Gag Rule

Boston -- There is a touch of pleasure in watching the Bush people gag on their very own gag rule. The rule that was designed to cut off free speech about abortion is now making it harder for the Republicans to clear their throats. Somebody out there better perform a political Heimlich maneuver on the Party.This gag rule was devised to prevent anyone who worked in one of the 4,000 federally funded family-planning clinics from using the ''A'' word. Doctors, nurses and counselors, who were already prohibited from performing abortions with federal money, were now forbidden from speaking about abortion.

Rochester, N.Y. - THEY'RE DOING the gag-rule shuffle, here in this upstate city where the Planned Parenthood chapter is celebrating its 60th birthday. The annual budget for family-planning services usually includes $340,000 of federal Title X money. But the board members and the staff have had to cast around for months now, figuring out where they'll find that money if the federal funds fall through.To receive Title X money, they have to promise not to discuss abortion, not to answer questions or provide referrals.

THERE MAY BE an ominous link between White House efforts to reinterpret the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and President Bush's veto of the so-called "gag rule" bill for doctors practicing in federally financed clinics. Congress first authorized such clinics in 1970, though it specifically banned use of federal funds to perform abortions. Nearly two decades later, in 1988, the Reagan adminTomWickeristration issued a new interpretation of the 1970 legislation, ruling that doctors in the clinics could not even discuss abortion with a pregnant woman or refer her to a doctor who could.

After 14 years as president of Planned Parenthood, Faye Wattleton is resigning. That leaves a tremendous void, at a time when Planned Parenthood is under attack by a Supreme Court increasingly hostile to reproductive rights and by the administration's gag rule, which withholds federal money to any clinic that even mentions the "A" word. Yet abortion comprises a small percentage of Planned Parenthood's work: In 1990, 130,000 women got abortions at Planned Parenthood clinics but more than 3 million received prenatal care, birth control and pregnancy testing.

Fred D. Thompson, the former Tennessee senator campaigning for president as a "pro-life" Republican, accepted a lobbying assignment from a family-planning group to persuade the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and five people familiar with the matter. A spokesman for the former senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association show that the group hired Thompson that year.

In a matter of minutes on Friday, President Clinton reversed some of the most significant anti-abortion victories of the past two decades. Too bad he couldn't end, with the stroke of a pen, one of the longest and most acrimonious public debates in the nation's history. But the presence of some 75,000 demonstrators -- many of whom have gathered in Washington each Jan. 22 since 1973 to protest legalized abortion -- proved that the country has not heard the end of the issue.To mark the 20th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, the president signed an executive order reversing the infamous "gag rule" prohibiting any mention of abortion in federally financed family planning clinics.

Don't listen to talk of an NHL players' strike -- particularly any talk that includes a strike date -- Washington Capitals goalie Mike Liut says."We have not decided to strike, and we have not discussed a strike date," said Liut, Capitals player representative.Liut said reports that speculate about a strike after April 5, the last day of the regular season, might have emanated from the owners."They've been leaking information about the talks to the media or somebody," Liut said. "It's obvious they should all fine themselves $250,000 for breaking their own gag rule.

Limits on abortion aid will prompt more abortions, suffering ... The Sun's headline "Bush blocks foreign aid for abortion" (Jan. 23) was so wrong it demands a conspicuous correction. The article itself is correct, but too many people will see only the big headline. As the article explains, "Bush's action blocks federal money from going to organizations that use their own money to perform abortions or to promote or lobby for laws allowing them. Federal law restricts taxpayer money from subsidizing abortions overseas."

Two decades ago, as U.S. representative to the Unite Nations, George Bush understood the family planning obstacles facing women in this country and abroad. Abortion was then illegal in most states, and contraceptives were available to only to women who could afford private physicians. Poor women had to rely on clinics and hospitals that were forbidden to discuss contraceptives. As a result, poor women usually had many children, adding a heavy economic burden to their families. In the international arena, Bush also understood the need for development assistance that included family planning -- otherwise, poor countries would be hard-pressed to keep up with the needs of a burgeoning population, much less attain a measure of self-sufficiency.

Baltimore County isn't cutting support for public schools The local media have reported that my administration seeks to reduce the Baltimore County Board of Education's fiscal 2002 budget by up to $20 million to stay within spending affordability guidelines - guidelines we must follow to protect the county's financial integrity ("Executive's budget pledge faces test," March 1). I want to make it absolutely clear that a reduction in the board's proposed budget for fiscal 2002 does not mean a cut in school funding.