U.S. Senate Rejects President Bush's Gag Rule

53-43 vote in favor of repealing ban on assistance to international family planning groups

Click here for more information on the Global Gag Rule

July 9, 2003 -- By a vote of 53-43, the U.S. Senate backed a repeal of President Bush's ban on assistance to international family planning groups that fight for the availability of abortion.

The vote supported Sen. Barbara Boxer's amendment, which is attached to a State Department foreign aid bill, to overturn the Global Gag Rule.

The Global Gag Rule is a U.S. policy that denies foreign organizations receiving U.S. family planning assistance the right to use their own, non-U.S. funds to either engage in any abortion-related public policy debates or perform legal abortions. The policy disqualifies foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving U.S. family planning funds if they provide legal abortion services in cases other than a threat to the life of the woman, rape, or incest; if they provide counseling and referral for abortion; or if they lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their own country.

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