We, the undersigned organizations, are writing to set the record straight. Your spokesperson, Ari Fleischer, said your goal was to make abortion more rare. The Helms amendment to the Foreign Operations appropriations bill, renewed annually since 1973, explicitly forbids such activities. To the contrary, the record shows that the last time this policy was in effect, there was no reduction in the number of abortions, only reduced access to quality health-care services, more unintended pregnancies, and more abortions the exact opposite of your stated goal. Your Administration has claimed bipartisan, broad support for your policy from both the American public and Congress.
Evidence indicates otherwise.
In poll after poll, the American people across party and ideological lines overwhelmingly endorse international family-planning services. Furthermore, the real bipartisan congressional consensus exists around making family-planning services more widely available and more accessible, not undermining them. Either choice hurts the poorest women in the world. However, we respectfully request that you and your staff accurately and honestly depict current law and the nature of family-planning programs to the media, the American public, and women abroad.