NPR Examines Obama's Progress On Addressing Contentious Abortion-Rights Issues

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 04 May 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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NPR's "All Things Considered" on Thursday examined President Obama's efforts in his first 100 days in office to keep his campaign pledge to bridge differences between abortion-rights supporters and opponents. Obama reiterated this goal in his press conference Tuesday evening, when he said that the "most important thing" that will ease "some of the anger surrounding this issue is to focus on those areas that we can agree on."

According to "All Things Considered," despite Obama's objective, he "has managed to … irritate both sides in the debate" in his first months in office. One example of this was reaction to his executive order to ease restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, a move that initially pleased scientists, "All Things Considered" reports. However, many scientists were disappointed that the subsequent NIH guidelines limited the research to unused fertility clinic embryos donated by patients, which they say would rule out many promising avenues of study. Meanwhile, the limits "did nothing to please" abortion-rights opponents, who have long opposed the research.

A major hurdle to Obama's efforts to find "middle ground" in the abortion debate is the fact that he has long supported abortion rights and aligned himself with that side of the debate, "All Things Considered" reports. Although Obama has "tried to temper some of his actions as president," he voted in favor of abortion rights as a member of the Illinois Senate and as a U.S. senator, and he has fulfilled several campaign pledges favored by abortion-rights advocacy groups. In one of his first acts in office, Obama repealed the "global gag rule," or "Mexico City" policy -- which had barred federal funding to groups that offer abortion services or information using their own funds -- a move that brought criticism from antiabortion-rights groups despite Obama's effort to "ease the blow" by not issuing the executive order on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, "All Things Considered" reports. In addition, the Obama administration began the process of rescinding the HHS provider "conscience" rule that was put in place under former President George W. Bush. Instead of "simply rescinding" the rule, the Obama administration opened the debate to a 30-day public comment period, "All Things Considered" reports.

John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, said that Obama's attempts to find common ground could be futile, adding, "It may just be that the divisions over the reproductive and life issues are so deep-seated and so connected to political organizations that it's very, very difficult to change the nature of the debate in the short run." Green added, "It's going to be difficult for the president to de-emphasize the issue and to defuse the debate, because it's going to come up. And he will be forced to confront it and ultimately be forced to take sides."

Abortion rights likely will be an issue in the discussion on health care reform, a top priority for Obama, according to "All Things Considered." Abortion-rights supporters say that ensuring access to reproductive health care is an essential component of improving the health care system. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, "I think the big picture here is how do we make sure that all women and families, regardless of their income, can get access to the full range of health care options, and I think health care reform is going to provide a platform for doing that." Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the antiabortion-rights National Right to Life Committee, said, "We think that any [health care reform] legislation that goes through Congress has to explicitly exclude abortion" (Rovner "All Things Considered," NPR, 4/30).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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