NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/talk/abortion/57532

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-24 | 5.8 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Louis Alberto Bueno)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: CLINTON DISMANTLES BUSH AND REAGAN RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION
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Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 09:28:44 PST
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    Copied without permission from:
    The Los Angeles Times, January 22, 1993

    CLINTON DISMANTLES BUSH AND REAGAN RESTRICTIONS ON ABORTION

    By Karen Tumulty and Marlene Cimons

     WASHINGTON - With the stroke of a pen, President Clinton Friday
marked the 20th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion
by dismantling a series of Reagan and Bush administration restrictions,
only hours after thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators rallied across
the street from the White House.
    "Our vision should be of an America where abortion is safe and
legal but rare," Clinton said as he fulfilled a campaign promise to
abortion rights supporters and medical research organizations. By executive
order, Clinton:

    - Ended a five-year ban on fetal tissue research, which scientists
believe holds the possibility of benefiting patients with Parkinson's
disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, Huntington's disease, spinal cord
injuries and other conditions.

    - Overturned the so-called "gag rule" that restricted abortion
counseling at 4,000 federally funded family planning clinics nationwide.

    - Acted to revoke prohibitions on the importation of RU 486 - known
as the French "abortion pill" - for personal use, if the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration determines that there is no justification for the
prohibitions.

    - Allowed abortions at U.S. military hospitals overseas, if they
are paid for privately.

    - Reversed a 1984 order, known as the "Mexico City policy," which
prevented the United States from providing foreign aid to foreign
organizations that perform or promote abortion.

    Abortion rights advocates said Clinton's actions in support of the
Supreme Court's 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling were historic.
    "In one day, no president has ever done more to affirm the right of
women to make personal reproductive choices," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman,
D-Calif., the author of legislation, vetoed last year by then-President
Bush, that would have overturned the fetal tissue research ban.
    U.S. law prohibits the direct use of federal funds for abortion
procedures, except to save the life of a woman. Clinton's orders apparently
did not violate those statutes, although they loosened previous
interpretations of them.
    His actions came as abortion opponents staged their annual march to
mark the anniversary of the landmark Roe vs. Wade case that established
abortion as a right, one that is exercised by an estimated 1.6 million U.S.
women a year.
    Police estimated that 75,000 people, 5,000 more than last year,
gathered for a pre-march rally across the street from the South Lawn of the
White House. From there, they marched to the Supreme Court building on
Capitol Hill.
    In years' past, Bush spoke to the group via an electronic hookup.
This time, there was no encouragement from the White House.
    For Marty Pressau, that was reason enough to stand on the muddy
Ellipse, holding a placard displaying a graphic color photograph of a
dismembered fetus. Although the 35-year-old bank auditor had participated
in local protests in Pittsburgh, it was the first time he had joined the
national march in Washington.
    "People are angry, very angry," he said.

    Carl Mohme, a 28-year-old computer programmer standing about 100
yards away, said that he had been one of 28 busloads of demonstrators to
make the journey from St. Louis. "It is disappointing this year not to have
a pro-life president, no doubt about it," Mohme said. "We don't have any
false illusions about President Clinton, but it's important that he hear
us."
    In a statement, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said it was
"particularly lamentable" that Clinton chose the day of the march to sign
the executive orders.
    "Today's actions will galvanize those Americans, and countless
others, to work even more vigorously for the day when all members of the
human family are invited to enjoy life, fellowship and hope," said Mahony,
who is chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee
for Pro-Life Activities.

    Research using fetal tissue obtained through abortions had been
opposed by the Reagan and Bush administrations, which argued that it would
encourage more women to terminate their pregnancies. Douglas Johnson,
legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, described it
as "harvesting unborn babies for spare parts."
    Opponents of the fetal tissue ban argued that the issue was not
about abortion, but the freedom to conduct potentially life-saving
research. Fetal tissue is especially adaptive to transplantation, and
scientists hope that transplanted fetal cells will take over the functions
of cells that have been destroyed or damaged.
    Clinton said that he was ultimately persuaded to lift the ban by
the tragic personal stories of individual Americans.

    The so-called "gag rule," imposed in 1988 and loosened somewhat by
the Bush administration, had prohibited federally funded clinics from
providing patients with information, counseling or referrals concerning
abortion. Such a restriction, Clinton said, distorted medicine with
"ideological arguments."
    Clinton indicated that by lifting the order, he hoped to reduce the
number of teen-agers bearing children.
    "The greatest human cost of our continuing national debate over
reproductive policy is borne by our children, and by their children," he
said. "A few teen-agers choose to have and raise children, and we must help
them to succeed. But for millions, a teen pregnancy is unintended, leaving
the young woman and her partner totally unprepared for the responsibilities
of parenthood."