Twenty members of Congress have
sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell calling on the Bush
administration to abandon plans to extend the so-called Mexico City policy,
which prevents U.S. funds from going to any international group linked with
abortion services, to Bush's new five-year, $15 billion global HIV/AIDS
initiative. The policy, so named because it was adopted by former president
Ronald Reagan at a conference in Mexico City in 1984, bars U.S. money from
going to any international groups that support abortion, even with their own
money, through direct services, counseling, or lobbying activities. The policy
was rescinded by President Clinton in 1993, but Bush revived it just days after
his inauguration in 2001.
The lawmakers have joined with AIDS experts and activists in expressing their
concern that the policy is harmful to international AIDS efforts because many
overseas agencies offer a wide range of family planning services alongside HIV
and other sexually transmitted disease prevention and treatment programs. This
would automatically exempt them from receiving the new HIV/AIDS funds. The
letter states that if the Administration were to apply the policy to Bush's new
international AIDS initiative, it would be "a very grave and costly mistake."
It goes on to say, "Such a policy will not only contrast sharply with existing
international practices but will also make authorization of a comprehensive
global AIDS bill in Congress a difficult proposition and will further
complicate the consideration of the fiscal year 2004 Foreign Operations
bill--thus delaying the rapid disbursement of these much needed funds."
It's not clear whether Bush will continue to endorse the restrictive policy.
Reports have surfaced claiming that the Administration plans to continue to
apply the
Mexico City policy to its new HIV/AIDS initiative,
while others indicate that Bush has decided to be more permissive when funding
overseas HIV/AIDS programs. There has been no official word from the White
House on which course Bush will take. The Administration also has not yet
responded to the letter from the members of Congress.
The lawmakers who signed the letter to Powell include Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.),
the only out lesbian in Congress, as well as her House colleagues Neil
Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Joe Hoeffel (D-Pa.), Sheila
Jackson-Lee (D-Tex.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Donald
Payne (D-N.J.), Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.), Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.),
Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), Lynn
Woolsey (D-Calif.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Fortney Stark (D-Calif.), Pete
DeFazio (D-Ore.), William Pascrell (D-N.J.), Howard Berman (D-Calif.), and
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). |