Assault on the Unborn Underway, Battle Begins
- Jan 27, 2009 - 1 -
It took just a few days in office for President Barack Obama to begin dismantling pro-life policies. The 44th president used the power of his pen Jan. 23 to reverse the Mexico City Policy, a ban on federal funding of non-governmental organizations overseas that perform or promote abortions. He waited just long enough—one day—for the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion to pass.
Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, responded quickly in a press release decrying President Obama’s brash order to subsidize abortions overseas.
The erosion of pro-life policies in America is officially underway. One could argue it began even as our new president took the oath of office. As the clock struck noon on Inauguration Day, the White House’s official Web site morphed from one defending unborn lives to one supporting their death.
But the new administration and liberal Congress will not have the leisure to ram through their radical pro-abortion agenda without a fight. A pro-life bloc in Congress is committed to push back at every turn.
Pro-life champion Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), for example, is promoting a measure that could be considered the domestic equivalent to the now-reversed Mexico City Policy. The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 614) would cut off all taxpayer funding to U.S. family planning groups that perform or promote abortions, except in the cases of rape, incest with a minor girl, or threats to the life of the mother. While current law forbids family planning agencies in the U.S. from using Title X funds to perform abortions, funds channeled to abortion-providing clinics inevitably underwrite abortions because they are used to offset operational expenses, subsequently freeing up dollars for abortions.
Its biggest target: Planned Parenthood of America, the nation’s largest abortion provider at some 290,000 abortions in 2006, the latest year for tallies. The more than $300 million of taxpayer money that flows to the abortion giant each year would dry up under the bill.
Rep. Pence introduced the bill Jan. 22 with the support of more than 60 House colleagues. The bill was floated in the previous Congress, but denied a vote by the liberal majority.
This bill is a very positive step toward protecting the unborn. If you share this view, please contact your congressman and urge him to cosponsor the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act (H.R. 614).
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to protect the sanctity of human life. If you would like to learn more about this issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on the sanctity of human life, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
Further Learning
Learn more about: Life, Abortion, Citizenship, Legislation
Comments are closed. Please use our contact form if you have any thoughts or questions.
comments
1 On Jan 28th, 2009, at 12:10pm, Xavier wrote:
“One could argue it began even as our new president took the oath of office.”
Yeah, maybe it happened when voters rejected every single anti-choice initiative in 2008.
It’s time to take the focus off of 8 celled zygotes and put that focus on Abeer Qassim Hamza instead.