Conservatives Step Up Activities Overseas

NEW YORK - From Peru to the Philippines to Poland, U.S.-based conservative groups are increasingly engaged in abortion and family-planning debates overseas, emboldened by their ties with the Bush administration and eager to compete with more liberal rivals.

The result is that U.S. advocacy groups are now waging their culture war skirmishes worldwide as they try to influence other countries' laws and wrangle over how U.S. aid money should be spent.

"We don't expect to see the United Nations change, or Western Europe change," said Joseph d'Agostino of the Population Research Institute, a Virginia-based anti-abortion group. "But with the Bush administration, pro-lifers feel there's a real opportunity to stop the U.S. government from promoting abortion and sex education and population control in the Third World."

Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America said U.S. conservatives are trying to counter the influence long exercised by women's rights and abortion rights groups at U.N. conferences and among international non-governmental organizations.

"NGOs have tremendous power, but for so many years they have been the playground for the leftist activists," Crouse said. "It's only been during the Bush administration that those of us from the right have had an opportunity to be on a level playing field."

Liberal activists believe long-term trends, notably the empowerment of women through education and jobs, work in their favor throughout much of the world. But they acknowledge that U.S. conservatives have gained clout overseas — and intimidated some foreign advocacy groups — because of their influence on Bush administration policies.

"The collaboration of right-wing NGOs and the Bush administration far exceeds any collaboration between pro-choice family groups and the Clinton administration," said Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice. "We never had that kind of hand-in-glove relationship."

She said the Bush administration, with limited power to impose conservative social policies at home, has implemented some foreign-aid restrictions demanded by the religious right — such as the so-called "global gag rule" that denies federal family-planning money to any foreign group that even discusses the possibility of abortions for clients.

Conservative groups, notably the Population Research Institute, also are credited by both allies and foes with convincing the Bush administration to withhold U.S. funding from the U.N. Population Fund. At issue are conservative allegations, vehemently denied by the Population Fund, that the U.N. agency indirectly contributes to coercive abortions in China.

"The far right says, 'Jump,' and the administration says, 'How high?'" complained Rep. Carolyn Maloney (news, bio, voting record), a New York Democrat who wants the Population Fund money restored.

_Several prominent U.S. groups, including Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council, are helping prepare for a World Congress of Families in Poland in May 2007. The chief organizer, Allan Carlson of the Rockford, Ill.-based Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society, said U.S. conservatives view Poland — where the new president staunchly opposes abortion and gay marriage — as a rare holdout to liberal, secular trends throughout the European Union.

_In Peru, the Population Research Institute filed a complaint with the U.S. Agency for International Development, contending that two local groups had violated U.S. policy by using American funds to promote legalization of the morning-after pill. Both groups were warned, and one will have to return some funds, according to PRI's d'Agostino.

_In Colombia, PRI has assisted local conservatives in opposing a legal challenge to the country's sweeping ban on abortions. Though rebuffed by the Constitutional Court last month, women's rights activists plan to file a new lawsuit seeking to end Colombia's status as one of three Latin American countries prohibiting all abortions.

_Several U.S. conservative groups have been helping rally opposition to family-planning legislation pending in the Philippines. The bill would provide some financial incentives for parents who limit themselves to two children; critics also say it goes too far in promoting sex education and access to birth control.

_American conservatives have strongly supported Bush administration policies emphasizing abstinence as a favored strategy in overseas HIV/ AIDS prevention programs. U.S.-based groups focusing on abstinence have received grants for prevention work in Africa, in some cases drawing criticism that political ties overcame their lack of expertise.

Activists on both sides trace the rise of overseas conservative action to the mid-1990s, after anti-Communism faded as a cause and anti-abortion, anti-feminist groups began engaging in major U.N. conferences — often taking stands in opposition to the Clinton administration.

Now, with Bush as president, they feel empowered. Carmen Barroso, director of International Planned Parenthood's Western Hemisphere Region, said conservatives have been particularly active in Latin America.

"They are very organized, with lots of resources and powerful allies in the White House and the Vatican," she said. "Whenever there's a major initiative to liberalize laws, they marshal their forces against it. In the past, it was one or two isolated efforts. Now it's a massive effort."

"But with the Bush administration, pro-lifers feel there's a real opportunity to stop the U.S. government from promoting abortion and sex education and population control in the Third World.""

What an unfortunate linkage - opposing population control and sex education in the third world.

We need to seperate abortion i.e. killing a human from education and family planning. We need to make the point that abortion is not a legitimate family planning tool - arguing against family planning just makes us look out of touch with reality and also hurts humanity.

2 posted on 01/14/2006 10:16:13 AM PST by gondramB (Democracy: two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch. Liberty: a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.)

The article completely missed the fact that Karl Rove is running the Canadian Conservative campaign, and he has his weather machine warming up for a big snow storm across Canada on January the 23rd.
This will ensure that only the '-40 Conservatives' will get out and vote.

I love Karl Rove.
:-D

critics also say it goes too far in promoting sex education and access to birth control.

So, what exactly is beneficial about keeping people ignorant and without any ability to limit the size of their families?

For years, the International Left has worked together to promote its goals. The idea of an International Right has always been trickier, both because there are more variations of philosophy on the right and because right wing groups are by nature more nationalistic and more focused on their own nations. But there is enough common cultural ground for our side to link up with like-minded activists in other countries, if for no other reason than to combat the left. It would be great to see this trend start to grow so that the left has to watch its back in places like the Philippines and Colombia.

This is another reminder of how much things have improved since the 90s. I woke up this morning thinking of how well the Alito hearings went, and how the second amendment has largely been restored in the U.S., and I felt reinvigorated. Like many conservatives, I've enjoyed bitching for the last year or two because things aren't moving as quickly as I would like, republicans are wishy-washy etc. For me I believe it is time to recommit myself to the nuts and bolt work of helping to win elections, and writing letters to the editor, the grass root efforts that helped bring about the conservative revolution.I think its time for rank and file cons. to role up their sleeves and get back to the trenches.

I don't know about the other countries, but the Catholic Church is still very powerful in the Philippines, and I believe they actively prohibit the use of birth control.

I think there needs to be a balance. I'm sure you've read Mark Steyn's commentary about how we in the West are all killing ourselves by overuse of birth control and abortion. One part of me asks if we want to transmit the same methods of national suicide to other countries that are still growing.

The other part of me, of course, doesn't want to create children until me and the prospective mother are both ready, so I'm sure I will use birth control while I, personally, am there.

D

to stop the U.S. government from promoting abortion and sex education and population control in the Third World

The United States government has no Constitutional authorization to promote any of these things. Next "controversy"?

"The United States government has no Constitutional authorization to promote any of these things. Next "controversy"?"

My point was that this is not a wise item to focus on since the overpopulation of the third world ultimately hurts the U.S. These same groups have usually have no objection to many of the other things we do to try influence countries overseas like promoting democracy or limiting nuclear research or promoting values.

BTW, I suspect the constitutional "justification" comes from the right to regulate foreign commerce and foreign relations. It's a stretch but are so are so many things the federal government does - like national drinking ages and speed limits.

9 posted on 01/14/2006 11:41:18 AM PST by gondramB (Democracy: two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch. Liberty: a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.)

You guys are missing the point. The article was intended to mean "US Nazi bigots step up activities overseas." This is the crAP reporting afterall. They hate us.

EXPORT THE CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION, BABY!!!! When the Commies took over the Russian Empire in 1917, they openly and overtly exported Marxism-Leninism. It's high time we conservatives, w/truth on our side, openly & overtly exported Reaginism-Thatcherism.

"You're right - it's a stretch ... and we don't need more "stretches," we need fewer!"

I so agree with you. What I am questioning is putting this level of effort into stopping the overreach of helping slow population growth through family planning - I would so much rather see that effort put into over-reaches that are harmful rather than helpful.

There are a number of negative aspects but one is that it harms the anti-abortion movement. Point should be that we don't ever support abortion. Linking this to opposing birth control makes the effort lose credibility.

15 posted on 01/14/2006 12:38:54 PM PST by gondramB (Democracy: two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch. Liberty: a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.)

Point should be that we don't ever support abortion. Linking this to opposing birth control makes the effort lose credibility.

I disagree, because in many countries, the "birth control" our government is promoting is mandatory and often hazardous to health. That's what makes us look bad - when U.S. funded "health" clinics have birth control pills/shots and sterilization procedures, but don't have antibiotics, vaccines, or vitamins.

"I disagree, because in many countries, the "birth control" our government is promoting is mandatory and often hazardous to health. That's what makes us look bad - when U.S. funded "health" clinics have birth control pills/shots and sterilization procedures, but don't have antibiotics, vaccines, or vitamins."

Hmmm. Another good point. Mandatory birth control is wrong and it would certainly make us look bad (in addition to being immoral) to support such program.

I would have no problem with efforts to make sure we do not support nonconsensual birth control.

But as with many other things the difference between forced and voluntary is important.

17 posted on 01/14/2006 1:04:47 PM PST by gondramB (Democracy: two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch. Liberty: a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.)

as with many other things the difference between forced and voluntary is important

That's the problem with this being a government initiative, unfortunately. "Voluntary" compliance with government's programs isn't much of a concept in the 3rd world. It's more like, "If you want your job, you'd better not have more children."

1. Population growth has slowed considerably in Latin America and much of Asia. Folks generally have less children as they move from an urban to a rural society. There is nothing that will change this trend, no matter what the Church, mosque, or the government says.

2. Population density has NOTHING to do with the wealth of a nation. High density Hong Kong is wealthier than low density Niger, and India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world, thanks to moving away from SOCIALISM over the past 15 years.

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