The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission

Government’s Expanded Abortion Agenda Overseas

By Doug Carlson - Jun 16, 2009 - 1

Last week, the House of Representatives took up a bill authorizing how the United States intends to fund and conduct business with other nations. The agenda prescribed to the State Department can hardly be described as family-friendly.

The Foreign Relations Authorization Act, approved 235-187, creates an Office for Global Women’s Issues that would be empowered to pressure other nations to abandon pro-life laws in exchange for laws promoting abortion.

Staunch defenders of life and the family such as Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Mike Pence (R-IN) tried to modify the bill, which also instructs U.S. diplomats to encourage foreign governments to reform or repeal laws against homosexuality, but the Democratic leadership rebuffed their efforts.

The vote on H.R. 2410 is the latest among a string of efforts to export abortion overseas. In April, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered the House Foreign Affairs Committee a foretaste of the administration’s abortion agenda: “We happen to think that family planning is an important part of women’s health and reproductive health includes access to abortion.” In case committee members could not read this handwriting on the wall, she added that “we are now an administration that will protect the rights of women, including their rights to reproductive health care.”

Yet Secretary Clinton’s overtures are in keeping with the president’s. On day 2 in the Oval Office, President Obama overturned the Mexico City Policy, which barred taxpayer funding of organizations that provide or promote abortions overseas. This change bucked the will of 65 percent of Americans, according to a Gallup Poll. Two months later, he redirected $50 million from taxpayers’ wallets to the United Nations Population Fund, which supports China’s coercive population-control policy.

Prior to the House vote on the foreign relations bill, Dr. Richard Land, the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s president, sent a letter to dozens of Democrats underscoring the bill’s “wanton disregard for the pro-life values of other nations” and urging the representatives to oppose the bill unless amended to clarify that the U.S. would not lobby for abortion. Some heeded the admonition; most did not. Only 16 of the 42 who received the letter opposed the bill. Among the 26 supporting the bill are several congressmen who consider themselves pro-life, such as Reps. Heath Shuler (NC) and Bart Stupak (MI).

On the other side of the aisle, seven Republicans voted for the bill:

Michael Castle (DE)
Charles Dent (PA)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Leonard Lance (NJ)
Steven LaTourette (OH)
John McHugh (NY)
Dave Reichert (WA)

If you see your representative on this list, you may want to consider asking why he or she would vote for a bill that empowers the government to use taxpayer funds to undermine pro-life policies in sovereign nations.

Representatives are elected by their constituents to do precisely what their name implies—represent them. Bearing this responsibility, they should be held to account for every vote, particularly when it involves the taking of innocent human life.

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. Our free, downloadable Impact resource on the sanctity of human life is now available at iLiveValues.com. Additional resources are available for purchase on our online bookstore and erlc.com.

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