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Source: ONE News
The federal government has blocked a motion in the Senate calling on it to overturn a ban that prevents Australian foreign aid from being used for abortion advice.
Australia remains the only country that enforces the ban after the new Obama administration in the United States recently overturned similar laws.
The Australian Greens moved the motion in the Senate on Wednesday to push for the restrictions, put in place by the previous Howard government, to be abolished.
The Rudd government is considering abolishing the ban, and is expected to make an announcement soon.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said 34,000 mothers died in the region each year because of a lack of maternal health support and Australian aid could be better used to reduce these numbers.
"These policies are backward and dangerous, and must be overturned," she said.
Earlier in the week, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith reassured Labor colleagues a decision on whether to lift the ban wasn't far away.
Smith has been considering an internal report on the issue for more than six months.
The report is from a sub-committee of the Rudd government's national security committee, which has been liaising with caucus members over whether to lift the restriction.
The issue was raised during a caucus meeting on Monday, the first for the year.
Smith is understood to have told caucus that a decision would be made very soon.
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