WASHINGTON — Stepping quickly into an abortion debate he largely avoided as a candidate, President Obama yesterday overturned a controversial ban on U.S. support to international aid groups that provide abortion services around the world.

Reversing the so-called global gag rule was a top priority of abortion-rights supporters, who have long criticized the regulation as imperiling women's health, particularly in developing nations.

The new president tried to cast his decision as a breakthrough in the decadeslong debate over the federal government's involvement in family planning.

"For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back-and-forth debate that has served only to divide us," Obama said. "It is time that we end the politicization of this issue.

"I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies. They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls."

Obama also announced he would release federal funding for the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, as soon as Congress makes it available, ensuring the United States renews support for the U.N. family planning agency.

Obama, in his statement, said that he looked forward to working with Congress to fulfill that promise: "By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries."

President Ronald Reagan instituted the rule, also known as the Mexico City Policy in 1984, stating that the U.S. government would not contribute to groups that "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."

The result, critics said, was that nongovernmental organizations working in the developing world could not refer women to safe abortion providers or even conduct family planning education campaigns that discussed the procedure.

President Bill Clinton rescinded the rule shortly after taking office in 1993. Eight years later, Republican George W. Bush reinstituted it, saying that taxpayer funds should not be used to promote abortions.

'ABORTION BAILOUT'

Obama worked to diffuse abortion as a political issue during the presidential campaign, stressing his commitment to reducing the number of abortions even as he maintained his commitment to protecting abortion rights.

And at least for a time, abortion, like other social issues, seemed to recede from the spotlight as the worsening economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dominated the national debate.

Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will oversee foreign aid, had promised to do away with the rule during the presidential campaign.

Clinton said last night that for seven years Bush's policy made it more difficult for women around the world to gain access to essential information and healthcare services.

"Rather than limiting women's ability to receive reproductive health services, we should be supporting programs that help women and their partners make decisions to ensure their health and the health of their families," Clinton said.

The U.S. abortion rate is now at its lowest level since 1974, according to a report last year by the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based research group.

Obama appeared intent on downplaying his move yesterday, announcing it with considerably less fanfare than his earlier pronouncement about closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abortion opponents immediately condemned the moves, however, criticizing them as the first part of what one critic called, Obama's "sweeping abortion agenda."

The move — coming a day after the 36th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision allowing abortion — appeared to do little to shift the tone of the debate over reproductive rights.

"President Obama campaigned on finding 'common ground' on abortion policy. But his first presidential decision to roll back the common-sense Mexico City Policy signals to American taxpayers that the abortion bailout has begun," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion Susan B. Anthony List.

On Capitol Hill, Republican lawmakers also criticized the move.

"In these historic and challenging times, divisive actions like the reversal of the Mexico City Policy are not in America's best interest," said Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House. "I am saddened by this decision and the lives that will be lost because of it."

Abortion rights groups and their supporters in Congress in turn praised the new president for taking swift action.

"Women throughout the world can breathe a sigh of relief and gain access to a full range of family planning services," said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who tried unsuccessfully to force the Bush administration to rescind the rule.