House Panel Rejects Bush Abortion Policy

More than three months after President Bush cut off U.S. funding for international family planning groups that perform or promote abortions, a House committee voted Wednesday to reverse that policy, intensifying a political controversy the administration had hoped would subside.

The 26-22 vote in the House International Relations Committee kept alive an issue that abortion foes considered settled after Bush issued an executive order rolling back a Clinton-era policy.

Opponents of the Bush policy concede they face an uphill fight persuading the full House floor to overturn the president. But they promise an intense effort that will spotlight Bush’s opposition to abortion rights--a position that hurts him among many swing voters.

“We’re working very hard on members of Congress,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), sponsor of the amendment approved by the committee. “Public opinion is on our side. We’re going to fight.”

Last year, on a 221-206 vote, the House approved restricting funding for foreign groups that use their own money for abortions, abortion counseling or abortion-related lobbying.

President Clinton negotiated a halt to that House action during year-end budget negotiations.

But Bush issued the executive order blocking the aid on Jan. 22, his first working day in office.

On Wednesday, Lee argued that the effect of the funding ban was to hurt global family-planning efforts at a time when sexually transmitted diseases and high population growth are critical problems in impoverished countries. Last year, Congress appropriated $425 million in U.S. aid for international family planning.

Lee’s amendment to overturn Bush’s order was attached to a bill that also would reduce the U.S. share of dues paid to the United Nations. Three Republicans--Reps. James A. Leach of Iowa and Benjamin A. Gilman and Amo Houghton of New York--joined 23 Democrats in support of the amendment.

The committee rebuked Bush on another front as well. On a 23-20 vote, the panel urged the administration to continue with international negotiations to implement a global warming treaty aiming to curb pollution. In March, Bush announced his opposition to the treaty and said he would not submit it to the Senate for ratification.

Also, the committee adopted by voice vote a measure to require the president to consult with Taiwan and Congress at least once a year on the island’s military needs. Bush said last week that the administration intended to consider arms sales to Taiwan on an “as-needed basis.”

On the family-planning issue, Republicans who back the Bush policy denounced the committee action.

Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), a leading abortion opponent, said: “[The policy] is designed to . . . ensure that we do not fund the killing of unborn babies, either directly or indirectly.”

Since 1973, U.S. law has prohibited the use of federal funds to pay directly for abortions in foreign countries. But abortion foes say the further restrictions are needed to ensure that family planning groups do not skirt that law by using U.S. subsidies to help fund abortions indirectly.

Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, acknowledged that abortion-rights advocates are usually in the minority in the House. “Do we have enough on this to win, to have a majority? I don’t know.”