Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has restored the word “abortion” as an acceptable search term on the POPLINE Web site, following criticism from some health advocates and librarians that the restriction amounted to censorship.

The POPLINE Web site – “population information online” – is a unique source of information, including more than 360,000 articles on population, family planning programs, population law, maternal and child health, population and environment and other related health issues.

In a statement, Dr. Michael Klag, the dean of the Bloomberg School, said the restriction had been put in place after inquiries by the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funds the site. He also added that he “could not agree more strongly with this decision, and I have directed that the POPLINE administrators restore ’abortion’ as a search term immediately. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge and not its restriction. I will also launch an inquiry to determine why this change occurred,” the statement said.

USAID denies funding to nongovernmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations. However, health advocates and librarians strongly disagreed with the USAID decision.

President of the American Library Association, Loriene Roy welcomed Klag’s position in the first place, saying the restriction denied “researchers, students and individuals on all sides of the issue access to accurate scientific information,” OrlandoSentinel.com reports.

Calls following the restoration of the world “abortion” as an acceptable search term on POPLINE were not immediately returned Saturday.