Not MY President

THANK. GOD.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090124/pl_afp/uspoliticshealthabortion

President Barack Obama has overturned what he described as an "unwarranted" eight-year ban on US government funding for family-planning groups which carry out or facilitate abortions overseas.

Shortly after he signed an executive order canceling the restrictions, on the third full day of his presidency, Obama said in a statement the ban had "undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries," and that the issue had become too politicized.

The so-called "global gag rule" cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counseling, referrals or post-abortion services.

Women in developing countries, where access to contraception is poor, often turn to abortion as a means of birth control, a World Bank report has said.

Tod Preston, vice president of PAI, said lifting the gag rule was "an important step to save women's lives around the world.

Isn't THIS the issue then? Why don't America fund some contraception to prevent this instead? Abortion was never meant to be a means of birth control. I cannot even begin to explain how incredibly thankful I am that I don't live in America, where my taxes would be going towards funding abortions as a form of birth control overseas. Disgusting.

Anti-abortion groups were up in arms and vowed to fight the move.

"We were prepared for this and we will work very hard in Congress to see what we can do to get this overturned," Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, told AFP.

"I think it's a horrible tactic to take toward third world countries if the best we can do for them is provide organizations with the money needed to perform abortions on their children," she said.