WASHINGTON — President Trump has reinstated the rule dating back to the Reagan era — and removed by President Obama when he first took office — that bars non-governmental organizations that offer or promote abortion from receiving federal funding.
“Not only is funding abortions abroad far outside America’s national interest, the decision to overturn this rule allowed money from the American people to be used to support a practice that millions of Americans are firmly against,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said in a statement. “Our foreign policy is shaped by our values, and supporting life is among our most sacred.”
Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a resolution Friday calling on Trump to reinstate the Mexico City Policy or something similar.
“There is long-standing statute limiting U.S. foreign assistance from being spent on the promotion or provision of abortion services,” Lee said Friday. “…The resolution is a congressional support document, rooted in legislative and executive history, representing the will of the majority of Americans to see more restrictions on funding for abortion – restrictions President Trump can immediately impose – applied to our foreign aid expenditures of taxpayer dollars.”
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) slammed the action as “no surprise to the millions of women and men who gathered in protest this weekend across the country – and around the world – that Republicans are focused more on making it harder for women to access healthcare than on the serious economic and security challenges we face.”
“By reinstating the so-called ‘global gag-rule’ today by executive order, President Trump is actively preventing vulnerable women in developing countries from being able to receive the healthcare they need when foreign aid organizations, supported by the United States, carry out their important, lifesaving work,” Hoyer said.
At the daily briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the president “has made it very clear that he’s a pro-life president.”
Spicer added that the Mexico City Policy stands up for taxpayers as well as life.
McCarthy noted that the House is scheduled to vote Tuesday “to protect life within our own borders by passing the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which bars taxpayer money from being spent to fund abortions.”
“Between President Trump’s action and this legislation, the American taxpayers will no longer foot the bill for abortions at home or abroad,” he said. “Our unified Republican government has demonstrated clearly that America is committed to defending life, not destroying it.”
Hoyer called the bill legislation to “restrict American women’s access to comprehensive reproductive health coverage and services – even in cases where a mother’s health is endangered.”
“This week’s attacks on women here at home and around the world will only galvanize the strong opposition we saw this weekend to the radical Trump-Republican agenda to put government regulators between women and their doctors,” he added.
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