The Bush administration, in its last few months of power, hasn’t stopped its bulldozing of the concept of family planning. This past Thursday, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development admitted to telling six African governments to stop giving the Marie Stopes International family planning organization U.S.-donated contraceptives that the organization would have distributed to the African populations.1 This is a move that further endangers poor African women and girls. First, this is indicative of the Bush administration — not really a surprise. However, what is a surprise is that this issue is not something that has been brought up in the current campaign for the presidency. Perhaps a question relating to family planning and funding will be asked at the next debate. (I doubt it, though).
This is just one of many of the Bush agenda’s anti-privacy, anti-choice attacks. Upon the brink of Bush’s departure, we should remember his maniacal legacy.
Bush was the first and only president to sign legislation outlawing an abortion procedure.2
Bush was the first also to criminalize a medical procedure.
Although six federal courts ruled the Federal Abortion Ban to be unconstitutional, the Supreme Court (in 2007, with two Bush appointees) ruled in favor of the ban.3
Bush signed the first federal law granting separate legal status to an embryo or fetus.4
Bush signed the Federal Refusal Clause, giving any health-care corporation permission to ignore any pro-choice law that ensures women have access to abortion services or referrals.5
Bush executed the Global gag rule,6 and then later expanded it.7
Bush has nominated three outspoken opponents of pro-choice to the Supreme Court (Miers, Roberts, and Alito).8
Bush made at least 73 nominations to the federal appeals courts, none of whom endorsed Roe v. Wade, though 19 were clearly anti-choice.9
Three executive branch nominations were anti-choice (John Ashcroft,10 Tommy Thompson,11 Michael Leavitt).12
Bush named at least 16 anti-choice activists to serve in various administration posts that oversee reproductive health (Sen. Tom Coburn, W. David Hager, Eric Keroack).13
Bush’s FDA took more than three years to approve emergency contraception for over-the-counter sales, although the agency’s own expert advisory panels voted 23-4 to recommend the move.14
The primary reason for the stall? A “minority report” written by none other than W. David Hager.15 Hager claimed that his report was “not written… from an “evangelical Christian perspective,” but from a scientific one.” And then went on to say, “”I argued from a scientific perspective, and God took that information, and he used it through this minority report to influence the decision. Once again, what Satan meant for evil, God turned into good.” 16
Eight Bush annual budgets have been anti-choice, cutting family planning program funds, promoting abstinence-only curricula, and extending discriminatory abortion restrictions.17
Bush has spoken at eight annual “March for Life”18 events, and has issued seven annual proclamations designating the Sunday closest to the Roe anniversary as “National Sanctity of Human Life Day.”19
The Bush administration ended 30 years of federal funding for a public health conference hosted by the nonpartisan Global Health Council, specifically because organizations with pro-choice positions were among the conference’s participants.20
Bush’s UN delegations have sought anti-choice changes to international agreements, promoting censorship and medical misinformation, and attempting to propose that “life begins at conception.”21
Recommended Reading:
The Globalization of an Agenda: The Right Targets the U.N. with its Anti-Choice Politics, Pam Chamberlain, PublicEye.org. http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/chamberlain_globalization.html
Bush’s Other War (and related links), International Women’s Health Coalition. http://www.iwhc.org/resources/bushsotherwar/othernominations.cfm
Wikipedia: Fetal Rights. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_rights
Other Resources:
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/issues/bush-administration/
http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/issues/bush-administration/bushs-war-on-choice.html (Note that the general rundown of Bush’s legacy was taken mostly from this widely-distributed list, but the list was not footnoted and none of the assertions had citations or support. I personally researched and cited each assertion.)
http://msmagazine.com/news/news_results.asp?Body=appointment
- US cuts off family planning group in Africa, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/02/ap/preswho/main4496798.shtml and http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=116&sid=1490029 [<]
- http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031105-1.html [<]
- http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2007/04/court_rules_att.html [<]
- http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/abortion/unbornbill32504.html [<]
- http://msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?id=8647 [<]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City_Policy [<]
- http://www.africa.upenn.edu/afrfocus/afrifocus112805.html [<]
- http://www.iwhc.org/resources/bushsotherwar/judicialnominations.cfm [<]
- http://www.iwhc.org/resources/bushsotherwar/judicialnominations.cfm [<]
- http://msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?id=4716 [<]
- http://msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?id=4718 [<]
- http://msmagazine.com/news/uswirestory.asp?id=10617 [<]
- http://www.iwhc.org/resources/bushsotherwar/othernominations.cfm [<]
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/24/AR2006082400559.html [<]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hager [<]
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/11/AR2005051101812.html [<]
- http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/1189/context/archive and http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/6923 [<]
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_for_Life [<]
- http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/15/bush.abortion/ [<]
- http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/5830 and http://www.globalhealth.org/news/article/4450 [<]
- http://www.publiceye.org/magazine/v20n1/chamberlain_globalization.html [<]
Tags: Abortion, abstinence, activists, administration, advisor, Africa, African, agency, Alito, America, anniversary, archives, Ashcroft, ban, Bush, campaign, censor, censorship, Chamberlain, Christ, CNN, coercion, Constitution, contraceptive, corporation, criminal, evangelical, evil, executive, family, FDA, god, Government, human, Law, legal, medical, Mexico, Miers, president, rights, rules, Satan, Sunday, UK, vote, war, Washington
That is truly depressing.
This article, while completely true and absolutely depressing, made me quite angry. I cannot believe that I live in the best country on earth laden with such intense stupidity and ignorance.