Family Planning

Re "The other war in Afghanistan," Opinion, Aug. 23, and "A Taliban victory?" Opinion, Aug. 25 In our great effort to demonize Iran, we ignore its state-run family planning, which is one of most progressive and effective in the world. Because a great portion of Afghanistan is linguistically and religiously an extension of Iran, could we invite them to teach family planning to Afghanistan's women? It could be more effective than dropping bombs and be more acceptable to the local Muslim population.

In one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama is planning to lift a rule that prevents federal money from going to international family planning groups that counsel women on abortion or perform the procedure. Obama's repeal of the abortion aid policy is one of several executive actions he will take soon after his inauguration today, according to Obama transition aides. He is also considering lifting Bush administration restrictions on federally funded stem cell research.

First they said they might do it, then they said they wouldn't. Now it seems more of a definite maybe. At issue is the sensitive question of how best to control the growth of the largest population on Earth. Over the weekend, an official said China was considering making changes to its one-child policy, but didn't offer any specifics.

Ask Josephine Gonzalez how many children a family should have and the stick-figured 31-year-old mother answers without hesitation. "I only wanted three," she says, trying to soothe the naked baby boy who tugs at her ragged dress. But Gonzalez is, in fact, a mother of six. Her sister Angie Maquiran, two years older, has seven children.

Here comes another sneak attack on family planning by the Bush administration. Masquerading as a measure to protect healthcare providers from "morally coercive or discriminatory practices," a rule change proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services would require healthcare facilities to certify in writing that their workers do not have to assist with procedures they find objectionable. This isn't a matter of religious freedom clashing with private liberties.

California is locked in a dispute with Washington that state officials say has imperiled a successful family planning program for the poor. The program saves federal and state taxpayers more than $1.4 billion annually, the officials say, by helping low-income women avoid unwanted pregnancies. The Bush administration wants the state to change the way it counts the illegal immigrants who use the service.

Kristen Hirsch Montag took her time finding Mr. Right, so she didn't want to wait long to start a family. Yet at 39, Montag says the economy has left her little choice but to let her biological clock keep ticking. While the couple were planning their October wedding, Montag's husband, Paul, lost the job he had held for seven years selling ads for a magazine because it folded. His unemployment benefits will run out soon, leaving the newlyweds with two mortgages and heavy hearts.

Under beleaguered President Paul D. Wolfowitz, the World Bank may be scaling back its long-standing support for family planning, which many countries consider essential to women's health and the fight against AIDS. In an internal e-mail, the bank's team leader for Madagascar indicated that one of two managing directors appointed by Wolfowitz ordered the removal of all references to family planning from a document laying out strategy for the African nation.

During a recent family planning drive, villagers say, officials chased people down the streets and into the fields of a southern province searching for violators of China's one-child policy. Men and women were rounded up for forced sterilizations, the villagers reported. Expectant mothers are said to have faced mandatory abortions. "I know a young woman who was six or seven months pregnant with twins," said a woman villager interviewed by phone who was only willing to give her surname, Wang.

Defying a White House veto threat, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted Thursday to overturn a long-standing ban on U.S. funding for overseas family planning groups that support abortion. The vote was 53-41, short of the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto on an issue that has been contentious on Capitol Hill since President Reagan instituted the ban.