Clinton Passionately Defends Right To Abortion

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, testifying in Congress on Wednesday, defended the right to abortion worldwide and gave ardent approval of the Obama administration’s decision to finance family planning overseas.

Demonstrating her passionate views and strong rhetoric, Clinton held her ground against Republican lawmaker, Christopher Smith, who represented strong opposition to abortion.

Smith inquired as to whether President Barack Obama’s team was seeking to influence African and South American countries on the issue of abortion during Clinton’s first hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee as a top diplomat.

Clinton responded, “Congressman, I deeply respect your passionate concern and views which you have championed and advocated for over the course of your public career."

The chief US diplomat noted that they have a “profound disagreement”.

Clinton shared a personal experience, "When I think about the suffering that I have seen of women around the world, I’ve been in hospitals in Brazil where half the women were enthusiastically and joyfully greeting new babies and the other half were fighting for their lives against botched abortions,"

"I’ve been in African countries where 12 and 13-year-old girls are bearing children. I have been in Asian countries where the denial of family planning consigns women to lives of oppression and hardship," she added.

Clinton went on to strongly urge those advocating both sides of the argument to continue promoting and educating their side of the argument, insisting that it is a right to which all are free to exercise.

Clinton with skillful diplomacy added, "We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health and reproductive health includes access to abortion, that I believe should be safe, legal and rare."

"I’ve spent a lot of my time trying to bring down the rate of abortions and it has been my experience that good family planning and good medical care brings down the rate of abortion," the secretary of state said.

She then pointed to the detrimental affects of ignorance and denied access to services, which is known to increase the rate of abortion.

George W. Bush’s administration funded campaigns promoting abstinence, particularly in Africa, during his 8-year presidency in their hearty opposition to abortion and use of contraceptives. 

Jeffrey Fortenberry, Republican lawmaker of Nebraska entered the quarrel stating, “I don’t believe we should use American foreign policy to export abortion”¦this will undermine, in my view, our foreign relations in many areas throughout the world, including Latin America and Africa and among Muslim peoples.”

Clinton retorted, “We have for eight years followed the policy that you have described”¦ And I think we’ve gone backwards. We’ve gone backwards in the real, genuine care that we have given to women.”

Clinton referred to her work during her time as former first lady of the United States in the 1990s, when she had launched a stop-teenage-pregnancy campaign primarily with the distribution of information on contraception and abortion.

She faults the following administration saying, "I’m sad to report that after an administration of eight years that undid so much of the good work, the rate of teenage pregnancy is going up."

Image Courtesy UPI