On her 12 p.m. ET hour MSNBC show on Tuesday, anchor Andrea Mitchell teed up former Undersecretary of State Wendy Sherman to denounce President Trump for reinstating the Mexico City policy banning U.S. foreign aide from funding abortions. In addition, Mitchell agreed with a stunning accusation hurled by the Obama administration official.
Mitchell fretted that the pro-life policy was being “expanded...beyond what George W. Bush and previous Republican administrations have done, and to basically say that these international agencies cannot use their own funding for such work.” Sherman replied: “Indeed....this reinstatement of the global gag rule, which was created in Mexico City in 1984, says that you cannot provide counseling, you cannot provide information, you cannot send someone to another provider, and you have to literally sign a pledge that you won't or you get no U.S. funding.”
She then ranted: “21 million women get unsafe abortions, the W.H.O. says, the World Health Organization. 13% of maternal deaths, the W.H.O. says, comes from unsafe abortions. By putting this global gag rule back into effect, we are sending many women around the world to an early death.”
Rather than try to rein in such an outlandish statement from her guest, Mitchell voiced her agreement instead: “And expanding it, in fact.” She never acknowledged the millions of “early deaths” of unborn children caused by abortion.
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
Later in the show, Mitchell invited on Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen to tout “a bipartisan move now in the Senate from senators challenging that new executive order on the so-called gag rule.” (Maine Senator Susan Collins was the only Republican to join the effort).
Shaheen proclaimed:
And you know, what's so frustrating about this is if you want to prevent abortions, if you want to support the health of the mother and child, you give them access to family planning services. And we know that, that's what the data shows. We've seen it in country after country, we've seen it here in the United States, where levels of unplanned pregnancies have fallen to the lowest rate in decades. And so, it's so short-sighted, what President Trump has done.
Here are excerpts of the two January 24 exchanges:
12:30 PM ET
(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: Now we're still trying to dis-aggregate the latest executive order on the Mexico City gag order, basically it has nothing to do with Mexico City. It is on abortion or counseling, contraceptive counseling through international organizations. Our best understanding of it is that he has expanded this beyond what George W. Bush and previous Republican administrations have done, and to basically say that these international agencies cannot use their own funding for such work.
WENDY SHERMAN: Indeed. You know, we have the Hyde Amendment, which says that no U.S. funding can be used for abortions anywhere but this reinstatement of the global gag rule, which was created in Mexico City in 1984, says that you cannot provide counseling, you cannot provide information, you cannot send someone to another provider, and you have to literally sign a pledge that you won't or you get no U.S. funding. 21 million women get unsafe abortions, the W.H.O. says, the World Health Organization. 13% of maternal deaths, the W.H.O. says, comes from unsafe abortions. By putting this global gag rule back into effect, we are sending many women around the world to an early death.
MITCHELL: And expanding it, in fact.
(...)
12:44 PM ET
MITCHELL: A bipartisan move now in the Senate from senators challenging that new executive order on the so-called gag rule. Joining me now is Democratic New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen she's going to introduce that legislation in the Senate today. What we're trying to sort out, Senator, is whether this reinstatement of the global gag rule on abortion counseling and abortion funding for international organizations expands it beyond what had been the case under both Presidents Reagan and Bushs.
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN: That's my understanding. With these executive orders, we have to look at the details and we're still examining those details, but it appears that this global gag order, unlike the previous Bush and Reagan administrations, would expand the prevention of all U.S. funding to any global organization that we have supported in the past that provides for health care. And so, that is a tremendous expansion.
And you know, what's so frustrating about this is if you want to prevent abortions, if you want to support the health of the mother and child, you give them access to family planning services. And we know that, that's what the data shows. We've seen it in country after country, we've seen it here in the United States, where levels of unplanned pregnancies have fallen to the lowest rate in decades. And so, it's so short-sighted, what President Trump has done.
MITCHELL: Is your legislation symbolic, in that he can do things by executive order that doesn't have a legislative remedy, or can you actually get 51 votes for this?
SHAHEEN: Well, that's what we're going to try to do. Obviously it's tough, given the position of the Republican leadership in Congress, which has made it clear that they're going to try and roll back access to health care for women with their plans to defund Planned Parenthood. But Senator Collins is my co-sponsor and we’ll be working together to try to get the votes and this would be a permanent repeal of the global gag order that President Trump put into effect by executive order.
MITCHELL: Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, thank you so very much. A bipartisan proposal, we're going to look for it later today.
(...)
