Saying, “It is time that we end the politicization of this issue,” Barack Obama has rescinded the “Mexico City Policy” that put brutal strings on family planning assistance in developing countries receiving US financial aid.
This is a great thing. So many women (and by extension, their families) have been hurt by this inhumane policy. There’s no way to undo that, but today, at least, there’s a little less damage in the world.
The previous administration’s need to impose its morals on the world reminded me of a little kid sticking its chin out and saying It’s my ball and you have to play by my rules. But human beings are not baseballs; their futures and their health are not to be bartered. As Obama said in his inauguration address, “The time has come to put away childish things.” It looks like that includes the notion that we have any right or responsibility to be the world’s moral police. Good. Let’s keep growing up.
If you’re not aware of the new White House website and blog, go check it out. And here’s what I had to say about it over at Humans At Work.
I’m with you. The worst of all human impulses is the ambition to make others think as we think and do as we do. That kind of selfrighteousness has always been a thorn in my side, especially in the area of birth control, which so disproportionately affects women.
T and I were watching her favorite show tonight when the winner moved to play the final game and as usual Pat asked him to introduce who he was there with. It was his fiance a strapping young man who gladly ran out to give the winner a hug at the game’s end. I know, this isn’t directly related to your post (which I took advantage of to link to the President’s site, thank you very much) but as Dylan once sang, “the times they are a changin'”