Congressional Cmte Approves Amendment to Overturn Mexico City Policy
Reuters, Associated Press; May 2, 2001

Washington, DC -- A U.S. House of Representatives panel voted on Wednesday
to reverse President George W. Bush's pro-life ban on using taxpayer money
to fund groups that promote or perform abortions in foreign countries.

The House International Relations Committee voted 26-22 to overturn Bush's
pro-life prohibition, also called the "Mexico City Policy."

Bush had revived the pro-life policy in January as one of his first acts
in office. It restored a rule first announced by former President Ronald
Reagan at a Mexico City conference in 1984 and rescinded by ex-President
Bill Clinton in 1993.

"This is a major victory," said pro-abortion Rep. Barbara Lee, a
California Democrat who sponsored the amendment to a broader State
Department authorization bill.

Pro-life lawmakers are confident the pro-abortion amendment will be
stricken from the bill on the House floor, perhaps as early as next week.
Although the vote is expected to be close, pro-life members will likely
prevail as the International Relations Committee has no pro-life Democrat
members and three pro-abrotion Republicans who voted in favor of the
pro-abortion amendment. In 1999, Congress voted 228-200 in favor of the
Mexico City Policy.

Abortion advocates said they expected another close vote and promised an
all-out push to keep the pro-abortion language in the broader bill, which
provides for repayment of most of the U.S. debt to the United Nations.

"The real fight will be on the floor of the House of Representatives,"
said pro-life Rep. Christopher Smith, a New Jersey Republican who has led
the charge for the Mexico City Policy during annual battles in Congress
over the last decade.

Under U.S. law no tax dollars have directly paid for abortions since 1973.
However, without the Mexico City Policy pro-abortion groups are
"reimbursed" with taxpayer money for promoting and performing abortions.
Pro-life lawmakers rightly describe the issue as one of fungibility as the
taxpayer funds allowed those pro-abortion groups to pay for abortions out
of other accounts.

"One would have to be blind to not understand the precise nature of this
amendment," Smith said. "The millions of dollars we give to a group
immediately frees up other non-U.S. funds that can be used -- and have
been used -- for performing and aggressively promoting abortion."

The House panel's vote links the issue once again with the issue of back
U.N. dues payments owed by the United States, and pro-life committee
chairman Henry Hyde (R-IL) warned it could lead to a veto of the bill if
the pro-abortion language remained in place.

The committee casted their votes on a party line basis with the exception
of three pro-abortion Republicans. Jim Leach of Iowa and Benjamin Gilman
and Amo Houghton of New York voted with the Democrats on reversing Bush's
pro-life policy.

"The Democrats stood united without a single defection. The Republicans
were divided," pro-abortion Democrat Tom Lantos of California said after
the vote, which he called a "good omen" for the battle in the full House.

Family Research Council President Ken Connor criticized the committee's
action.

"President Bush did the right thing when he stopped taxpayer funding of
organizations that promote abortion overseas," Connoer explained. "The
federal government should not export abortion using the hard-earned
dollars of the American people. This Committee's action does not reflect
public opinion on taxpayer funding of abortion, nor does it mirror the
majority opinion in the House, which voted overwhelmingly last week to
pass the unborn victims of violence bill. I am cautiously optimistic that
this Committee action will be overturned on the House floor. If it is
not, I am confident that the president will stick to his principled
position and veto the bill."