Comments on: Librarians notice “abortion” stop word, take action

By: Eli

Eli — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:31:22 +0000

Jessamyn …

According to an NPR story, the “objectionable” articles that caught USAID’s attention was from a special issue of a reproductive rights magazine:

“Klag says the seven articles that triggered the restriction in late February were from an issue of A, the Abortion Magazine, which is published by Ipas, an international reproductive rights organization. … The issue in question focused on abortion as a human rights issue and profiled abortion rights advocates around the world.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89486048

By: Michael B. Klein

Michael B. Klein — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:22:53 +0000

I’ve been hearing speculation (from my more conspiracy-minded friends) that POPLINE did this on purpose to shine a light on the administration’s information-suppression policy. One friend’s take on it was, “USAID had recently objected to some materials available by searching POPLINE, so the folks there decided to comply in as attention-getting a manner as possible.”

If true, good for them. Otherwise, they’ve at least acknowledged and righted a poor decision.

By: Mike Mahaffie

Mike Mahaffie — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:14:48 +0000

So, when called out for censoring a public database, the USAID Director of Communications said “…we have to make sure that all parts of the story are told…”

I guess this makes sense in a place and time in which a shrinkage of the economy is called (officially) “negative growth.”

By: laura k

laura k — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:08:46 +0000

I would really like to see this whole incident raise the issue of the restrictive USAID regulations on abortion in foreign countries that receive development funds from the US, too. If it’s wrong to censor information on abortion here in the US, its equally wrong to do so elsewhere–perhaps even more wrong, as we’re enforcing our government’s position on foreign people. Anyway, I could go on and on–clearly, this is an issue that gets me a little irate. Glad to see you bringing attention to it here.