Planned Parenthood | Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund

April 24, 2009 2:19:01

by Sarah Stoesz

President and CEO

Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a courageous statement during congressional testimony on Thursday. She stated a simple and powerful truth missing from Washington for far too long. Clinton affirmed the administration's commitment to ensuring reproductive rights and health as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.

From Tapped:

Yesterday, New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith asked her whether the Obama administration is seeking to "weaken or overturn pro-life laws and policies in African and Latin American countries," and whether the United States considers abortion as a component of reproductive rights and health. Smith knows the influence the United States can wield on this issue, since he's often used his office to bolster anti-abortion forces worldwide. In 2004, for example, when Uruguay moved to liberalize its abortion law, Smith faxed a letter, signed by five other Republican congressmen, to every member of Uruguay's Senate urging them to defeat the bill and not "legalize the violent murder of unborn children." It lost by four votes.

In response, Secretary Clinton highlighted her firsthand experience saying, "When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world, I've been in hospitals in Brazil where half the women were enthusiastically and joyfully greeting new babies and the other half were fighting for their lives against botched abortions."

She continued, "I've been in African countries where 12 and 13-year-old girls are bearing children. I have been in Asian countries where the denial of family planning consigns women to lives of oppression and hardship."

Secretary Clinton concluded, to applause, that, "We are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their right to reproductive health care."

Secretary Clinton's statement ushers in a new day for women's health, here and around the world. It signals that the U.S. is once again willing to lead the fight for equal access, rights and freedom for all women. When one in 10 pregnancies across the globe end in an unsafe abortion, this much is clear: the era of politicizing women's health has gone on for far too long

After nearly a decade, we have a Secretary of State courageous enough to stand for the values of the majority of Americans and protect the health and safety of women and families at home and across the globe.

And it couldn't have come a moment too soon.

Trackback: http://www.plannedparenthoodadvocate.org/trackback/587/vJvaKawG/