For American women, George W. Bush's inauguration as president could have a profound effect on their ability to control their own reproductive choices. While America is decidedly pro-choice, as demonstrated by the majority vote favoring the pro-choice candidates, Mr. Bush is not.
On his first full day in office, President Bush made it blatantly apparent that he does not trust women to make their own choices where their reproductive health is concerned. He reinstated the Reagan-era Mexico City policy, (also known as the "Global Gag Rule") denying U.S. funding to any foreign non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services, counseling or referrals.
The stated purpose of this policy is to prevent the use of taxpayer funds to perform or "promote" abortions overseas. But this is not the case. Current law has prohibited the use of U.S. funds for these purposes since 1973. This new policy goes further and controls what foreign recipients of U.S. international family planning assistance do and say with their own funds.
While this act is Mr. Bush's first step toward establishing his anti-choice record as president, his anti-choice predilection as governor of Texas is already well known. He signed 18 state anti-abortion measures into law, furthering the inaccessibility of abortion that already exists in Texas.
His most recent blow to Texas women was the 1999 law requiring unemancipated minors to notify their parents at least 48 hours before obtaining an abortion. Unfortunately, the evidence indicates that the imposition of waiting periods has the undesired consequence of pushing abortion from early to later term. (The Maryland legislature will be deciding similar legislation during this session.)
This law is frightening, but it is minor when it comes to the bigger picture. President Bush does not want to stop at making women jump through hoops to obtain an abortion. He wants to prevent them from getting one altogether.
With Mr. Bush in office, American women face a real risk of losing the protection afforded by Roe vs. Wade.
Should a Supreme Court justice retire, for example, Mr. Bush will be in the position of appointing a successor. He has stated that he would appoint a "strict constructionist" (read "anti-choice") judge to the bench, someone with the same narrow mind-set as Justice Antonin Scalia, the most overtly anti-choice justice. With the appointment of a conservative justice, the next abortion case could ultimately snap the fragile supports that are holding up a woman's right to choose.
