Bush's other war: The assault on women's reproductive and sexual health and rights

Action Alert from the International Women's Health Coalition

compiled by Ellen Marshall, 1 November 2002

Internationally and domestically, in our courts and in our schools, at the UN and on Capitol Hill, it is no exaggeration to say that the White House is conducting a stealth war against women. This war has devastating consequences for social and economic development, democracy, and human rights-and its effects will be felt by women and girls worldwide.

International Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services: President Bush's proposed FY 2003 budget would cut U.S. international family planning and reproductive health assistance to $425 million, an 11 percent reduction from the FY 2002 appropriation of more than $480 million.

UNFPA: Congress appropriated-and the President signed into law-a $34 million FY 2002 contribution to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world's largest family planning provider for women. Subsequently, the Administration blocked release of these funds, claiming that UNFPA supported coerced abortion and sterilization in China. The State Department dispatched a team to China to investigate the charges, and no evidence was found that the UNFPA was involved in such activities, but the Administration proceeded with its plans to eliminate funding. President Bush has not requested new funds for FY 2003.

Global Gag Rule: This policy, reinstated by President Bush on January 22, 2001, requires that in exchange for U.S. assistance for family planning services, foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) withhold information from women about the option of legal abortion and where to obtain safe abortion services. Specifically, the groups cannot engage in any public debate or disseminate any information regarding legal abortion, express support for any existing laws that support abortion, or provide abortion services even where abortion is legal. This policy stifles free speech and prevents medical professionals from offering the full range of legal, medically acceptable options to their clients. It is contrary to U.S. law and would be held unconstitutional if imposed on U.S.-based organizations.

Rolling Back ICPD: At a UN Asia regional meeting in Bangkok on October 29–31, 2002, a State Department official said the U.S. would not reaffirm its commitment to the 1994 International Conference of Population and Development Programme of Action, a landmark agreement in which the world's governments agreed to comprehensive actions for women's health and rights. The U.S. delegation objected to the terms "reproductive health services" and "reproductive rights," and forced removal of "sexual health and rights" from the negotiating text over the objections of several other delegations. The Asia meeting is the first in a series that will take place in all regions of the world between now and mid-2004, the tenth anniversary of the Cairo agreement. The Bush administration has made clear its intention to influence all of these meetings, and has warned that its position is "non-negotiable."

Adolescents: The Bush administration, in an alliance with Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Syria, and the Vatican, tried to block consensus on sexuality education at the UN General Assembly Special Session on Children in May 2002. Success for the U.S. delegation would have prevented young people under 18 from receiving information about sexual abuse (despite increased evidence of its frequency), birth control, condoms, and reproductive health services. The Administration also favored an abstinence-only approach to sexuality education, opposing comprehensive information and services for the billions of adolescents worldwide who are or will become sexually active, including through early marriage or forced sexual relationships before the age of 18.

CEDAW: After the Bush administration notified the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that ratification of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was "generally desirable and should be approved," momentum to ratify it grew. The Bush administration then tried to put the brakes on, informing the Committee that a new, "careful review is appropriate and necessary" and asking that they wait to vote on CEDAW until this review was complete. The Committee voted 12-7 to send it to the full Senate for ratification on July 30, 2002. The Senate has yet to vote.

Afghani Women: The President signed a FY 2002 Supplemental Appropriations bill August 2, 2002 that included the provision of $2.5 million for programs to support women in Afghanistan. He later determined that the programs included in the bill did not merit emergency funding. This decision not only blocked funds for women, it also prevented the release of more than $90 million in additional funds for Afghanistan (and $200 million for HIV/AIDS).

Actions: Domestic

State Child Health Insurance Plus (SCHIP): The Administration issued a regulation extending coverage under SCHIP to "unborn children," from "conception up to age 19." For the first time, the United States is recognizing that a zygote, embryo, or fetus is a "person" eligible for government aid (October 2, 2002). Soon after this regulation was issued, the Bush administration withdrew its support for bipartisan legislation that added pregnant women to SCHIP, arguing that it was no longer needed now that coverage was being provided directly to the fetus. As a result, pregnant women will not be guaranteed the health care they need. Treatment for women who are hemorrhaging during birth, for example, is not covered by the regulation, but would be under the proposed legislation.

Abortion: The President's efforts to make abortion more rare are focused on limiting pregnant women's options rather than giving all women the services and information to make their own choices. Instead of supporting family planning services and emergency contraception, which dramatically reduce recourse to abortion, the Administration supports parental notification laws (even if parents are abusive), adoption, abolition of late-term abortion, and 24-hour waiting periods.

Title X: Had the Federal Family Planning Program (Title X) funding simply kept up with inflation since 1980 (which doesn't take into account increases in the number of people in need of these services), it would now be at $590 million. The current funding level, however, is $265 million. President Bush's FY 2003 budget request does not include any increase for this program, which provides contraceptive services; gynecological exams; pregnancy testing; screening for cervical and breast cancer; screening for high blood pressure, anemia, and diabetes; screening for STIs, including HIV; basic infertility services; health education; and referrals for other health and social services for low-income Americans.

Increased Funding for Abstinence-Only Sex Education: President Bush's FY 2003 budget called for a $33 million increase in funding for abstinence-until-marriage sex education programs, which would bring total federal funding to $135 million. Such programs prohibit any discussion about the health benefits of contraception, including condoms, in preventing unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV/AIDS. There is no scientific evidence that this approach delays sexual initiation or has any value for adolescents who are already sexually active. In contrast, there is evidence that young people who receive comprehensive sexuality education become sexually active later, and are more likely to use contraceptives when they do. Perhaps this is why 8 in 10 Americans favor comprehensive programs for adolescents over the abstinence-only approach.

Eliminating Prescription Drug Coverage for Contraception: Since 1998, Congress has required health plans participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program that cover prescription drugs to include coverage for prescription contraceptives. In President Bush's first budget request he proposed eliminating this coverage, even after the Office of Personnel Management, which administers the FEHB program, reported that this coverage did not add any cost to the FEHB premiums. Congress did not accept the proposal.

Gagging the CDC: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), defined as "the lead federal agency for protecting health and safety of people at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnership," has recently removed two items from its web site. The first is a fact sheet called "Facts about Condoms and their Use in Preventing HIV Infection," and the second is "Programs that Work," a resource for educators that describes sexuality education curricula that have been effective in reducing risky behavior among adolescents.

Gagging the NIH: On the National Institutes of Health (NIH) web site, information has been removed that discusses findings of the National Cancer Institute that, contrary to popular myth, abortions do not increase the risk of breast cancer. On July 9, 2002 a bipartisan group of congressional representatives wrote to HHS secretary Tommy Thompson asking for an explanation. To date, they have received no reply.

Auditing HHS Grantees: The Department of Heath and Human Services (HHS) appears to be using selective financial audits to harass non-profit grantees that provide comprehensive education on STI and pregnancy prevention, but do not adhere to the Administration's position that the only acceptable means of achieving this goal is to urge abstinence. The HHS inspector general is also investigating at least eight AIDS prevention and awareness programs to see if their content is "too sexually explicit" or "promotes sexual activity."

Nominations and Appointments

W. David Hager, M.D. to head the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Hager, who served on the Physicians Resource Council of Focus on the Family, recently assisted the Christian Medical Association in a "citizen's petition" calling on the FDA to reverse itself on mifepristone (RU 486). He prefers not to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women, endorses the medically inaccurate assertion that the birth control pill is an abortifacient, and advises women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome to seek help from reading the bible and praying. The proposed appointment surfaced October 5, 2002.

Judge Thomas Pickering to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Pickering believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned. As a Mississippi state senator, he voted to call a convention to propose a constitutional amendment to outlaw abortion, and voted against state funding for family planning services. In 1976, as a Mississippi Republican Party official, Pickering chaired the subcommittee of the National Republican Party that approved a plank calling for an amendment to the U.S. constitution to make abortion illegal. The Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the nomination February 14, 2002.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Owen holds strong anti-choice views, leading to her consistent unwillingness to accept the Texas law allowing judicial bypasses of the parental notification requirement for minors seeking abortions. The Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the nomination September 5, 2002.

Michael McConnell to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. McConnell is a self-proclaimed "pro-life leader" who is opposed to Roe v. Wade and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), and supports a constitutional amendment banning legal abortion. Awaiting a committee vote.

Miguel Estrada to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. While Estrada is personally anti-choice, he does not have a paper trail of past judicial opinions or published articles as do other anti-choice judicial nominees. He was appointed to the Solicitor General's office during President George H.W. Bush's tenure, but the Attorney General's office is refusing Judiciary Committee requests to review his memoranda. Awaiting a committee vote.

Carolyn Kuhl to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. As Deputy Solicitor General during the Reagan administration, Kuhl urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. As an attorney in private practice, Kuhl urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the domestic gag rule, which prohibited health care providers at Title X-supported clinics from informing women facing an unintended pregnancy about all of their legal options. No Senate hearing has been held yet.

Former U.S. Representative Tom Coburn (R-OK) to co-chair the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. Coburn is a vocal opponent of family planning (and other reproductive health services) and has said he would "challenge the national focus on condom use for preventing the spread of [HIV]."

Joe McIlhaney to the President's Advisory Board on HIV/AIDS. McIlhaney is the head of the Medical Institute for Sexual Health and has opposed condom use as an effective HIV prevention strategy.

Overruling Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, the White House considered nominating John M. Klink, core strategist and representative for the Vatican at the UN from 1994–2000, to be Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees, and Migration. (May 23, 2001). While serving on the Vatican's delegations to major UN meetings, Klink opposed the distribution and promotion of condoms to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. He argued that parental rights supercede the best interests of the child, even when parents are abusive. He spoke out against reproductive health services for refugee women-arguably the most vulnerable people in the world-even when they are victims of rape. After months of controversy, including revelation of his positions against sexual and reproductive health and rights, Klink withdrew his name in early October. The Administration did go on to appoint him to the U.S. delegations for the UN Special Session on Children and the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Louise Oliver as Director of the Office of Population at the Department of State. Oliver has no professional background on international population issues. She was president of Harvard Law School's Society for Law, Life, and Religion—a group "dedicated to defending religious values and the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death" that promotes "pro-life and religious values in the Harvard community as well as society at large."

Compiled by Ellen Marshall for the International Women's Health Coalition, November 1, 2002.

For more information, contact Ellen Sweet at 212-979-8500 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . This fact sheet is also available online at www.iwhc.org.

Sources

   1. http://www.planetwire.org/wrap/files.fcgi/2282_FY2003.htm
       NOTE: The $480 figure includes $34 million appropriated for UNFPA, but never distributed to that agency.
   2. http://www.planetwire.org/details/2937
   3. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/20010123-5.html
       NOTE: In this statement the President says, "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions Federal law has  prohibited     the use of federal funds to pay for abortions since 1973.
   4. Letter from Julia Bate-Poxon, Economic Officer, U.S. Embassy, Bangkok, Thailand to Jacqueline Desbarats, Chief, Population and Development Section, ESCAP, Bangkok, Thailand - October 16, 2002
   5. http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=ireland20020516 and http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/914/context/archive
   6. Letter from U.S. Department of State to Senator Joseph Biden, February 7, 2002
   7. Letter from U.S. Department of Justice to Senator Joseph Biden, July 26, 2002
   8. http://foreign.senate.gov/press/02/020730.html
   9. ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/cp107/hr593.txt
  10. http://cms.hhs.gov/providerupdate/regs/cms2127f.pdf
  11. http://bingaman.senate.gov/Issues/Health_Care/uninsured_pregnant/test_bingaman/test_bingaman.html
  12. Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer, February 7, 2001 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/20010207.html
  13. http://www.nfprha.org/pac/factsheets/titlex.asp and http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/gr050111.html
  14. http://www.nfprha.org/pac/factsheets/absunlessmarried.asp
  15. Politics vs. Public Health in 2001—Congress, the Bush administration and Reproductive Health Rights, National Family Planning and Reproductive     Health Association, January 2002
  16. http://www.house.gov/waxman/news_files/news_letters_thompson_hhs_websites_10_21_02.pdf
  17. http://www.house.gov/waxman/news_files/news_letters_thompson_hhs_websites_10_21_02.pdf
  18. http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgibin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=aids01&date=20021001&query=HIV and
  19. http://www.house.gov/waxman/news_files/news_letters_thompson_hhs_websites_10_21_02.pdf
  20. http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,361521,00.html and http://health.family.org/articles/A0000004.html and
         http://www.cmdahome.org/?CONTEXT=art&cat=208&art=1589&BISKIT=3576218392
  21. http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=9
  22. http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=21
  23. http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=19
  24. http://www.independentjudiciary.com/news/clip.cfm?NewsClipID=24
  25. http://www.independentjudiciary.com/nominees/nominee.cfm?NomineeID=18
  26. http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20020301a.html
  27. http://www.pacha.gov/staff/members/members.html#m and http://www.medinstitute.org
  28. http://nytimes.com/2001/10/03/international/03NOMI.html
  29. http://www.wya.net/events/wyd2002/forumonthehumanperson.shtml