U.S. House considers shipping contraceptives abroad
06 Jun 2007 19:22:10 GMT Source: Reuters
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - Family planning groups outside of the United States would be allowed to receive contraceptives from the U.S. government under a Democratic plan moving through the U.S. House of Representatives that could prompt a veto by President George W. Bush. Next week, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to debate the measure, which is attached to a bill funding diplomatic and foreign aid projects in the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. Democrats, who gained control of Congress this year after mid-term elections, aim to loosen restrictions that deny aid to groups abroad that provide family planning services including advice on abortions, although they are not trying to lift a ban on abortion funding itself. If passed by the House and Senate, the provision could provoke a veto by President George W. Bush, warned Rep. Dave Weldon, a Florida Republican. The Bush administration instead has advocated education programs on abstinence until marriage. On Tuesday, a House appropriations subcommittee approved the language allowing the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide subsidized contraceptives to organizations abroad that have been denied assistance because of their involvement in abortions. Rep. Nita Lowey, the New York Democrat who chairs the foreign operations subcommittee, said that providing the contraceptives would help lower the number of abortions while also cutting cases of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. "It does not amend other provisions prohibiting abortions," Lowey emphasized. Ellen Marshall, a consultant in Colorado for the International Women's Health Coalition, said the change would give family planning groups abroad better access to less expensive contraceptives purchased by the U.S. Agency for International Development at bulk rates. Calling it a "pretty basic health program," Marshall said greater availability of contraceptives in poor countries with high birth rates would help "create some spacing between births so women's bodies can recover" from previous pregnancies and breast-feeding.
