First modification: 28/01/2021 – 17:24
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Washington (AFP)
Joe Biden will repeal on Thursday the rule that prohibits the state from financing foreign NGOs that offer abortion services in the United States, the White House announced.
The new president will sign a decree to abolish this norm, which has represented a strong political symbol for decades: established by the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan, it was annulled by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican.
Baptized as “the policy of Mexico City”, the rule prohibits the United States from financing any NGO that even offers advice on abortion, even if it finances that part of its activities with other funds.
Joe Biden will also order the Department of Health “to take immediate action to consider whether it should reverse the regulations” that deal with family planning centers in the United States.
The Donald Trump administration prohibited organizations that provided gynecological services from proposing abortions to their patients, on pain of losing their grants.
The powerful Planned Parenthood, which runs numerous clinics that practice voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) but also breast cancer screening, for example, has since had to forgo federal funding.
Abortion has been legal in the United States since a landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 1973, but it still greatly divides the American population, facing still very strong opposition, especially among religious sectors.
As every year, when the anniversary date of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that assured women the right to abortion, opponents of the termination of pregnancy expected to be heard on Friday.
But, forced by the pandemic, their “march” will be virtual, contrary to last year, in which Donald Trump participated.
His successor, Joe Biden, is a fervent Catholic, but he supports the right of women to choose whether to continue their pregnancy.
His announcements are “extremely important first steps in the right direction, but the administration must go further,” said Herminia Palacio, president of the Guttmacher Institute, which defends this right.
Also in the field of health, Biden must also sign a decree on Thursday that will facilitate access for Americans who do not have health coverage offered by their employer to the federal insurance created by Barack Obama.
© 2021 AFP
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