Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Democrats believe the way to end the government shutdown is to force taxpayers to fund abortion. Currently, there are Obamacare exchange insurance providers who provide coverage for elective abortion, but the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 repeals President Trump’s Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, which stops U.S. taxpayer funding of the abortion industry overseas.
Pro-life groups condemned the attempt to reinstate funding of overseas abortion at taxpayer expense.
“On day one of the new Congress, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are already trying to foist a radical pro-abortion agenda on the nation,” SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a released statement. “A strong majority of Americans oppose taxpayer funding of abortion. Acting on the clearly expressed will of the American people, President Trump and his administration have taken a bold stand for life by stopping billions of dollars in foreign aid from being used to push abortion overseas. The House’s spending bill would repeal this successful pro-life policy, making taxpayers complicit in the exportation of abortion and destruction of countless unborn children around the world. This is unconscionable and we oppose the bill in the strongest terms.”
“The price of a deal to end the government shutdown should not be tearing down the wall that protects American taxpayers from subsidizing the international abortion industry. In expanding the Mexico City Policy early in his administration, President Trump sent a strong message that he will defend the unborn and support the vast majority of Americans who do not want their tax dollars paying for abortion at home or abroad,” Penny Nance, CEO/President of Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, stated.
“The Democrat’s Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 unmasks the real agenda of liberals in Congress – to promote the radical policies of pro-abortion activists, including Speaker Pelosi, whose unabashed agenda is to prop up the abortion industry even as young Americans today embrace what science dictates: Abortion kills children,” she added.
“Democrats are once again showing their true colors and priorities with this legislation–Americans will not only have to subsidize the abortion industry here at home, but also support its spread worldwide. We’ve just barely entered 2019, and already the Democrats’ extreme prejudice against the unborn is on full display. All Americans who stand for protecting life should strongly oppose this bill,” Terry Schilling, executive director of American Principles Project, told Caffeinated Thoughts.
President Trump reinstated what has been known as the Mexico City Policy when he took office in 2017, but he also expanded the policy.
The Trump Administration modernized the policy. President Trump directed the Secretary of State to implement a plan to extend the Mexico City Policy across all global health assistance funding. That language was not present in previous executive orders.
He also directed the Secretary of State to ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars do not support organizations that support or participate in the management of a coercive abortion program like the United Nationals Population Fund. They have a long history of supporting the Chinese population control program, which has included forced abortions.
Should Senate Republicans capitulate all of that will be undone. Republicans will have an opportunity to draw a line in the sand on abortion funding as the government shutdown over a border wall continues.
A Marist/Knights of Columbus poll conducted in December of 2016 showed that 83 percent of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to support abortion overseas. Also, 61 percent of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to support abortion in the United States. A poll they conducted in January of 2018 showed that 60 percent of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer funding for abortion.
This move by House Democrats is definitely outside the mainstream.