Nicholas D. Kristof: Can this be pro-life?

The Bush administration this month is quietly cutting off birth control supplies to some of the world's poorest women in Africa. Thus the paradox of a "pro-life" administration adopting a policy whose result will be tens of thousands of additional abortions each year - along with more women dying in childbirth. The saga also spotlights a clear difference between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. Obama supports UN-led efforts to promote family planning; McCain stands with President Bush in opposing certain crucial efforts to help women reduce unwanted pregnancies in Africa and Asia. There is something about reproductive health - maybe the sex part - that makes some Americans froth and go crazy. We see it in the opposition to condoms to curb AIDS in Africa and in the insistence on abstinence-only sex education in American... [read full story]