WASHINGTON (RNS) Anti-abortion religious leaders are criticizing President Obama’s decision late Friday (Jan. 23) to restore federal funding of international groups that provide abortions or information about the procedure.
“An administration that wants to reduce abortions should not divert U.S. funds to groups that promote abortions,” said Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who heads the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
The so-called Mexico City policy, which bans U.S. government aid to groups involved with abortions, was first enacted by former President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Former President Bill Clinton rescinded the ban in 1993; former President George W. Bush reinstated it in 2001.
Obama said in a statement Friday that the policy had “undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries.” Obama announced the end of the ban one day after the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion in the United States.
“For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us,” the president said. “I have no desire to continue this fruitless and stale debate.”
Conservative religious groups immediately criticized Obama.
“Thanks to his actions today, U.S. taxpayers will be forced to take part in exporting a culture of death,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, said “President Obama wasted no time in letting the nation know what many pro-life Americans suspected-President Obama is committed to promoting pro-abortion policies.”
Cardinal Francis George, president of the bishops conference, said “a shift toward promoting abortion in developing nations would also increase distrust of the United States in these nations, whose values and culture often reject abortion, at a time when we need their trust and respect.”