Fact Sheet V
Promoting Reproductive Health Services for Women
"Certain choices are too personal for politics." President Clinton and Vice President GoreThe President is committed to ensuring that all women have access to reproductive health and family planning services, that all women are able to determine the number and spacing of their children, and that abortion is safe, legal and rare.Reversed the Gag Rule
During his first week in office, President Clinton reversed the previous administration's attempts to prevent federally funded family planning clinics from providing full information on options for resolving unintended pregnancies. A notice of proposed rule making for permanent reversal has been issued.Supports Reproductive Health and Family Planning
Under President Clinton, the annual budget for the Title X Family Planning Program has increased from $173.4 million to $193.3 million. This program is the primary federal mechanism for direct provision of reproductive health and family planning services to low-income women. It is estimated that subsidized family planning services, such as those provided through Title X, prevent more than 1 million unintended pregnancies and 500,000 abortions each year. In addition, the President reversed the ban, instituted in 1987 by the Reagan Administration, on privately funded abortion services in U.S. military hospitals; and repealed the Mexico City policy, established in 1984 banning U.S. funding support to international organizations that include abortion services in their reproductive health and family planning programs. In 1994, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the United States agreed with more than 150 nations to promote reproductive health for all women and to address the threat to women's health from unsafe abortion.Establishing Clinic Safety
President Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to fight the escalating violence against women and doctors at women's health clinics.Moved Forward with Reproductive Research
President Clinton ordered that the ban on mifepristonne, a drug that terminates pregnancy without surgery, be revisited. Currently, the drug is undergoing clinical trials in the U.S.Establishing Services for Victims of Rape and Incest
Under President Clinton, the Department of Health and Human Services implemented a congressionally ordered change to Medicaid to include abortion services for women whose pregnancies result from rape or incest, in addition to saving the life of the woman.
Office of Women's Initiatives and Outreach. Phone: 202 456-7300; Fax: 202 456-7311
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