Australia has lifted a controversial ban on using overseas aid to fund family planning programmes offering abortions, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith announced.

The move came as Australian scientists hailed a decision by US President Barack Obama to overturn his predecessor's ban on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, a science that infuriates US conservatives.

"I have decided to change the family planning guidelines for Australia's overseas development assistance programme," Smith said.

"This is a difficult issue and the government recognises that there are strong views, firmly held, on all sides," he said in a statement.

Smith made the announcement following a review of the guidelines for aid provision, saying he had decided to allow aid money to be used for pregnancy terminations as it afforded women overseas the same rights as Australians.

But he said: "Avoiding terminations through family planning services and advice will continue to be the focus of Australian-funded activities."

Australian and international non-governmental organisations will however still be able to choose what services they deliver, in line with their own philosophies and policies, he said.

But the scrapping of the ban, imposed in 1996 by the previous conservative government, challenges the personal beliefs of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a committed Christian.

Centre-left Rudd said he had "long-standing conservative views" on the issue and did not support the change.

However, he acknowledged there was a clear majority among ruling Labor Party parliamentarians in favour of overturning the ban and welcomed the 'mature' debate among his colleagues.

Source: Agence France Presse, 11 March 2009