February 14,2001
Page A4
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Bush’s ‘Gag Rule’ on Abortion Opposed
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Charles H. Washington
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Larry J. Jackson, Sr.
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B\ JO R D A N A S.VK1K)
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On his first official work day,
Jan. 22, President George W.
Bush sent a clear and threaten­
ing message to the world. This
U.S. administration will do ev­
erything in its power to deny
women control over their own
bodies. Women and their male
allies will fight back with equal
tenacity.
By executive order, Bush re­
imposed the Reagan-era ban on
U.S. funding to foreign groups
that provide counseling or oth­
erwise facilitates abortions.
President Clinton had rescinded
that order in 1992.
But since 1973, with the pas­
sage of the Helms amendment
to the Foreign Operations ap­
propriation bill, renewed annu­
ally, the U.S. hasn’t actually
funded any overseas abortions.
Now, any organization that
talks about or pays for abor­
tions with its own funds will
Jordana Sardo
not get U.S. aid for any o f its
services. The effect o f the
Bush mandate will be to im­
pose a “gag rule” on any pro­
gram concerned with women’s
health. Along with counseling
and access to abortion, people
will lose access to contracep­
tion, prenatal care, and other
basic reproductive services.
H undreds o f thousands o f
women will suffer, and many
will die.
Bush advisors probably re­
alize that the murderous ban
is actually counter-productive
— under the Reagan ban, the
incidence o f a b o rtio n in ­
creased. These people don’t
really care about w om en’s
well-being or human life ei­
ther. They are asserting their
power over half the w orld’s
population.
What this U.S. government
really wants is to build a cli­
mate o f intimidation and re­
pression and to send the clear
message that women’s lives
are not our own. They are
asserting declared war on a
whole gender.
Radical Women calls on
feminists to fight back and
continue to demonstrate full
support for reproductive free­
dom at every opportunity. We
are committed to working with
others to demand the repeal
of the Helms amendment, and
the equally oppressive Hyde
amendment, which denies use
of federal funds for abortions
to im poverished U.S. resi­
dents. And we call on the
elected politicians to publicly
oppose the reactionary cam­
paign o f terror that manifests
in w om en’s c lin ic s being
bombed and the murder of
abortion providers.
Racial Women believe that
the power o f women around
the globe can be asserted to
overrule the despotic presi­
dent who w asn’t even the
American people’s choice.
R a d ic a l
W omen
was
founded in 1967 and is one
o f the oldest socialist fem i­
nist organizations in the U.S.
Radical Women has been in
the fo re fro n t o f the abor­
tion rights fig h ts and was
instrumental in getting abor­
tion legalized in Washing­
ton State through a voter
referendum in 1970.
Gary Ann Taylor
C 3ESI
A sst . P ublisher
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