I received an E-mail today from the Population Connection people saying:
Yesterday, we won a major victory in the US Senate. In a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration, the Senate overwhelmingly passed an amendment offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) to overturn the dangerous and hypocritical Global Gag Rule. The strong margin of victory, 53-41, would have been even larger, but because the vote occurred late in the day, several senators were unable to be present. Click here to see how your Senators voted.
The Global Gag Rule, imposed by President Bush on his second day in office, denies US funding to any foreign organization which uses its own money to provide legal abortion, offer counseling or referral for legal abortion, or engage in any political advocacy in support of legal abortion. Supporters of the policy say that it prevents abortions, but they can offer no evidence at all in support of their claim. There is plenty of evidence, however, that the gag rule hurts women and their families by decreasing access to safe and effective family planning services.
The Boxer Amendment is a tremendous step forward, but there is still a long way to go. The House version of the bill contains a much weaker provision, and even that drew a veto threat from the Bush White House. We will be watching closely as the legislation moves ahead, and we will keep you informed of its progress.
One of the major themes in my discussion of the coming Perfect Storm events is the contribution that women’s dis-empowerment makes to the overall problem.
Here, with Bush’s Gag Rule, we’ve had the world’s most powerful nation actively preventing women from knowing about and using some of their best options with respect to control birth. And all of this to serve an ideological viewpoint.
Thank goodness the composition of the Senate has changed so that we can begin to make better more science-informed decisions as a nation again.  Let’s hope the House does as well.