President Bush Threatens Veto Over International Abortion Funding

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- President Bush is threatening to veto a foreign policy appropriations bill if it contains language authorizing taxpayer-funding of groups that perform or promote abortions in other countries. The president is also concerned that language has been added to the bill that would prevent him from moving money away from the UNFPA, a U.N. agency known to support China's coercive population control program. In a letter last week to members of the Senate, the Bush administration says the president does not support the FY 2005 Foreign Operations bill "because it includes a section that would overturn the Administration's family planning policy (commonly known as the 'Mexico City' policy)." "The President would veto the bill if it were presented to him with such a provision," the letter says. On his first working day in office, President Bush restored the Mexico City policy. As a result, taxpayer funds may not go to international groups that perform or promote abortions. President Bush later expanded the policy to cover not only family planning expenditures, but all State Department programs.