Bush Bans Aid to Abortion Support Groups Overseas

President Bush, on his first Monday in office, blocked government grants to international family planning groups that pay for abortions or abortion counseling with their own money.

Bush’s decision, one of the first of his administration, reversed eight years of Clinton administration policy, turning the clock back to a policy established by President Reagan. It also overshadowed the new president’s plan to focus his administration immediately on education reform.

In an executive order, Bush declared that “taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad.” However, the federal government has not directly used its funds to pay for abortions overseas since 1973.

The day’s events offered Bush a lesson on the extent and limit of presidential power. It also reminded Republicans in Congress, who fought with President Clinton annually over the abortion policy, of just how much new leverage they wield.

“That’s when it really sinks in that it’s a whole new world,” said Michele Davis, spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). “We fought for half a loaf with Clinton and now it’s done with the stroke of a pen.”

But other Republicans showed that leading Congress can be like riding a tiger, because it is an institution with many competing agendas.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced his latest version of campaign finance reform, a proposal that Bush opposes. “The American people have chosen the president of the United States,” McCain said. “But I also have a mandate.”

The day lurched from taxes to education vouchers, from abortion to campaign finance. It also began early. Beating the sunrise by two minutes, Bush, whose father’s administration was criticized for getting off to a slow start, arrived at the Oval Office at 7:20 a.m. and embarked on a full schedule:

He lectured his staff on ethics, a conventional first step, but also one that suggested an effort to set a tone distinguishing his administration from the Clinton presidency. His chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., already had told staff members--if any in their dark business suits and proper dresses needed a dress-code warning--that blue jeans would not be acceptable.

Bush signaled, as often has happened with new presidents, a focus on hemispheric relations by announcing that his first trip out of the country will be to Mexico. He will meet President Vicente Fox at Fox’s ranch in San Cristobal, Mexico, on Feb. 16.

He reached out to Republican allies and Democratic Party elders. He brought House and Senate Republican leaders to a lunch of club sandwiches in the Cabinet Room and then met with several retired senators and senior aides and advisors of the Carter administration at midafternoon.

And after business hours, he brought in House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) for an informal evening visit.

New President Meets With Educators

At the start of a week that his aides said would focus the public spotlight on education, the president also met 20 educators, most of them experts on reading.

But it was the abortion decision that captured attention.

The federal budget provides $425 million in the current fiscal year to foreign family planning organizations. If their work includes the abortion services, they will be prohibited from receiving any money.

As a result, said Steven Biel, communications associate of Population Action International, a nonprofit group that wants to expand access to family planning in developing countries, the organizations will have a choice: lose their U.S. government funding or turn away women seeking information about abortions.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that Bush would maintain the $425-million funding level because “one of the best ways to prevent abortion is by providing quality voluntary family planning services.”

He also said that Bush does not want to restrict organizations from treating injuries caused by abortions, whether legal or illegal.

The ruling, which applies to small groups as well as such large organizations as the International Planned Parenthood Federation, would not have a direct effect on any domestic family planning groups.

At his first White House briefing for reporters, Fleischer repeatedly defended the administration’s fledgling policies.

On education, one day after Bush Education Secretary Rod Paige suggested some wiggle room in the president’s support for vouchers, or federal help for parents sending children to private schools, Fleischer said of the president: “He will fight for that provision. He thinks it is important.”

He sought to minimize differences with McCain over campaign finance reform. He defended the decision by Lynne Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, to retain her positions on two corporate boards.

But it was abortion that monopolized his briefing.

Taxpayer dollars have been blocked since 1973 for use by overseas groups to pay for abortions. However, during the Clinton administration, groups receiving U.S. support could use other funds to pay for abortion activities. Now, they will have to turn down all U.S. government aid, no matter how it was being used, if they wish to pay for abortions, abortion lobbying or abortion counseling.

Asked why Bush made the decision on his first day at work, Fleischer said: “Because it’s something the president believes in.”

He argued that “it gets us off on a foot that is bipartisan” because, he said, “most Americans do not support the use of taxpayer money for these purposes.”

However, Biel, a spokesman for Population Action International, called such an argument “a red herring” because the United States had not supported overseas abortions since 1973 and said that it is family planning activities that will suffer.

The announcement coincided with the annual march in Washington of thousands of anti-abortion activists marking the 28th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed women the right to seek abortions in the United States.

Bush declined to attend their rally at the Washington Monument but told them in a written statement read by Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) that the promises of the Declaration of Independence apply to all, “including unborn children.”

They roared approval when told of Bush’s order. Some in the crowd shouted: “We love you, George.”

With Bill Clinton gone and Bush in office, said Rita Koffler, 46, a grocery story cashier from Smock, Pa., who has taken part in six previous abortion marches in Washington, “now we have a spring in our step. There is someone who is listening to us up there.”

But the president’s first workday as chief executive was not that easy.

Bush had not met Republican congressional leaders at lunch when McCain, his nemesis in the presidential primary, formally launched campaign finance reform legislation that Bush has said he opposes. McCain introduced legislation to ban “soft money”--unregulated large contributions to political parties by corporations, labor unions and individuals--and impose other new limits on campaign contributions.

McCain insisted that the issue be among the Senate’s first business. Although McCain said he was not challenging Bush and his agenda, he made plain that he considers himself a competing power center with a broad following.

He has been invited to meet with Bush on Wednesday night.

Two hours later, a fellow Texas Republican, Sen. Phil Gramm, formally introduced a $1.3-trillion tax cut plan that mirrors Bush’s campaign proposal--without waiting for the new president to work out the fine points.

Ignoring Bush’s effort to focus this week on education, Gramm said that he did not want to wait to begin what he called a “crusade to see this tax cut in its totality adopted.”

He said that he is not worried about muddling Bush’s message of the week or getting ahead of him on the tax issue. “I’m in the Senate, he’s in the White House,” Gramm said.

Bush Gives Advice to Staff Members

Bush began the day by telling his staff to “always remember three things:” to conduct themselves ethically, to show humility, and to make progress on his agenda.

“I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries that define legal and ethical conduct,” he said. “No one in the White House should be afraid to confront the people they work for, for ethical concerns and no one should hesitate to confront me as well.”

Cheney, who swore in the group in the East Room, was blunt:

“It’s very important to remember that in the final analysis, only one man put his name on the ballot and got elected president of the United States, and we’re all here to serve him because, of course, he’ll be held accountable for your performance. [It is] very important to remember that.”

Cheney, who was the White House chief of staff during Gerald R. Ford’s presidency, also made it clear that he did not want to hear any complaints about the work.

“Everybody talks about what a tremendous burden it is, but we didn’t have to draft anybody here. We’re all here as volunteers,” he said.

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Times staff writers Kathleen Howe and Alissa Rubin contributed to this story.