ELECTION 2008 | Obama Likely To Reverse Bush Executive Orders On Family Planning, Stem Cell Research, Advisers Say

Main Category: Sexual Health / STDs
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 11 Nov 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say that a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be reversed under the Obama administration includes bans on funding for international family planning programs and embryonic stem cell research, the Washington Post reports (Connolly/Smith, Washington Post, 11/9).

According to the Wall Street Journal, Obama plans to reverse the "Mexico City" policy, which restricts U.S. international foreign aid to family planning programs abroad that use their own funds to provide abortion services or lobby governments regarding abortion rights (Weisman, Wall Street Journal, 11/10). The order, which first was implemented under President Reagan, was repealed by President Clinton and then re-implemented by Bush in one of his first acts as president (Ohlemacher, AP/Google.com, 11/9). Last week, the Center for Reproductive Rights presented the Obama transition team with a 23-page memorandum calling for "bold policy change," including a repeal of the Mexico City policy (Zeleny, New York Times, 11/10). Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the organization also has been in communication with Obama's transition team and "expect[s] to see a real change."

The Post reports that Obama also has signaled that he intends to repeal Bush's "controversial limit on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, a decision that scientists say has restrained research into some of the most promising avenues for defeating a wide array of diseases" (Washington Post, 11/9). Currently, federal funds for human embryonic stem cell research can be used for embryonic stem cell lines created on or before Aug. 9, 2001, under a policy announced by President Bush on that date. Bush twice has vetoed bills that would have allowed federal funding for research using stem cells derived from human embryos originally created for fertility treatments and willingly donated by patients (Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 10/21). Although abortion-rights opponents have supported the ban, many moderate Republicans back the research, "giving it the stamp of bipartisanship," the AP/Google.com reports (AP/Google.com, 11/9).

Dan Mendelson -- a former associate administrator for health in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget -- said the Obama team is reviewing regulations that Bush imposed for "overtly political" reasons as part of what Democrats consider a partisan Republican agenda. However, Obama spokesperson Stephanie Cutter said that no plans for regulatory changes had been finalized and that before Obama "makes any decision on potential executive or legislative actions, he will be conferring with congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle, as well as interested groups." She added, "Any decisions would need to be discussed with his Cabinet nominees, none of whom have been selected yet" (Washington Post, 11/9).

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