Exporting Death

What's the number one U.S. export to Third World countries? If the Clinton administration has its way, the main export won't be wheat or tractors. It will be abortion. A few weeks ago, the State Department sent cables to all overseas diplomats describing access to abortion as a "fundamental right of all women." The cable said the U.S. would call for stronger language on abortion in a United Nations population program. Developing countries are unhappy about the State Department's move. They see it as outright cultural imperialism—forcing them to accept American-style abortion on demand. Many Third World countries, especially Catholic and Muslim ones, have laws against abortion. They feel the Clinton administration's aggressive promotion of abortion is crowding out much-needed economic and humanitarian aid. Of course, the Clinton administration is trying to sell abortion itself under the label of humanitarian aid. State Department officials say they just want to save women from the dangers of illegal abortion. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America claims that up to half a million women die each year in the developing world from illegal abortions. But these numbers are no more than propaganda ploys. A study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, admits that "information on clandestine abortions is too uncertain" to yield any solid data. And the World Health Organization doesn't even collect data on abortion-related deaths in developing countries. If abortion supporters were honest, they would have to admit that legalizing abortion may not decrease maternal deaths but may actually increase them. At a press conference on Capitol Hill this week, Dr. Margaret Ogola from Kenya said if you travel to remote regions of her country, you find a strange imbalance in medical supplies: Clinics are stacked high with birth control drugs and devices, thanks to aggressive Western population organizations. But when it comes to important, life-saving drugs like penicillin, the cupboards are bare. It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what would happen if a surgical procedure like abortion were introduced into a region that doesn't even have antibiotics. Massive infections and death. Here in America we have a rich heritage of rights and freedoms—a heritage we've been willing to fight for and shed our blood to protect through several wars. Today the Clinton administration is asking us to put access to abortion on the same level as those rights we fought to protect. The State Department wants to elevate abortion to a "fundamental right"—one that we should even export to needy countries. This is a slap in the face to anyone who wore a uniform to defend American rights and freedoms. We didn't face enemy fire to protect people's right to destroy their offspring. We didn't watch our buddies die to make the world safe for abortion. Please call your representatives in Congress and protest this offensive hijacking of the language of rights. Historically America has been an exporter of freedom and morality to the world. You and I must not stand by while it becomes an exporter of death to the world.

04/15/94