Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton (1993-2001):

Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

President Clinton was adamantly pro-choice.  Indeed, on the 4th day of his presidency, Mr. Clinton signed a series of executive orders reversing the anti-abortion policies of the Reagan-Bush era.   Among the actions President Clinton took during his tenure in office were:

He vetoed the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban” Act, which would have prohibited that particular form of abortion (known as an Intact D&X to the pro-choice movement) unless the mother’s life was in danger.  Clinton noted that he would have signed the bill if it contained an exception to protect the woman’s “health,” but anti-abortion legislators would not add that exception because they felt it would have create a loophole that would have allowed most abortions;

He allowed abortions to be performed on U.S. military bases overseas, another reversal of Reagan and Bush policy;

He signed into law the “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances” Act (FACE) which prohibited three things: (1) the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person who is obtaining reproductive health services or providing reproductive health services, (2) the use of physical force, threat of physical force, or physical obstruction to intentionally injure, intimidate, interfere with or attempt to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person who is exercising or trying to exercise their First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of worship, and (3) the intentional damage or destruction of a reproductive health care facility or a place of worship.  Anti-abortion groups expressed concern that the law would limit their First Amendment rights based on political beliefs and that praying, “sidewalk counseling,” and picketing would be prohibited;

He reversed the 1984 “Mexico City Policy” which required that U.S. assistance for overseas birth control programs be provided only to organizations that did not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.” According to the Boston Globe (Jan. 20, 1993), Bill Clinton complained that the anti-abortion “Mexico City policy” established by President Reagan “had severely limited international family planning and population control.” Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee, said that “Clinton’s actions means that U.S. tax dollars will be used to pressure African and other Third World governments to accept abortion as a method of birth control, although abortion violates the legal, cultural, and religious values of most less-developed nations;”

He supported the use of RU 486, otherwise known as “The Abortion Pill;”

He signed into law the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act of 1993 which authorized, for the first time in U.S. history, government funded research using tissue from aborted fetuses.

VIDEO:  Clinton confronts an anti-abortion protestor:

In Clinton’s Own Words:
“Everyone knows life begins biologically at conception. No one knows when biology turns into humanity. Most abortions that don’t involve the life or health of the mother are chosen by scared young women and girls who don’t know what else to do. It’s hard to apply the criminal law to acts that a substantial portion of the citizenry doesn’t believe should be labeled crimes, (as with Prohibition). I thought then [in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision] and still believe that the Court reached the right conclusion.”    Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.229, June 21, 2004

“Americans believe deeply in the need to keep government out of private, personal matters. That is one reason why I am pro-choice. I believe we should all work to reduce the number of abortions. That is why I have worked to reduce teen pregnancy, remove barriers to cross-racial adoption, and provide tax credits to families willing to adopt. Still, I believe the ultimate choice should remain a matter for a woman to decide in consultation with her conscience, her doctor, and her God”    Source: Between Hope and History, by Bill Clinton
“Abortion should not only be safe and legal, it should be rare.”   Source:  Speech at the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 29, 1996

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