Thursday, February 5, 2009

The Most Fun Work Thing I've Done in a Very Long Time

So, one of the organizations I work for is going to make a loan to a poor country far, far away. The loan agreement has been being worked on for quite a while, and until recently, the organization was required by law to include the following clause in all its loan agreements:
"[The beneficiaries] will not use funds for any purpose that would violate United States law or policy, . . . including but not limited to the following purposes:
. . . to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions, to pay for the performance of involuntary sterilizations as a method of family planning or to coerce or provide any financial incentive to any person to undergo sterilizations or to pay for any biomedical research which relates, in whole or in part, to methods of, or the performance of, abortions or involuntary sterilization as a means of family planning.

I'm currently reviewing and commenting on this document. And I got to write the following comment: "I believe President Obama has issued an executive order which allows—nay, requires!—us to remove this clause."

It's so nice to be getting my country back.