(copied from the latest CWHS e-bulletin)
"Bush's secret war"
IPPF, 22 January, 2003
London - Shielded by the smokescreen of an imminent war, President George Bush is waging another stealth campaign, systematically working to undermine reproductive freedom around the world, claims The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).
Today marks the third anniversary of the beginning of this cultural battle. On this day in 2001, in one of his first actions on taking office, President Bush reinstated the Global Gag Rule - or Mexico City Policy - which cut off U.S. international aid money from any family planning organisation that engaged, directly or indirectly, in abortion-related activities. The cost to IPPF was devastating - $18 million lost, clinics closed, essential reproductive health denied or delayed. This unjust policy has actually increased the number of unintended pregnancies and illegal, unsafe abortions and consequently needless deaths.
Since then, using every means available to him, Bush has formulated a strategy to stifle reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care services. They include: instituting gag rules that censor free speech; supporting legislation that limits access to family planning and abortion services; sinking large sums of money into medically unproven abstinence-only sexuality education; nominating religious ideologues to important scientific posts and decrying the use of condoms.
IPPF Director General Dr Steven Sinding said:
"We are using this, the third anniversary of the Global Gag Rule, to draw the world's attention to a chronology of events [see separate War on Women Chronology below] which show George Bush's seemingly single-minded determination to strip women of reproductive rights and access to reproductive health services - not just abortion but even family planning and sex education.
"These acts are a testament to the Bush administration's war against women and his overall contempt for their fundamental civil and human rights."
For further information contact:
Fiona Salter
Tel: +44 (0) 207 487 7892/ 07799 335533
Email: fsalter@ippf.org
Reducing access to family planning
- On his first day in office, the 28th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Bush restores the Reagan-era global gag rule on international family planning assistance (See also Censoring free speech) - January 22, 2001
- President Bush moves to increase "abstinence-only" education funding - October 11, 2002
- House passes the "Child Custody Protection Act" - April 17, 2002
- Bush administration representatives fight sexuality education and oppose condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention at the UN Children's Summit (see also Replacing science with right-wing ideology) - May 2002
- President Bush withholds $34 million in funding for birth control, maternal and child health care, and HIV/AIDS prevention from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (see also Replacing science with right-wing ideology) - July 22, 2002
- President Bush does an about-face on support of women's rights treaty, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women CEDAW - July 26, 2002
- House passes the so-called "Abortion Non-Discrimination Act" (see also: Building the platform to outlaw abortion) - September 25, 2002
- Bush administration Web sites remove medically accurate information (see also Reducing access to family planning) - October 2002
- HHS announces "abstinence-only" advocate to oversee nation's family planning program (see also Replacing science with right-wing ideology) - October 7, 2002
- Bush administration reverses U.S. position in support of 1994 global agreement that affirms the right of all couples and individuals to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so (United Nations, 1994) (see also Censoring free speech) - November 2, 2002.
- House passes the "Child Custody Protection Act" (see also Reducing access to family planning) - April 17, 2002
- House passes the so-called "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" (see also Redefining the legal status of the foetus) - April 26, 2001
- President Bush does an about-face on support of women's rights treaty, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) (see also Reducing access to family planning) - July 26, 2002
- House passes the so-called "Abortion Non-Discrimination Act" (see also Redefining the legal status of the foetus) - September 25, 2002
- Bush administration gives embryos new status in the HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protection Charter - October 2002
- Bush Administration Advances position that life begins at conception at regional population conference in Asia - December 11-17, 2002
- President Bush considers nominating John Klink - an ardent opponent of birth control and a spokesperson for the Vatican's opposition to condom use - to oversee the United States' global population program - May 23, 2001
- House passes the "Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001" - July 31, 2001
- President Bush prevents taxpayer funding for additional stem cells beyond existing stem cell lines, placing severe limits on stem cell research - August 9, 2001
- President Bush moves to increase "abstinence-only" education funding - October 11, 2001
- Bush administration representatives fight sexuality education and oppose condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention at the UN Children's Summit (see also Reducing access to family planning) - May 2002
- President Bush withholds $34 million in funding for birth control, maternal and child health care, and HIV/AIDS prevention from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (see also Reducing access to family planning) - July 22, 2002
- President Bush withholds more than $200 million in funding for programs to support women and address HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan - August 2, 2002
- President Bush Freezes $3 million in funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) in response to anti-choice objections to the WHO's human reproduction research program - October 2002
- Bush administration Web sites remove medically accurate information (see also Censoring free speech, Reducing access to family planning) - October 2002
- HHS announces "abstinence-only" advocate to oversee nation's family planning program (see also Reducing access to family planning) - October 7, 2002
- Family planning foe Rep. Chris Smith calls on USAID to exclude reproductive health organisations in developing countries from receiving HIV/AIDS funding - October 24, 2002
- Bush administration Web sites remove medically accurate information - October 2002
- Bush administration reverses U.S. position in support of 1994 global agreement that affirms the right of all couples and individuals to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children and to have the information and means to do so (United Nations, 1994) (see also Reducing access to family planning) - November 2, 2002
- The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site posted "revised" fact sheet downplaying condom effectiveness - December 2, 2002
- At an international conference in Bangkok, U.S. officials demanded the deletion of a recommendation for "consistent condom use" to fight AIDS and sexual diseases. One study by the University of California at Berkeley found condom distribution to be astonishingly cost-effective, costing just $3.50 per year of life saved. In contrast, antiretroviral therapy cost almost $1,050. Yet the U.S. is now donating only 300 million condoms annually, down from about 800 million at the end of the first President Bush's term.
- with thanks to Planned Parenthood Federation of America www.plannedparenthood.org
- IPPF is the largest voluntary organisation working towards healthier sexual and reproductive lives for everyone. Founded 50 years ago in India, IPPF now works in 182 countries to fight against poverty, ignorance and misery by providing more people with choices about their lives, offering sexual and reproductive health and family planning information and services, and working to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infections.
