Roe Vs. Wade Anniversary

On January 22, 2008, 36 years after the decision to legalize abortion – this will be tested in Washington as thousands of pro-life supporters “March for Life” on Washington. Only two days after the swearing-in of President Barack Obama, the crowds of people who were in the Mall celebrating his presidency, today will be marching to what they believe in. Many support Barack Obama as president but do not support his beliefs with Pro-Choice.

Anti-abortion and abortion rights groups have scheduled news conferences today in the hopes of having the President listen to their pleas. Pro-Life supporters are hoping that the President will NOT follow through on his promise to overturn Bush’s prohibition on U.S. aid to international organizations that perform abortions or refer women to facilities that can help them. Published reports have said that Obama administration’s first act as a President will be to overturn several abortion-related matters, starting with reinstating U.S. funding for international groups that provide abortion and counseling for women. The Freedom of Choice Act is the bill in question.

President Regan first banned funding in the 80’s. President Clinton reversed this ban on his first day as president in January of 1993. Bush then restored the prohibition near the beginning of his presidency eight years later. President Obama has always been very clear what he believes in – he is Pro-Choice and strongly believes it is the woman’s right to choose. The Freedom of Choice Act has been sitting in congress ready to be passed, and it is the belief of many that the President will sign this bill and it will be passed in congress as early as today.

The Freedom of Choice Act  ‘declares that it is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child; terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability; or terminate a pregnancy after viability when necessary to protect her life or her health.”

If this bill is passed it will prohibit the remaining states that deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choice or discriminate against her right to choose or to get the counseling, benefits, services and information needed to make an informed decision.

In place right now supported by the Bush administration is the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act” or known in other circles as the ‘Mexico City Policy’ or ‘the Global Gag Rule’ – which was reinstated by the Bush administration in 2001.

In essence what this current bill does is prohibit any U.S. family planning assistance funding that would be given to an organization that provide abortion services, offer counseling and referral for abortion care, or advocate abortion access in their country.

With the ‘global gag rule’ in place this means that organizations abroad have faced dilemmas regarding funding provided to them by the U.S.  If they accept the funding, this means they would be denying women services and information needed; if they reject any assistance from the U.S. and be forced to cut their prevention services, what happens to the women in need?