This is the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and it is by recent tradition the day on which new presidents reverse the US's position on the Mexico City rule. That was something proclaimed by Ronald Reagan in 1984 that prohibited the use of US foreign aid dollars for abortions and family planning counseling.
Bill Clinton reversed Reagan on this day in 1993. Then George W. Bush reversed Clinton on this day in 2001. It has been widely expected that Obama would reverse Dubya today.
But...no news yet. And today, so far, is foreign policy day, torture day, interrogations day. It would be just like Obama not to be predicable on this, to make a liberal interest group wait a few days. I don't mind sending that particular political message, but I would certainly and strenuously mind if he doesn't reverse it fairly soon. It's a damaging policy.
And lo and behold, look who agrees -- the editorial board of the right-wing Pittsburgh Tribune Review, owned by the major benefactor of right-wing causes Richard Mellon Scaife. From its editorial today:
It's called the Mexico City Policy. And with a stroke of a pen, President Barack Obama can end it. He should and he must. And doing so on Thursday's 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade would be the perfect punctuation mark...
...The Mexico City Policy was a misguided notion of likely well-meaning people that, for all intents and purposes, promoted ignorance and probably more abortions.
So, you see, Democrats and liberals aren't the only ones who oftentimes fail to understand how the Law of Unintended Consequences can play out.
Rescinding the Mexico City Policy might end up being the only decent thing that President Obama does in office. And he should do it posthaste.
All right, that's sort of a back-handed reason for endorsing the move, but even so, it's a surprising stand.
