ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 14, 1997 TAG: 9702140053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
In the first abortion-related confrontation of the new Congress, the House approved without abortion restrictions the release of funds for overseas family planning programs.
Thursday's 220-209 vote was a victory for family planning advocates in their longtime struggle against anti-abortion forces demanding that family planning aid be denied to groups involved in abortion-related activities.
Abortion foes got some comfort when the House later approved, 231-194, a bill offered by anti-abortion leader Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. It would release the funds only if the government reimposed Reagan-era restrictions on aid to family planning groups that perform or promote abortion.
The Smith bill provided cover for anti-abortion lawmakers who voted for the main bill but has little support in the Senate and faces a certain presidential veto. The Senate must vote on the nonrestrictive legislation before the end of the month and is expected to pass it.
After arguments that family planning helps prevent abortions, 44 mostly moderate Republicans joined 175 Democrats and an independent in favor of the main bill. It mandates the March 1 release of $385 million in funds allocated in the fiscal 1997 budget but previously frozen until July 1.
``By giving women the access to health services they so desperately need during their childbearing years, we will help prevent thousands of maternal deaths,'' said Rep. Susan Molinari, a New York Republican.
The decision was hailed by family planning groups.
``The House has listened to the voices of the three-quarters of Americans who support the use of foreign assistance funds for voluntary family planning in poor countries,'' said Victoria Markell of Population Action International.
Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, decried the ``hypocrisy'' of those who voted for both the main bill and the Smith bill but said: ``We are pleased that the House, which is solidly anti-choice, did vote to release the international family planning funds. ... That is most important.''
The Smith bill would reinstate the Mexico Policy in effect during the Reagan and Bush administrations but revoked early in President Clinton's first term. It goes beyond a 1973 law barring direct U.S. funding for abortions overseas by forbidding distribution of aid money to family planning groups that perform or promote abortions in foreign countries.
Smith contended that without the Mexico City language, the administration would pour ``hundreds of millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars into organizations that have made the toppling of pro-life laws and policies in developing countries their mission and explicit goal.''
But Rep. Constance Morella, R-Md., cited figures that the 35 percent cut in family planning funds since fiscal 1995 has resulted in 4 million additional unintended pregnancies worldwide and 2 million more abortions.
Rep. David Skaggs, D-Col., said abortions in Russia had gone down by a quarter in a period when funding for family planning had increased by 25 percent. ``Does anybody think there's not a connection between the two?'' Skaggs asked. ``And the connection between the two has come because of our American family planning assistance programs.''
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