White House Praised for Talking the Talk, Walking the Walk on Pro-Life Front
by Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
January 31, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Even though he hasn't been able to end abortion during his first five years in office, President Bush is being praised by a prominent conservative policy group for his efforts to bring about a "culture of life" in America. Washington, DC-based Concerned Women for America has kept close tabs on the nation's 43rd chief executive since the self-described "pro-life president" took office on January 20, 2001. Having done that, CWA states unequivocally "there is no doubt that this administration is striving to be, and to be perceived as, pro-life." However, according to recently appointed CWA president Wendy Wright, much of Bush's pro-life efforts have gone unnoticed.
Wendy Wright | |
"One of his first acts in office," Wright points out, "was to sign an executive order [stipulating] that our tax dollars cannot go to international organizations that commit or promote abortion." That order, which came two days after the president's first inauguration, was an extension of what is known as the "Mexico City Policy" -- a policy that had been revoked by his predecessor, Bill Clinton. Wright also notes that Bush has stifled funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a group that supports abortion as a method of population control in such nations as Communist China. "President Bush has not allowed our tax dollars to go to that organization -- even though Congress has allocated money to go [to the UNFPA]," says the CWA president.
And while that decision has provoked "ferocious opposition," says CWA, the Bush administration "has held firm while actively encouraging both China and UNFPA to end coercive population control practices."
Wright also praises the president for signing into law legislation that recognizes the sanctity of life among those still in the womb -- and those who have just entered the world. "He signed into law the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban [Act], which is still being tied up in the courts," she says, "and the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act [holding] that babies who are born alive must be treated the same as you and I with the same respect for dignity of their life."
Wright says the Bush administration has sent stronger pro-life messages than previous administrations. A report issued by her organization lists 16 areas in which it feels the president's tenure in office shows "significant gains" for the pro-life issue. Included in those issue areas are physician-assisted suicide, or "euthanasia"; abstinence education; RU-486 and the "morning-after" pill; stem-cell experimentation; bioethics; and adoption.
