# Bill Clinton's executive orders? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612 "2016-10-24T18:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/1 "2016-10-24T18:31:43Z")
[This WaPo article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/10/09/the-deep-disgust-for-hillary-clinton-that-drives-so-many-evangelicals-to-support-trump/) says: > [@](#): > > On the fourth day of his presidency, Bill Clinton signed a series of executive orders undoing many policies of the Reagan-Bush era on abortion, contraception and family planning. [This “abortion info” site](https://abortion.info/politics/presidents-and-abortion/bill-clinton/) begins: > [@](#): > > President Clinton was adamantly pro-choice. Indeed, on the 4th day of his presidency, Mr. Clinton signed a series of executive orders reversing the anti-abortion policies of the Reagan-Bush era. So I went looking for a list of Bill Clinton executive orders. [This](https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/clinton.html) page at the National Archives is supposed to be a list of them. I don’t see such executive orders on his fourth day in 1993 (or 1997). I can’t find any series of executive orders on his 4th day, on any subject. In fact, searching [by subject](https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/clinton-subjects.html), I don’t see any mention of “abortion” or “family” or “contraception” or “reproductive” or “(pro-)choice”. Where can I find (some of) the executive orders by Bill Clinton that repealed “policies of the Reagan-Bush era on abortion, contraception and family planning”? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/2 "2016-10-24T18:36:47Z")
Such funding is often buried in bureaucratese or bill numbers, so the relevant executive order might just dryly rescind implementation of SB4260, Part III or some such. ETA: [This](http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-23/news/mn-1587_1_fetal-tissue-research) has far more details. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/3 "2016-10-24T18:49:02Z")
Missed edit. You’re right: there do not appear to be any executive orders covering these topics in any list of Clinton’s XOs, including those that contain continuous listings by number and date. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/4 "2016-10-24T19:28:00Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > ETA: [This](http://articles.latimes.com/1993-01-23/news/mn-1587_1_fetal-tissue-research) has far more details. Thanks, **Amateur Barbarian**! That seems to be as good a cite as any. With those details, I can find any number of further supporting cites. But no EO-numbers so far. So it remains a mystery why they’re not listed on that National Archives page. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/5 "2016-10-24T19:52:05Z")
I can’t find any numbered executive order published in the Federal Register either but presidents can issue directives to executive agencies in other forms, including memoranda. The information in the paragraph you mentioned comes from Carl Bernstein’s book, “A Woman in Charge,” about Hillary Clinton. The relevant excerpt is here: [A Woman in Charge - Carl Bernstein - Google Books](https://books.google.com/books?id=KG8oDvWH3ZYC&pg=PT280&dq=%22an+opportunity+to+declare+boldly+that+the+Clinton+era+had+begun%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcxtKPkvTPAhUFeD4KHbuCBBIQ6AEIIDAA#v=onepage&q=%22an%20opportunity%20to%20declare%20boldly%20that%20the%20Clinton%20era%20had%20begun%22&f=false) That is clearly the source of the Washington Post’s information. Unfortunately, the book is wrong in at least one of the details. Roe v. Wade was decided on Jan. 22, 1973, so the 20th anniversary would have been the third day of Bill Clinton’s presidency. And, in fact, on January 22, 1993, Bill Clinton signed several executive memoranda concerning abortion, contraception, and women’s healthcare. Here is the speech he gave that day: [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46219&st=&st1=](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46219&st=&st1=) I found these five memoranda but there may be others I missed. [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46300](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46300) (Lifting the Title X gag rule) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46311](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46311) (Allowing NGOs receiving USAID funds to counsel about abortion) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46289](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46289) (lifting the moratorium on fetal tissue research) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46322](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46322) (permitting privately-funded abortions on military hospitals) [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46333](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=46333) (directing the FDA to reconsider its decision to ban personal imporation of RU-486) It looks like those memoranda should also have been reprinted in the Federal Register by the agencies subject to those directives. Unfortunately, the Government Printing Office’s online Federal Register archives only goes back to 1994 so I can’t find them for you. I hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Frankenstein\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ccd318/32.png) [@Frankenstein\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frankenstein_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2016, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-clintons-executive-orders/769612/6 "2016-10-24T20:16:44Z")
Thanks, **Tired and Cranky**! So they were executive **memoranda**. Which reporters apparently tend to refer to as executive orders. Great to have this cleared up and to see exactly what these things do and how they do it. The language and scope certainly look very different from “proper” executive orders.