Bush Fires Quickly on Abortion

George W. Bush promised in his inaugural speech Saturday, as he had throughout his campaign, to end the bitter partisanship of recent years, but barely 48 hours later his administration was stoking the fiery war over abortion. Bush’s actions can only undermine the well-being of women.

Monday, on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision and as one of the first policy actions of his administration, President Bush issued an order barring U.S. aid to international family planning groups involved in abortion. Federal law has long prohibited the use of U.S. funds for any abortions in foreign countries. Then-Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush went further, banning U.S. aid to international groups that used their own money to perform the surgery or offer counseling on abortion as a family planning option. Then-President Bill Clinton repealed this offensive “gag rule” in 1993, but Congress reimposed it in 1999. In a compromise late last year, the funding was essentially delayed until the new president could decide on it, which Bush lost not a second in doing.

Closer to home, Bush’s choice to run the Health and Human Services Department, outspoken abortion foe Tommy G. Thompson, announced Friday that he will conduct yet another review of the safety of the abortion drug RU-486, which won federal approval in September after more than a decade of political and scientific debate.

“Safety concerns are something that’s in question,” the former Wisconsin governor told a Senate panel at his confirmation hearing. “I don’t know the specifics,” he said. “People have told me there are some safety concerns.”

Those “concerns” flow from anti-abortion groups long outraged that RU-486 promises to make abortion what it should be, a private matter between a woman and her physician. The pill removes the opportunity for intimidation and violent protest outside surgical clinics.

RU-486, or mifepristone, which produces a miscarriage, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use within the first seven weeks of pregnancy. The approval followed 12 years of testing in this country and a long history of safe use in Europe and Asia. Additional scientific review is unwarranted and amounts to a ruse to further limit the drug’s use--for instance, by requiring that only the dwindling number of physicians trained in surgical abortion techniques be authorized to prescribe the drug. Thompson’s promised review makes a mockery of Bush’s statement during the first presidential debate that as president he would not have the power to overturn FDA approval of RU-486. Make the restrictions tight enough and FDA approval becomes almost meaningless.

The American public still overwhelmingly supports a woman’s right to an abortion, particularly early in pregnancy. That Bush has waded so quickly into this deeply partisan debate bodes poorly for the reproductive choices for women here and abroad.