Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

Staff Editorial: Catastrophic cuts

In one of his first acts as president George W. Bush implemented rules prohibiting U.S. international aid from being used by groups that offer to perform or counsel women regarding abortions. While these measures do not alter the availability of abortions and other family planning services in this country, Bush’s deceitful actions are dangerous and ill-conceived.

One of the most important questions surrounding this order is what motivated Bush to take these steps. Basing national and international healthcare policy on one’s religious beliefs can have disastrous effects. One need only examine the Reagan administration’s early response to the AIDS pandemic to see such fallacious decision making in action. If Bush is announcing this policy in an effort to cozy up to right-wing Republicans, he is acting despicably in sacrificing the ability for women in underdeveloped nations to choose from a full range of healthcare options provided in a safe, medically acceptable setting.

By focusing on abortion, Bush is directing attention away from the fact that many of the groups to which he has cut funding, provide a full range of services vital to the improvement of lives in regions embattled with disease. Distribution of contraceptives and other programs – which former president Bill Clinton insisted “promotes women’s health and saves women’s lives” – will also lose funding at a time when such initiatives are most sorely needed.

Overpopulation is one of the greatest threats to the long-term survival of the human species. Some scientists maintain that at the current pace, man has the ability to breed himself out of existence. Providing the people of the developing world the resources to make free choices regarding their reproductive rights is the only intelligent course in the face of the bleak possibilities. Additionally, cutting funding to groups that provide other reproduction-oriented services, including efforts to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is deplorable. With areas of Africa experiencing astronomical AIDS infection rates, such denial of much-needed aid borders on the criminal.

It is not the job of one particular segment of American society to impose its views upon the rest of the world by denying people in developing nations rights so far guaranteed to Americans by law. With this first step backward in the progressive march of expanding civil liberties, Bush is trouncing any hope of compassion in his brand of conservatism.

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