REPORTING ON THE GLOBAL GAG RULE

Media outlets continued to report on President George W. Bush's Jan. 22 policy directive reinstating the "global gag rule," which bans federal funds
to international family planning groups that offer abortion services,
counseling or referrals, or engage in lobbying on abortion issues with their
own funds.

Several news stories discussed the potential impact of the gag rule
restrictions. Newsweek reported Feb. 5 that while "no one will know the full
effects of the new policy until the guidelines come out," many "family
planning organizations say the effects of the new policy will be
widespread," including "clinics...shy[ing] away from providing lifesaving
care for women who come in from botched illegal abortions, even though
that's exempted from the policy," according to Pathfinder International.

The Associated Press reported Feb. 1 that "family planning organizations
around the world are questioning their future," describing the impact on
International Planned Parenthood affiliates that "already are planning for
the worst."


The Feb. 11 Atlanta Journal and Constitution described the impact on CARE
and quoted officials there who said that Bush's decision was part of "a
chain of events," including "a series of congressionally imposed
restrictions on the use of [family planning] funds, the net effect of which
has been to reduce the resources available for family planning and
associated reproductive health services, and to reduce the number of family
planning providers."
[<link>]

In Europe, "the European Commission and EU governments say they are ready to
help agencies denied aid by Washington," according to the Feb. 5 Independent
(London). Agence France Presse reported Feb. 8 that U.S. non-governmental
organizations "sent a letter to a top EU development official welcoming his
suggestion that the European Union make up the shortfall."

Other media outlets reported on an apparent "distancing" of Secretary of
State Colin Powell from the gag rule policy during a Feb. 3 interview on
ABC's "This Week" program. Reuters reported Feb. 4 that Powell "said his
personal views on the link between abortion and U.S. support for family
planning abroad differed from U.S. policy." He said: "I have other views
that are my personal views, but this is the policy of the government." The
Feb. 15 Washington Post reported that the State Department "tried to soften
what critics call a 'global gag order'...by tell[ing] aid recipients
explicitly that they can provide post-abortion care without losing their
U.S. dollars."

Public opinion polling indicates that "only 42 percent of Americans favor
Bush's executive order blocking all U.S. funding to overseas family planning
groups that offer abortion counseling" and "fifty percent say they
disapprove of the plan," according to a Feb. 19 Newsweek story.
[<http://www.msnbc.com/news/529209.asp>]

The Global Democracy Promotion Act of 2001, a bill to overturn the
restrictions, was introduced Feb. 15 in the House by Reps. Nita M. Lowey
(D-NY) and Nancy Johnson (R-CT), and in the Senate by Sens. Barbara Boxer
(D-CA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), according to the
Associated Press and San Francisco Chronicle Feb. 15. The bill specifies
"that organizations shall not be ineligible for U.S. aid 'solely on the
basis of health or medical services' they offer, as long as they don't
violate the laws of the United States or the country in which they are being
provided," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/
15/MN188847.DTL]

GLOBAL POPULATION COVERAGE

Time magazine's Feb. 12 cover story was on AIDS and Africa: "The disease is
affecting adults and children throughout all segments of the population" and
"is no longer seen as just a public health crisis, but as an economic
development crisis for African countries" as "life expectancy has fallen
[and] poverty is increasing and economic growth has slowed." The coverage
included a full page with action steps on how "You Can Help," which included
making a donation through Netaid.org for a prevention kit.
[<http://www.time.com/time/2001/aidsinafrica/>]

The South African news agency reported Feb. 5 that "South Africa's expected
population growth continues to shrink because of HIVAIDS."

In India, "an army of 2 million census-takers" began the "mammoth task of
counting India's billion-plus population," according to the Associated Press
Feb. 9. The 14th national census, which "will cover over 200 million
households in 630,000 villages and 5,500 towns," is "being billed as the
world's largest ever administrative exercise," according to the story.
InterPress Service and United Press International also reported on India's
census efforts on Feb. 9, as did The New York Times, The Washington Times
and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Feb. 10.

The Feb. 15 Christian Science Monitor reported on "three major negative
trends" converging in Russia, combining a "demographic crisis [of] a low
birth rate and declining life expectancy, especially among Russian men" with
an "overstrained infrastructure" and "external debt repayments [that] will
reach ruinous levels" by 2003.
[http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/02/15/fpcon-intl.shtml
<http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/02/15/fpcon-intl.shtml>]

Agence France Presse reported Feb. 15 that "Russia's declining population
now poses a grave threat to national security," with "low living standards,
a worsening health care system, as well as drug and alcohol abuse" all
contributing to the "dramatic population decline."

The Feb. 1 BusinessWorld (Philippines) reported that "young people will
continue to occupy the largest proportion of the Philippine population in
the years to come," which means that the population "will continue to grow
even long after the country has attained replacement level or an ideal
number of two children for each couple."

Worldwide, "leaders will not achieve the goal of cutting global poverty in
half by 2015 because they erroneously think that the main poverty problem
has shifted from the countryside to the big cities," the Associated Press
reported Feb. 6. A report by the United Nations International Fund for
Agricultural Development stated that "nearly half of the world's poorest, 44
percent, live in south Asia, with 24 percent in sub-Saharan Africa, 24
percent in east Asia, and 6.5 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean."
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010206/aponline000003_000.
htm]

INTERNATIONAL FAMILY PLANNING AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported Feb. 15 that Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo "vowed...to support efforts to promote women's reproductive
health, but stressed government policies would not go against the Catholic
Church's stand against artificial birth control methods." The story noted
controversy over family planning in the Philippines, "where the [Catholic]
church opposes any government campaigns to promote artificial birth control
methods." Agence France Presse reported Feb. 2 on government statements that
"the church's position on population, particularly birth control, 'will be
greatly considered' in implementing Arroyo's population policy."

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its Maternal Mortality
Update 1998-1999, which estimates "514,000 women, mostly in developing
nations, die every year in pregnancy and 20 million suffer acute
complications," according to a Feb. 15 Agence France Presse story. The
report said that "300 million women, or about one quarter of the developing
world's adult female population, suffered infection or long-term injury as a
result of pregnancy."

Agence France Presse reported Feb. 7 on a Kenyan symposium on female genital
mutilation organized by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women's Fund
(UNIFEM). The symposium "urged governments to introduce laws that prohibit
FGM, which affects 120 million people, most of them living in Africa."

NEWS ABOUT INTERNATIONAL ABORTION TRENDS

The Feb. 3 Bangkok Post reported that the Thai Ministry of Health "is
looking at ways to make abortions safer and to protect doctors who perform
them legally from lawsuits." Abortion in Thailand is legal "only in the
event of rape or for patients suffering from heart disease whose life could
be endangered if the pregnancy continued to term."

In the United States, "anti-abortion forces have launched a major offensive
in Congress against drug-induced abortions made possible by the Food and
Drug Administration's approval last year of RU-486," according to a Feb. 7
Knight-Ridder story. The Associated Press reported Feb. 7 that "Republican
lawmakers are pushing for a limit on doctors who can prescribe the "abortion
pill," contending that earlier government approval of the drug omitted
necessary safeguards." The bill, introduced by Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.)
and Rep. David Vitter (R-La.), would require doctors prescribing RU-486 to
be legally authorized to perform surgical abortions. The Feb. 7 New York
Post and Washington Post also reported on the story.

OPINIONS AND EDITORIALS

Newspapers across the country continued to run editorials and opinion pieces
on the global gag rule, most of them critical of Bush's decision to
reinstate the restrictions.

A Feb. 3 op-ed by New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis stated that "it
[was] shocking that George W. Bush, in his first major decision as
president, took an action that will increase the spread of AIDS" by denying
"U.S. aid to family-planning organizations that inform women about medical
options including abortion."
[<http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/03/opinion/03LEWI.html>]

The Los Angeles Times printed a Feb. 9 op-ed by the Africa Fund's Salih
Booker that stated, "Bush's decision to restrict money for international
family planning will only increase unsafe procedures and the spread of AIDS
in poor countries." [www.latimes.com/news/comment/20010209/t000012007.html
<http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20010209/t000012007.html>]

A Feb. 9 Charleston Gazette (WV) editorial praised European leaders prepared
to "make up the money halted by Bush" and criticized Bush for "appeas[ing]
his fundamentalist backers" by curtailing "birth control -- causing more
abortions to be performed," which "shows the absurdity of the fringe that is
determined to revoke a women's right to choose."
[www.wvgazette.com/news/Editorials/200102083/
<http://www.wvgazette.com/news/Editorials/200102083/>]

A Feb. 3 Kansas City Star op-ed by Planned Parenthood of Kansas board member
Ginny Beall described her experience on a medical mission to the Dominican
Republic. She stated that women in that country "are experiencing the
shortage of family-planning services so common in Third World countries...in
part because family-planning services provided by community-based
organizations are hindered by politically motivated actions like the global
gag rule."
[<http://www.kcstar.com/sbin/iarecord?NS-doc-path=/vol1/pubs/stage/opinion/3
7751941.201&NS-doc-offset=0&NS-collection=Opinion&NS-search-set=/var/tmp/3a8
db/aaaa07i6M8dbfca&>]

An editorial in the Feb. 11 Providence Journal-Bulletin (RI) stated that "it
is troubling enough when a nation that so proudly defends free speech at
home arrogantly seeks to curb it abroad," but "more important, women in
developing nations deserve access to full information on their reproductive
health." [<http://projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/opinion/04950051.htm>]

Other columns criticizing Bush's decision were printed Feb. 9 in The
Oklahoman (Oklahoma City)
[<http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article?ID=636062>] and the Feb. 1
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

A Feb. 2 Washington Times editorial supported Bush's decision to reinstate
the global gag rule, stating that "yes, his first order of business was to
stop U.S. taxpayers from having to fund abortions overseas" but "is this not
a refreshing departure from the legacy left by a president who lied in court
and on camera to the American people?"

Writing about reports that "the Bush administration is considering Andrew
Natsios to direct the US Agency for International Development," a Feb. 7
Boston Globe editorial stated that "although we on this page disagree with
Natsios on a critical issue regarding foreign aid -- the role of family
planning agencies overseas -- there is no doubting his intellect or his
strong commitment to a strong US presence abroad." Natsios was most recently
chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and previously director of
the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

A Feb. 14 commentary by former US Agency for International Development
(USAID) administrator J. Brian Atwood said that a proposal by Sen. Jesse
Helms (R-NC) to dismantle USAID "would severely handicap the new
administration he says he wants to support" and "do serious harm to U.S.
efforts to prevent future conflict in the developing world."
[<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A1922-2001Feb13.html>]

----

The above analysis was written by Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri and Kathy Bonk
at the Communications Consortium Media Center, 1200 New York Avenue, NW,
Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202/326-8700. Redistribution is encouraged
with credit to CCMC.

If you would like your name deleted from our e-mail list, or if you would
like us to add a name, please e-mail your request to tjacobs@ccmc.org. Read
more about global population and related issues in the online newsroom
www.PLANetWIRE.org.

The above analysis was written by Ketayoun Darvich-Kodjouri and Kathy Bonk at the Communications Consortium Media Center, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, 202/326-8700.

If you would like your name to be added to their email service, please e-mail your request to kdarvich@ccmc.org.