December 10, 1999
Vol. 1/ Number 25
Dear Friend and Colleague:
We report on two victories achieved during the recent session of Congress. President Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy was signed into law by President William Jefferson Clinton, who overturned this same executive order upon taking office seven years ago. And, as a result of a series of last-minute maneuvers, a significant cut was made in the FY 2000 population planning budget. With "family planning" scandals breaking out in Kosovo, China, and other parts of the world, the downsizing of the population planning budget may turn out to be permanent.
Steven W. Mosher
President
Albright Scrambles to Appease Population Control
Allies
WASHINGTON, DC – US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, decrying cuts in the (FY) 2000 population planning budget as the result of an "extremist agenda," has promised that President Clinton will work to restore funding to the record levels of 1995. (Washington Post, "Albright Pledges Funds…" 25 November 1999).
This is a sharp turnabout from the position taken by the Administration before the budget compromise was signed. At that time, Administration officials were saying that the family planning restrictions championed by US Representative Christopher Smith (R-NJ) would "not harm our fundamental position" on international family planning (New York Times, "Albright Is Offering Compromise…," 12 November 1999).
The Administration shifted course in order to placate pro-abortion, pro-population control activists, who were furious over the codification of the Mexico City language in US law, which will be much more difficult to reverse than a mere executive order. They were equally upset that the Administration allowed itself to be maneuvered into–what is for them–a lose-lose situation by Smith and other pro-life Republicans.
Clinton agreed to sign the Mexico City policy, forbidding US tax dollars from going to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that performed or promoted abortions, into law. But at the same time he insisted on inserting a waiver. If he invoked the waiver, then he could give up to $15 million to abortion-promoting organizations like the International Planned Parenthood Federation. Smith agreed to this, but insisted on a penalty: If the President invoked the waiver, this would automatically trigger a $12.5 million cut in population planning spending. These funds would be shifted into child survival programs and spent on things like polio and diphtheria vaccinations for children in the developing world.
Forced to choose between abortion and population control, Clinton chose abortion. Pro-abortion groups would get a slice of the pie, shrinking it in the process. Population planning spending was reduced from $385 million to $372.5 million.
With Albright’s promise to increase American funding for population control programs from $385 million to $541.6 million for fiscal year 2001, the stage is set for a major confrontation between those who want the American taxpayer to foot the bill for abortion, sterilization and contraception around the world, and those who don’t.
