Obama Rescinds "Mexico City Policy"

Image source: The Huffington Post

The Bush administration sought to gag health services in developing countries not only from providing family planning services but from informing their clients about medically effective means of contraception and abortion.

Here is an excerpt from President Obama's comments as he rescinded the Bush policy (that had been announced at a UN conference in Mexico City):

It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries. For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.

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. I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.

It is time that we end the politicization of this issue. In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.

Comment: Congratulations to the Obama administration!

In terms of the subject of this blog, knowledge for development, the efforts to keep government officials and civil society organizations from informing the public is especially wrong, and the Obama administration deserves great credit for acting so quickly to reverse that policy. JAD

Population Action International reports:

the President’s funding request for HIV programs in the 15 focus countries increased 125 percent in just two years over the 2006 allocated level. However, the funding request for family planning and reproductive health fell by 11 percent. Further, the sheer scale of HIV funding in the focus countries ($3.6 billion requested for 2008), dwarfs FP/RH funding ($67.5 million requested for 2008, less than 2 percent the amount requested for HIV programming).