"Once again the Bush administration has betrayed its professed pro-life
credentials," said Ed Szymkowiak, national director of STOPP International, an American Life
League division. "Bowing to pressure from Planned Parenthood and pro-abortion New Yorkers such
as Gov. George Pataki and Sens. Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, the Bush administration
approved a waiver which allows New York to expand its coverage of condoms and
sometimes-abortifacient contraceptive drugs and devices."
The waiver allows persons making up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level to obtain
contraceptive coverage from Medicaid. The previous threshold was 135 percent. "This is a
major defeat for the pro-life movement. Other states will likely follow suit. President Bush
should be ashamed of himself," said Szymkowiak
"Taxpayers will now be forced to subsidize even more intrinsically-evil contraception than we
were before," said Szymkowiak. "Furthermore, many of the contraceptive drugs and devices
provided under this Medicaid expansion will result in the deaths of tiny embryonic human beings
because these contraceptives often act by preventing implantation rather than fertilization.
We shouldn't be forced to pay for such killings."
Szymkowiak noted that the Bush family has a long history of promoting government funded
contraceptive programs. As members of Congress, George H. Bush and James Scheuer led the
effort to establish the domestic Title X population control program in 1970. In 2002, George W.
Bush approved $265.1 million for that program and an additional $446.5 million for the foreign
USAID population control program.
"That money is the fuel for the Culture of Death both here and abroad. Some of it lines the
pockets of such abortion promoters as Planned Parenthood," said Szymkowiak. "If Bush were
truly pro-life, as he claims, he would be working to eliminate such programs. Instead, by
granting the New York Medicaid waiver, he has made things worse."
Release issued: 4 Oct 02
