Guantanamo Closing, Foreign Abortion Services

Obama’s First Executive Orders and Presidential Memorandum

Jan 24, 2009

In his first three days as President Barack Obama moved to change US policies on Guantanamo detentions and funding of foreign family planning.

President Obama issued an Executive Order to close the Guantanamo detention facility holding individuals designated as enemy combatants in the war on terror and a Presidential Memorandum to lift the ban on US foreign aid to organizations that either perform abortions or include abortion counseling among their services.

Executive Orders and Presidential Memoranda

Every president since George Washington has employed executive orders to give direction to federal agencies. The president derives this power from the US Constitution that he “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.” Though presidents have employed this authority since the beginning the formal recording and numbering of Executive Orders only began in 1907 and the system began then was applied retroactively beginning with Abraham Lincoln in 1862.

Significant presidential policies have been carried out through executive orders. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was done by way of Executive Order and President Clinton’s Kosovo War was pursued through an Executive Order.

Presidential Memoranda also include policy directives to Executive Branch Officers.

A Brief Guantanamo History

Guantanamo Bay is a United States naval facility located on the southeastern shores of Cuba. Following the Spanish-American War the United States and Cuba entered into a treaty giving the United States a perpetual lease for the base.

Since 2002 Guantanamo has had a military prison. Persons identified as enemy combatants from Afghanistan and Iraq have been detained in the prison. There have been allegations of mistreatment of the prisoners regarding interrogations and the legal processes regarding their detention.

President Obama’s Order Closing the Guantanamo Detention Facility

On January 22, 2009 President Obama issued an Executive Order relating to the Guantanamo prison. The order sets a January 22, 2010 date for the closure of the prison for enemy combatants. The legal situation of all those detained is to be reviewed during the coming year.

The order does not provide for the release of those detained. Any individuals covered by the order remaining at Guantánamo at the time of closure shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

The order additionally establishes a committee to review the status of all those currently detained. The committee consists of:

A Brief History on the Federal Ban on Funding Foreign Organizations Providing Abortion Services and Counseling

In 1984 President Ronald Reagan instituted a ban on giving federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide abortion information. The Reagan policy was announced in Mexico City and has since become known as the Mexico City Policy. President George H. W. Bush maintained the policy during his administration. President Clinton reversed the policy and it was restored by President George W. Bush in the early days of his administration.

Under the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II policy funding for family planning services to clinics or groups offering abortion-related services overseas could not be provided by the US government. The policy would not allow recipients of U.S. foreign aid to promote abortion as a method of family planning. Organizations receiving US government funds had to "agree as a condition of their receipt of federal funds that such organizations would neither perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."

President Obama’s Memorandum Allowing Foreign Aid Funds for Organizations Providing Abortion Services and Counseling

On January 23, 2009 President Obama issued a Memorandum to Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The memorandum reverses the Bush policy of withholding federal funds from organizations that engage in providing abortions or abortion counseling. The Secretary of State and Director of USAID were directed to waive the above condition for any current grantees and to remove the requirement from any future grants.

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