Shh! What abortion policy?

President Barack Obama signaled his stance on abortion Friday by reversing a policy that prohibited foreign non-governmental family planning groups from receiving U.S. aid if they lobbied for or provided abortions.

It’s a landmark policy shift. And you probably didn’t even know it happened.

The Mexico City Policy, named for the first place it was instated, was established by Ronald Reagan and has since been a manifest divergence between the two parties.
Bill Clinton very publicly reversed the policy after just two days in office, causing many pro-lifers to doubt the third word in his “safe, legal and rare” abortion slogan. George W. Bush was also quick to fan the flames of the culture war by reinstating the policy, declaring that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions.

Of course, federal law already bans the use of U.S. tax money for abortion services (but, then again, he might not have actually known that). This policy, on the other hand, does not allow funding to go to any non-governmental organizations that use their own money for abortions or even simply provide abortion referrals or lobby for abortion rights, causing some critics to nickname it the “global gag rule.”

Obama, however, did not follow suit. Unlike Clinton and Bush, who very publicly changed the policy on Jan. 22, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, he waited until the day after. He signed the executive order late on Friday afternoon so that it would be less noticeable. And he preceded the executive order with a statement encouraging support for abortion reduction through bipartisan and common ground efforts.

Finally, a government official has presented a commonsensical approach to abortion policy and family planning. The culture war over abortion will probably never end.

If you say that it’s a life and I say that it is not, there is not much common ground for us to find. The core of the abortion debate is made up of two belief systems so fundamentally different that the problem will most likely never be resolved.

Until now, however, we have allowed this cultural divide to distract us from making sensible policies. While we may never all agree on the legality of abortion, no reasonable person would argue that abortion should not be as rare as possible.

Through abstinence-only education and an unavailability of birth control and other forms of contraception, we are almost encouraging unintended pregnancies and other sex-related consequences.

By reversing this policy, NGOs such as Planned Parenthood in developing countries will have the funding to provide not only contraceptives, especially vital in Africa in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but also pre- and post-natal care, early childhood immunizations, tests for cervical cancer and malaria screenings.

Obama is taking the right steps to quietly address abortion policy and move us closer to one goal that we all share: reducing the number of abortions and promoting sexual health.