WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has overturned what he described as an ‘unwarranted’ eight-year ban on US government funding for family-planning groups which carry out or facilitate abortions overseas. Shortly after he signed an executive order canceling the restrictions, on the third full day of his presidency, Obama said in a statement the ban had ‘undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries,’ and that the issue had become too politicized. The so-called ‘global gag rule’ cut off US funding to overseas family planning clinics which provide any abortion services whatsoever, from the operation itself to counseling, referrals or post-abortion services. First introduced by Republican president Ronald Reagan in 1984, it has been repeatedly overturned by Democratic administrations and reintroduced by the Republicans. Obama’s action reversed the orders of president George W. Bush, who when he came into office in 2001 immediately froze funds to many family planning groups working overseas. ‘It is clear that the provisions … are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law,’ Obama said. For too long, he added, the ban ‘has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and […]