Bush signs anti-abortion memorandum

By Karen Albrecht and Michael
Falcone
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Twenty-eight years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v.
Wade decision, President George W. Bush signed a memorandum Monday
cutting off aid to international family planning groups that
provide support for abortions.

The law, which marked Bush’s first major policy action,
was first instituted under former President Reagan, but repealed at
the beginning of Clinton’s first term.

“The promises of our Declaration of Independence are not
just for the strong, the independent or the healthy. They are for
everyone, including unborn children,” Bush said in a
statement directed at anti-abortion marchers in Washington.

The landmark Roe v. Wade ruling declared a Texas law prohibiting
abortion unconstitutional. Abortion laws in 46 states were
invalidated by this decision in 1973.

Monday’s executive memorandum will not affect domestic
health clinics like UCLA’s Arthur Ashe Student Health and
Wellness Center, which provides referrals to both private
practitioners and doctors at the Medical Center who will perform
abortions for women seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

Ann Brooks, a Nurse and Manager of Women’s Health who has
worked at the Ashe Center for 20 of the 28 years since the Roe v.
Wade decision, said trends in the number of students who seek
abortions has remained steady.

During the course of a normal week, the Ashe Center gives out
about three referrals to women who want an abortion, according to
Brooks.

The Feminist Majority Leadership Association, a new UCLA student
organization founded last quarter by fourth-year design and
women’s studies student April Beebe, focuses on promoting the
public awareness of gender issues, and is concerned by President
Bush’s decision.

The memorandum was “disappointing but not
surprising” Beebe said. “The arrogance of the U.S.
government to impose a minority will on other countries pisses me
off,” she said.

Members of the newly formed FMLA assembled a banner supporting
reproductive rights for women in Meyerhoff Park Monday.

Signatures of abortion rights supporters covered the bottom half
of the banner, stating they “oppose the passage of
anti-choice legislation that would in any way impede upon a
woman’s constitutionally-protected right to
choose.”

“Although the banner is full, this represents only a small
fraction of the people on campus who are pro-choice,” said
Christie Scott, fifth-year women’s studies and American
literature and culture student.

“Our organization is worried that Bush appointments to the
Supreme Court may tip the balance toward a less liberal agenda
intolerant of abortion,” said Cynthia Romero, a third-year
political science student and group member.

During his campaign for the presidency, Bush said he would
appoint justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas,
both of whom are opposed to abortion.

But even John Ashcroft, Bush’s controversial nominee for
attorney general, defended the president’s position on
abortion.

“I don’t think it is the agenda of (Bush) to seek to
overturn (Roe v. Wade),” Ashcroft said last week at a Senate
Judiciary Committee hearing.

Beebe, however, is not supportive of Bush’s choice of
Ashcroft.

“Ashcroft lost to a dead man,” Beebe said.
“The people obviously do not want him in office. It was wrong
of Bush to appoint him as Attorney General.”

In addition, Bush’s conservative FDA appointee is
reconsidering the safety of the abortion pill, RU-486, Beebe
said.

Nevertheless, Beebe said FMLA will work toward protecting a
woman’s right to choose.

“We are not going to remain silent while lawmakers
infringe on our rights,” she said. “We need to make the
public aware of what is happening.”