"For the past eight years, [the restrictions] have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries," Obama said in the statement, issued on his third full day in office.
The move was both cheered and jeered by various congressmen.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) thought that handing out money to abortion promoters and providers "will help save lives and empower the poorest women and families to improve their quality of life and their future."
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) chimed in with, "Today’s announcement is a very powerful signal to our neighbors around the world that the United States is once again back in the business of good public policy and ideology no longer blunts our ability to save lives around the globe.”
"Coming just one day after the 36th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision, this presidential directive forces taxpayers to subsidize abortions overseas — something no American should be required by government to do," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) called the move, "morally wrong.”
"President Obama not long ago told the American people that he would support policies to reduce abortions, but today he is effectively guaranteeing more abortions by funding groups that promote abortion as a method of population control," said Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, pointed out: "Both sides of the abortion debate, from Planned Parenthood to Family Research Council, agree on a simple economic point: when you subsidize abortion, abortions will increase. Thanks to his actions today, U.S. taxpayers will be forced to take part in exporting a culture of death.”
Next on the list will more than likely be the reinstatement of monies to help fund the United Nations Population Fund, an agency that is accused of turning a blind eye to China’s forced sterilization and one-child policies.
