In an unprecedented move, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to kill pro-life provisions that prevent U.S. taxpayers from funding overseas abortions. If passed in the Senate, taxpayers will be forced to funnel millions of dollars into the overseas abortion industry.
The Helms Amendment, which stops taxpayer dollars from funding elective abortions, has received bipartisan support for 45 years. The Democrats’ actions will eliminate the amendment, a wildly unpopular move.
Last year, a Marist poll commissioned by the pro-life, Catholic organization Knights of Columbus showed that 77 percent of Americans oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion overseas. Fifty-eight percent oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortion in the U.S.
The Biden administration has repeatedly expressed its support for taxpayer-funded abortion by backing both the removal of the Hyde amendment and the reversal of the Mexico City policy.
Every House Republican voted against the proposed budget. In the Senate, the Republican minority is enough to overcome the 60-vote threshold needed to pass the bill. It is unlikely that legislation will pass without wording prohibiting taxpayer-funded abortions, and Rep. Tom Cole noted that “Quite frankly, [everyone] knows this bill will never pass the United States Senate without [its] inclusion.”
The proposed bill would also gut the Kemp-Kasten Amendment, which blocks taxpayer-funding for coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization, doubles funds for the pro-China agency United Nations Population Fund, and funds abortion in the Peace Corps.
Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said the Hyde Amendment has saved nearly 2.5 million lives.
“Joe Biden himself once supported common ground pro-life protections, as the strong majority of Americans do – yet Biden-Pelosi Democrats are scrapping this longstanding bipartisan consensus to pander to the global abortion lobby,” she said.
