WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 President Joe Biden on Thursday rescinded a regulation that barred U.S. foreign aid from being used to perform or promote abortions. His decision, while expected, was cheered by abortion-choice advocates and some humanitarian groups and denounced by anti-abortion groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move also included a restoration of American funding to the U.N. Population Fund and withdraws the U.S. from an international accord that promotes anti-abortion policies. The steps came just a week after he was inaugurated and fulfills a campaign pledge to reverse a policy that previous Republican presidents, including his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, had instated immediately on taking office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The policy \u2014 known as the \u201cMexico City\u201d rule, after the place where it was first announced at an international population conference, or the \u201cglobal gag rule\u201d \u2014 has been a political ping-pong ball, bouncing back and forth between Republican and Democratic presidents since it was first enacted in 1985 during President Ronald Reagan\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese excessive conditions on foreign and development assistance undermine the United States\u2019 efforts to advance gender equality globally by restricting our ability to support women\u2019s health and programs that prevent and respond to gender-based violence,\u201d Biden said in a memorandum to his Cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe expansion of the policy has also affected all other areas of global health assistance, limiting the United States\u2019 ability to work with local partners around the world and inhibiting their efforts to confront serious health challenges such as HIV\/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among others,\u201d he said. \u201cSuch restrictions on global health assistance are particularly harmful in light of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Accompanying Biden\u2019s determination was a decision to restore funding to the United Nations Population Fund, which Trump had ended over its alleged support for forced abortions and sterilizations in China. The fund has denied those allegations. The year before Trump terminated the funding, the U.S. had provided $69 million to the UNFPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, Biden directed the State Department and Department of Health and Human Services to withdraw from the so-called Geneva Consensus, an October 2020 document signed by 34 countries that sought to promote anti-abortion policies and others deemed \u201cpro-family\u201d worldwide. The consensus had been co-sponsored by the U.S. and was signed by numerous nations critics consider to be undemocratic or authoritarian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics of Trump\u2019s policies say they had hurt women\u2019s reproductive health care and contributed to poverty worldwide. Supporters argue they are essential to preserve the sanctity of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump had expanded the Mexico City rule to include nearly all federal health funding, but its effects were felt most abroad, where U.S. assistance can be an essential part of a country\u2019s health care spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although supporters of the policy argue that the overall amount of U.S. health care aid was not affected, critics maintain it contributed to a rise in pregnancy-related complications as well other issues by forcing some clinics to reduce broader health services, including for HIV\/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other infectious diseases, if they wanted to retain funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reaction to Biden\u2019s decision was swift and sharp, even before it was officially announced. Abortion-rights groups and Democratic lawmakers hailed it as key to improving women\u2019s lives, while anti-abortion groups denounced it as immoral and unnecessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Global Gag Rule has had a sweeping effect on lifesaving health care in some of the most vulnerable parts of the world,\u201d said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. \u201cIt is shameful that the Trump administration chose to not only implement but exponentially expand this ill-conceived policy to historic proportions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She called it \u201can important first step to restore access to family planning services and mitigate the damage caused by an administration that pursued this dangerous policy without regard for its impact.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Doctors Without Borders, which has spoken out against the Mexico City policy, welcomed the move but said more must be done to address the global health care crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhile we are relieved to see a halt to this dangerous policy, there is much more work to do to mitigate the damage we have witnessed. Rescinding the Global Gag Rule is just a first step,\u201d it said. \u201cMillions of women still don\u2019t have access to safe abortion care because of restrictive laws, cost, stigma, a lack of trained providers, or other unnecessary barriers, such as mandatory waiting periods or misleading information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anti-abortion groups and lawmakers were equally as strident in their condemnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cU.S. foreign policy \u2014 and the foreign entities we fund with billions of dollars in grant money \u2014 should consistently affirm, care for, and tangibly assist women and children \u2014 including unborn baby girls and boys,\u201d said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who has been one of the most vocal abortion opponents in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFunneling U.S. tax dollars to abortion groups overseas is an abhorrent practice that flies in the face of the \u2018unity\u2019 Joe Biden and Kamala Harris promised to inspire,\u201d said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which seeks to elect anti-abortion candidates to Congress and other offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Echoing the comments of others, she blasted the Biden administration for once again allowing taxpayer money to fund abortions, maintaining the move was payback for a group of \u201cabortion industry giants\u201d that support the president\u2019s campaign for president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPushing abortion on other nations is not compassion, it is ideological neo-colonization,\u201d said Lila Rose of Live Action, a national anti-abortion group. \u201cThis decision is a dark day for our nation \u2014 it will lead to more deaths of more children and for that, Joe Biden should be ashamed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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