  
Committee votes to reverse "Global Gag Rule"
Last Updated: 2001-05-02 17:45:42 EDT (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters Health) - Setting up a potential showdown with President Bush, the House International Relations Committee on Wednesday voted to overturn the so-called "Mexico City policy." That rule bars US funding of international family planning organizations that use their own funds for abortion-related activities, including counseling patients about the availability of legal abortion.
The vote was 26-22, with three Republicans--Benjamin Gilman and Amo Houghton of New York, and Jim Leach of Iowa--joining all the panel's Democrats in support of an amendment offered by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., to the State Department Authorization bill.
The policy, so named because President Ronald Reagan announced it during a United Nations population conference in Mexico City in 1984, was in effect until 1993, when President Bill Clinton revoked it on his second full day in office. It was briefly in effect again in 1999 after Clinton and the Republican Congress fought over paying back dues to the UN, then fully restored by President George W. Bush on the first business day of his presidency in January.
Backers of the policy say it is needed to prevent the US from subsidizing abortion activities overseas. "Money is fungible," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. "The millions of dollars we give to a group immediately frees up other non-US funds that can be used--and have been used--for performing and aggressively promoting abortion."
But opponents say the issue is one of free speech. "We would never treat women in our own country the way the 'Global Gag Rule' treats women overseas," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.
The bill now goes to the House floor, where the fate of the language overturning the Mexico City policy is uncertain. The House has consistently voted for the policy since Republicans took control in 1995. But many abortion opponents are strong supporters of family planning programs, and the 107th Congress has yet to have its first family planning vote.
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