorm]

Elections really do have consequences. :woohoo:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/23/barack-obama-foreign-abortion-aid

President Barack Obama today is to make the most contentious move of his young administration with an order overturning a ban on federal funds to foreign family planning organisations that counsel abortion or help women obtain them.

The rule change continues the dismantling of George Bush's conservative policies. It is likely to encounter fierce criticism from the still robust anti-abortion movement.

It will allow US aid, usually through the US agency for international development, to flow to HIV/Aids clinics, birth-control providers and other organisations that advocate or counsel abortion across the world. It is known as the "global gag rule" because it denies US taxpayer dollars to clinics that even mention abortion to women with unplanned pregnancies.

The rule was signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1984, overturned by Bill Clinton in 1993, and reinstated by Bush. Critics of the rule say it deprives the world's poor women of desperately needed medical care, while proponents say US tax dollars should not promote abortion.

While Obama has spent the first two days of his presidency overturning Bush policies, for example restricting US interrogation practices of terror suspects and an order pledging to close the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, those were backed by a broad political consensus. Abortion, however, remains a bitterly contentious issue, as evidenced by the thousands of people who marched in Washington yesterday opposing abortion rights.

Yesterday was the 36th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a woman's right to choose abortion....

[NeedleCast]

1. More Awesomeness

[Deep13]

3. I can't hear the pro-lifers over the sound of...

...how awesome the president is.

[NeedleCast]

8. You must not have been in DC yesterday

Sweet Baby J, the right-to-lifers were like some sort of biblical plague of locusts or something.

I very much enjoyed Obama basically telling them to cram it with walnuts.

[Deep13]

2. More pandering to the reality-based crowd.

The whole world is being tipped right-side up and has gone all reasonable on me! Goddamn, what is right with the country anyway?!

:evilgrin:

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. thank goodness, at last

K&R

[InvisibleTouch]

5. Damn, he's good! :) n/t

[Bragi]

6. Yessss !!! /nt

[Ilsa]

7. This is one reason why IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE WHO IS PRESIDENT.

Change can occur in even a few days. GITMO and now this. I am so thankful Barack Obama is our president and Michelle Obama is our First Lady.

[4_TN_TITANS]

15. Don't forget the nod to go ahead w/ embryonic stem cell research...

The Hits just keep on coming, almost to the point where one can't keep up. It's like he amped up the pitching machine and keeps hitting homer after homer.

[Ilsa]

17. I only forgot for a moment. I had to get up after I posted, and then ESCR hit my brain. It is

so important to my family. My father has Parkinsons, and my FIL thought he had it as well. There are so many other health problems that need to be investigated with ESCR. Bush just hated science.

[Fireweed247]

9. GObama!

:applause:
That man is really growing on me!

[corpseratemedia]

10. I've been loving the last 3 days!!

GOBAMA!!:toast:

[DesertDiamond]

11. This man is so amazing! I feel like the sun has finally come up...

He's shedding light on all the dark, ugly changes that Bushco made, and he's correcting them. I thought he'd be great, but to see him in action leaves me awestruck.

[BurtWorm]

12. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

Nice to meet you.

[DesertDiamond]

13. Thank you so much, BurtWorm! Nice to meet you too and...

thanks for the beer!

What brand is it? ;-)

[BurtWorm]

14. I don't know. It's whatever's on tap in the Lounge.

;)

Not bad for the price.

[DesertDiamond]

16. Free is my favorite price! Here's one back to you...

:toast: