WASHINGTON, DC (CWNews.com) - President Bill Clinton on Friday called for Congress to provide more funds for US-sponsored population control programs around the world, following several years in which Congress imposed restrictions on the funds.

    Pro-life congressmen have consistently pushed through restrictions in past foreign aid budgets preventing US taxpayer funding of population control groups overseas that also offer abortion or that lobby their governments for the legalization of abortion.

    "I urge Congress to give us that money without restrictions that hamper the work of family planning organizations and bar them from discussing or debating reproductive health choices," Clinton said at a White House ceremony marking World Health Day. "Those congressionally sponsored restrictions impose a destructive double standard," Clinton said. "How, in the name of democracy and freedom, can we impose those rules on others which would be illegal here in the United States? That is not the American way."

    Pro-life groups responded, saying US taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize procedures or programs they find morally repulsive and that no one is forcing the foreign groups to accept US aid.

    In his proposal, Clinton said he wanted an additional $169 million in family planning assistance for the US Agency for International Development, restoring funding to $541.6 million, as it was in 1995; $25 million to the UN Population Fund and $100 million through various agencies to prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV, mostly in Africa through contraception and education programs. Last year, Clinton accepted restrictions on aid in a compromise to fund a plan to pay dues the US owed to the UN.