Obama Administration Lifts Bush Global Gag Rule on Abortion

Interview with Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro Choice, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

After just over a month in office, President Barack Obama has taken steps to reverse two policies put in place by the Bush administration that limited women's access to reproductive health care, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Not long after his January 20 inauguration, Obama reversed the Mexico City rule, also known as the Global Gag Rule, which prevented health providers who received federal funds from discussing with their patients the possibility of abortion as an option. The president also indicated he will start the process of repealing rules put in place in the last days of the Bush administration by Mike Leavitt, former secretary of health and human services. One of these regulations allows health care workers to decline to provide care to women if such care -- like providing birth control -- violates their own religious or moral principles. In the budget Obama presented to Congress at the end of February, he proposes expanding eligibility under Medicaid rules for family planning services for low-income women.

Between The Lines Melinda Tuhus spoke with Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro Choice, about these early indications of President Obama's clean break with Bush administration policies on women's reproductive health over the past eight years.

Contact NARAL Pro Choice by calling (202) 973-3032 or visit NARAL's website at www.prochoiceamerica.org

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"Between The Lines" is a half-hour syndicated radio news magazine that each week features a summary of under-reported news stories and interviews with activists and journalists who offer progressive perspectives on international, national and regional political, economic and social issues. Because "Between The Lines" is independent of all publications, media networks or political parties, we are able to bring a diversity of voices to the airwaves generally ignored or marginalized by the major media. For more information on this week's topics and to check out our text archive listing topics and guests presented in previous programs visit: www.btlonline.org
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