Aid and abortion issue

Aid and abortion issue

DigitalGeorgetown Repository

Aid and abortion issue


Title:	Aid and abortion issue
Author:	John W. Sewell (Interviewee); William L. Armstrong (Interviewee); Krogh, Peter F. (Peter Frederic) (Moderator)
Abstract:	Host Peter Krogh and guests discuss the consequences of the Reagan Administration's new Mexico City Policy, which cut off funding for international family planning and population control agencies advocating abortion.
Description:	In August of 1984 President Ronald Reagan announced a major change in U.S. foreign aid policy at the United Nations International Conference on Population. President Reagan's plan, which later became known as the Mexico City Policy or the Global Gag Rule, rejected abortion as a means of population control, and vowed to cease funding any organization involved in performing or encouraging abortion overseas. In January of the following year the U.S. Agency for International Development released a new set of guidelines that banned funding for family planning groups performing or advocating abortions abroad. This policy change sparked a vigorous debate in American politics that would continue for decades to come, as subsequent Republican administrations adopted and continued the policy while Democratic administrations rejected and rescinded it. With millions of dollars in federal funding for private family planning agencies at stake, the Mexico City Policy drew support from Pro-life advocates who viewed the policy as a human rights initiative, while drawing condemnation from pro-choice groups that feared America's traditional support for international population organizations was being undermined by ideology. In this episode, John Sewell, President of the Overseas Development Council, and Republican Senator William Armstrong of Colorado discuss the impact the administration's new policies will have on population control efforts around the globe, as well as the issues of abortion and family planning in developing countries.
Permanent Link:	http://hdl.handle.net/10822/552504
Date Issued:	1985-03-24
Date Created:	1985-03-24
Subject:	Abortion -- Law and legislation -- United States ; United States. Agency for International Development ; Birth control -- Developing countries ; Abortion -- Government policy -- United States ; Population policy ; Population assistance ; Women -- Health and hygiene -- Developing countries ; Abortion -- Finance ; Mexico City Policy ; Global Gag Rule ; Abortion ; Family Planning ; Population Control ; Ronald Reagan ; United States Foreign Aid