Christian Leftist

…Aaaand we’ve come full-circle.

I knew George W. Bush was going to give me a headache when in January 2001 he used his second day in office to deny African aid organizations U.S. funding if they chose to give women information about abortions. Never mind that the drugs to prevent spreading HIV to one’s unborn child weren’t usually available to women in poorer countries back then; they may not be now. The point was that regardless of the final decision women may have made, the mere action of discussing the option of aborting was enough to economically devastate non-profit aid groups who were giving health care to women who needed more than almost any other group in the world.

Now it appears that Dubya wasn’t done making his point.

Nicholas Kristof reported that USAID, or the United States Agency for International Development, has ordered that six African countries it serves not use any of its money to supply British aid organization Marie Stopes International with any condoms, I.U.D.s, birth control pills or any other contraceptive devices whatsoever.

The Bush Administration has falsely claimed that this action was a response to Marie Stopes Int’l.’s support of the Chinese government’s family-planning policies. Yes, China still madates that couples have only one child, and this law occasionally results in forced abortions, and it’s a horrible way to exert population control, but there is absolutely no evidence of MSI’s involvement or support for such measures. It’s outright dishonesty and misinformation.

GWB taking out the religious right’s issues with Planned Parenthood on some of the most vulnerable and destitute human beings in the world was not a responsible, moral, or ethical move seven years ago. It isn’t a good move now.