The Reform movement welcomed the U.S. Senate’s removal of restrictions on assisting overseas groups that perform abortions.
The Senate removed the provision from foreign assistance appropriations last week.
“We applaud the Senate’s decision to reverse current, harmful U.S. policy, which has for too long denied essential funds to overseas clinics that perform or even discuss abortions,” Reform’s Religious Action Center said in a statement. “This misguided policy has forced clinics to either provide incomplete family planning information or to refuse desperately needed funds. The impact has been most felt by women in poor countries whose lives and health depend on the counsel they receive from these organizations.”
The U.S. House of Representatives also removed the provision when it passed its parallel appropriations in July. Democrats when they won back both houses of Congress last year pledged to end the longstanding ban set by Republican Congresses. President Bush has suggested he will veto a return to funding such groups.
