Australia Alone Restricts Abortion Aid

With Mexico City Policy Gone, Australia Alone Restricts Abortion Aid

President Obama's decision to rescind the "Mexico City Policy" – which denies aid funds to non-governmental organizations that promote or perform abortions – is providing new impetus for activists in Australia who want their government to remove similar regulations in place there.

The U.S. policy shift will reportedly leave Australia alone among donor nations to implement abortion-related restrictions on overseas development aid.

The 13-year-old policy is a holdover from the administration of conservative former prime minister John Howard, but his Labor successor, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, has not rushed to repeal it. Rudd has been in office since December 2007.

Pro-life advocates, including some in his Labor Party, want the restrictions to remain. Among federal lawmakers, opposition to and support for the policy crosses party political lines.

Under the policy, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) funds may not be used for "abortion training or services, or research, trials or activities which directly involve abortion drugs" in developing countries.

"Information that promotes abortion as a method of family planning or provides instructions on abortion procedures is not eligible for Australian aid funding," the AusAID family planning guidelines say.

Australian-funded agencies may provide family planning services, including contraception.

They may also provide treatment, support and counseling to women suffering from complications arising from an "unsafe" abortion.

Supporters of the funding ban argue that the campaign to lift it is an ideological one being driven by reproductive rights groups, and note that countries in the Asia-Pacific region have not themselves been requesting such funding. (At a Senate hearing on government expenditure last year, officials conceded that they were not aware of any requests from aid recipient governments for abortion-related funding.)

Opponents say the ban harms women in poor countries. In Papua New Guinea, for instance, a health clinic receiving AusAID funding may not give an inquiring pregnant woman information about how to access a "safe" abortion, even though abortion is legal in that country.

The clinic may only help the woman if she has already been injured while procuring an "unsafe" abortion.

A cross-party parliamentary panel in a mid-2007 report said the policy was cruel and illogical and had the effect of encouraging "unsafe" abortions, which it said were responsible for 13 percent of all maternal deaths globally.

Rather than promote improved maternal health, the panel's then chairman said, the policy increased the likelihood that more women would die.

The counter argument has been spelled out by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL): "Surely the solution [to women dying in childbirth in poor countries] is to fund maternal health programs to help women experience a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery?" it says on a campaign Web site. "Rather than provide abortions, we need to improve developing nations' health systems so mothers and babies can be offered appropriate medical treatment."

The restrictions could be amended on the instructions of Australia's foreign minister, without any changes in legislation required.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has been considering the matter and seeking the views of Labor lawmakers, according to his office.

But activists want action now, buoyed by Obama's move to rescind the Mexico City Policy. The policy, which critics call the Global Gag rule, was introduced by President Reagan in 1984, rescinded by President Clinton in 1993, and reinstated by President Bush in 2001.

"AusAID's family planning guidelines mimic the Global Gag [rule]," said Jane Singleton, CEO of the Australian Reproductive Health Alliance (ARHA). With Obama now having signed an executive order rescinding the policy, "Australia is now the only country in the world to limit overseas aid funds in this way."

Saying the policy was in conflict with Australia's commitment to U.N. protocols and action programs, the ARHA urged the government to throw it out, noting that Smith had the administrative power to do so.

"This is not about providing abortions in countries where it is illegal but providing full access to family planning and education about unsafe abortion and where abortion is legal, to safe abortion," Singleton said.

The alliance also pointed out that family planning funding in the Australian aid budget had dropped from 0.4 percent of the total aid to 0.07 percent of the total between 1995 and 2007.

The ACL sees other priorities for Australian development aid.

"Australia's aid program should continue its current focus on helping to improve the lives of people in poor countries by improving access to clean water, nutritious food, healthcare, housing and a clean environment," it said.

"The limited funds available for aid should not be used to destroy unborn children but to provide better care for them and their mothers."

Contact: Patrick Goodenough
Source: CNSNews.com
Source URL: http://www.cnsnews.com
Publish Date: January 27, 2009
Link to this article:
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