Bush to Cement His Stand on Abortion Funds

President Bush will issue a new order imposing abortion restrictions on U.S. foreign aid, hoping to scuttle a bid by Democrats to overturn one of his first acts as president, administration officials said Friday.

Advisors said the new presidential memorandum will mirror the action Bush took Jan. 22, his third day in office, but will use a different legal avenue to protect it from congressional intervention.

“The president has determined the most effective way to have his Mexico City policy carried out is through the issuance of a presidential memorandum, as opposed to rule-making at a government agency,” White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said in a telephone interview.

“It gets the same thing done,” Fleischer said. “The substance is exactly the same.”

Reinstating the Mexico City policy restrictions that his father and President Reagan had instituted before him, Bush acted in January to impose rules reversing the Clinton administration’s position on unrestricted family-planning aid overseas. The Mexico City policy is so named because it was announced by Reagan at a 1984 population conference there.

Leading the drive to overturn Bush’s policy, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said she will try to fight his latest move.

“No matter how he executes his policy, it doesn’t change the fact that the denying of family-planning assistance will lead to an increase in the number of deaths due to unsafe abortions,” Boxer said Friday night.

Bush barred U.S. money to international groups that use their own money to support abortion--either through performing surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy.

Five Senate Republicans and two Democrats introduced legislation Tuesday to overturn Bush’s action, using a 1996 law that permits the House and Senate to pass legislation rejecting regulations issued by federal departments and agencies.

Republicans this month used the same law to overturn Clinton administration rules aimed at protecting workers against workplace injuries.

Bush intends to issue a presidential memorandum to implement his policy without using the rule-making process exposed to the 1996 law, said an administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The White House released a letter from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s procurement director to the agency’s acting general counsel, spelling out Bush’s plans to and his decision to cancel his initial order and issue the memorandum.

When Bush issued his initial order, he told the USAID: “It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad.”

It was his first workday in the White House and the 28th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Abortion-rights supporters condemned Bush’s action in January, calling it an act of war on women’s reproductive rights.

Current law bans the use of U.S. funds for any abortions in foreign countries.

Former Presidents Reagan and Bush further banned U.S. aid to international groups that use their own money to support abortion--either through performing the surgery, counseling on abortion as a family-planning option, or lobbying foreign governments on abortion policy.