A Times Editorial

Adding to the misery

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 20, 2001

International family planning supporters feared their victory would be brief earlier this month when a House committee voted to overturn President Bush's executive order banning U.S. aid to groups that discuss abortion abroad. It was. On Wednesday, the full House voted, 218-210, to restore the ban.

The ban may satisfy anti-abortion ideologues, but it will only add to the misery in some of the world's overpopulated and impoverished countries. In many places, family planning groups offer the area's only health care.

The results will be more children born to mothers who are HIV positive, more poor women unable to limit the size of their families or feed their children and more infanticide in countries such as India and China where girl children are not prized. These are the real effects of the Bush policy, which has now been upheld by the House.

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