Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version

The White House decided last week to nominate U.N. Vatican representative John Klink to head the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, overruling Secretary of State Colin Powell's choice for the position, the New York Times reports. The selection "marks the second time the White House has taken an antiabortion stance in the area of foreign policy and international population efforts" (referring to President Bush's executive order to ban U.S. funding of international organizations that use their own funds to provide or promote abortion), and is a "setback" for Powell, who, unlike Klink, supports abortion rights.