Subject: Bush Won't Back Down to the United Nations on Abortion
Source: Washington Post, Reuters; August 28, 2001

Bush Won't Back Down to the United Nations on Abortion

Washington, DC -- The Bush administration may send a high-level delegation
to a special U.N. General Assembly session on children next month because
of concerns that the final declaration will contain language supporting
abortion, State Department officials said yesterday. Bush administraion
officials participating in a final round of talks in New York this week
are seeking to head off that language.

"That's what we expect and hope -- to be represented at a high level,
including Cabinet level," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told
a daily briefing. A U.S. official who asked not to be named said the head
of the U.S. delegation would not necessarily be pro-abortion Secretary of
State Colin Powell.

The three-day special session on children is designed to follow up on the
1990 World Summit for Children, which adopted a plan for promoting
education, reducing disease, improving health care for women and children
and providing better sanitation and food supplies. U.N. organizers say 75
heads of state and government from five continents have confirmed they
will attend the session.

Charles Hunter, another State Department spokesman, said the
administration remains concerned about how the special meeting will
advance a pro-abortion agenda. As a result of uncertainty about the final
document, Hunter said the administration has not yet determined the level
of representation it will have. "The decision about U.S. participation in
the conference will be made closer to the event," he said.

President Bush made clear in his earliest days how seriously it takes the
issue of overseas abortions when it cut off U.S. taxpayer funding for
international agencies that promote or perform abortions in other
countries through the Mexico City Policy.

"The outcome document [for the special session] shouldn't support or
endorse abortion counseling and services for adolescents. The draft does,"
Boucher said. "What we've looked at is to have language that does not
support or advance the idea of abortion."

Administration efforts to recast the proposed statement have drawn
criticism on Capitol Hill from abortion advocates. Fifteen House members,
led by pro-abortion Reps. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Carolyn B. Maloney (DNY),
sent a letter last week to Secretary of State Collin Powell accusing the
U.S. delegation to the preparatory talks of "unreasonable and
obstructionist positions."

The letter criticizes the U.S. opposition to references to "reproductive
health services," which almost always includes abortion.