President Bush signed a memorandum Monday reinstating the pro-life Mexico City policy that prohibits taxpayer money from funding organizations that promote or perform abortions overseas.
«It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion either here or abroad,´´ Bush wrote in his executive memorandum to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees so-called family-planning aid to foreign countries.
It was Bush´s first major policy action since becoming president on Saturday and came to the delight of pro-life advocates. It reverses the Clinton administration´s pro-abortion position and restores the pro-life policy in place during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush.
Meanwhile, Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis Magazine in Washington, D.C., reported that on Thursday, Bush and his wife Laura will have dinner with Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, Cardinal James Hickey, and Auxiliary Bishop William Lori at the chancery of the Washington Archdiocese.
«For the president to have dinner with a cardinal of the Church only five days after his inauguration is truly historic,» Hudson said in a press statement. «It demonstrates his commitment to understanding Catholics, working with them, and addressing their concerns. This visit combined with the president´s statement to the March for Life and his de-funding of international organizations promoting abortions is very good news for Catholics everywhere.»
