Washington – The House voted narrowly Thursday to reverse a ban on contraception aid to groups overseas that offer abortions, a pillar of President Bush’s foreign-aid policy.
Bush is likely to veto the proposal swiftly and be upheld by conservative lawmakers who say no assistance of any kind should be given to organizations that promote or offer abortions.
The measure, approved 223-201, is intended by the new Democratic majority to crack open debate on a policy it says is failing badly.
Initiated by President Reagan in 1984 at a population conference in Mexico City, the policy bars any assistance to organizations abroad that perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning. Democrats say an unintended consequence is an alarming shortage of contraceptives, particularly in poor rural areas.
The bill would help “reduce unintended and high-risk pregnancies and abortions … and save the lives of mothers,” said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Appropriations panel that oversees the foreign-aid budget.
The House voted to attach the measure to a $34.2 billion bill that pays for State Department operations and foreign aid in 2008.
Republicans said the donation would free up resources for groups to provide abortions and would undermine the intention of the 1984 policy, which was to pressure organizations to abandon abortion services.
WASHINGTON
House OKs bill to help fight TB overseas
Overseas health workers treating patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis, the bug that set off a recent international health scare, would get a $50 million assist under a measure adopted Thursday by the House.
The money would go to purchase drugs, train health-care workers and build, equip and operate laboratories overseas, under an amendment approved by the House. Most of the money would be spent in Africa.
Andrew Speaker, infected with “extensively drug-resistant” TB, recently evaded federal health officials as they tried to find and isolate him as he traveled throughout Europe. He’s now hospitalized in Denver.
SAN FRANCISCO
Halberstam’s driver to face charges
Prosecutors plan to file misdemeanor vehicular-manslaughter charges against a graduate student who was driving David Halberstam when the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was killed in a car crash.
A crash investigation showed that Kevin Jones made an illegal left turn into the path of a car that had a green light.
Jones, 26, a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley’s journalism school, was driving Halberstam to an interview with football legend Y.A. Tittle. An autopsy showed Halberstam, who was wearing a seat belt, died almost instantly when a broken rib punctured his heart, authorities said.
MEXICO CITY
Ex-official arrested in aiding drug smuggling
A former Mexican governor accused of involvement in drug trafficking was arrested Thursday and is awaiting possible extradition to the United States.
A federal court in New York is seeking the extradition of Mario Villanueva Madrid – one-time governor of Quintana Roo state, which includes Cancún – for allegedly helping Mexican drug dealers smuggle at least 200 tons of cocaine into the United States while he was in office from 1993 to 1999.
NEW DELHI
Parents of surgeon, 15, wanted to set record
The 15-year-old son of two doctors successfully performed a filmed cesarean-section birth under his parents’ watch in India in an apparent attempt to set a record as the youngest surgeon, officials said Thursday.
Instead, the boy’s father could be stripped of his licenses and may face criminal charges.
Dr. K. Murugesan showed a recording of his son performing a cesarean section to an Indian Medical Association chapter. The video showed Murugesan anesthetizing the patient.
Murugesan told the medical association that he wanted to see his son’s name in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The mother and baby were reported to have come through the surgery successfully.
STONEHENGE, England
Solstice revels draw 24,000 to monument
Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers welcomed the sun Thursday as it rose above the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge on the longest day of the year – the summer solstice.
Clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves, a group of druids cheered and danced at the Heel stone – a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of Stonehenge.
“Happy solstice!” said Laura Tungate, a 26-year-old financial adviser from Newcastle, who wore a giant rainbow sweater and offered hugs to smiling passers-by.
About 24,000 people gathered at the stone circle in Wiltshire, in southwestern England. Dancers writhed to drums and whistles as floodlights colored the ancient pillars shades of pink and purple. Couples snuggled under plastic sheets.
Solstice celebrations were a highlight of the pre-Christian calendar. Bonfires, maypole dances and courtship rituals linger on in many countries as holdovers from Europe’s pagan past.
