Biden to order taxpayers’ funds to promote abortion on demand in foreign countries
WASHINGTON, DC—A letter signed by 136 Members of Congress urges President Joseph Biden to reconsider and reverse a new executive order that according to Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) “forces U.S. taxpayers to fund organizations that promote, lobby for or perform abortion on demand in foreign countries.”
Smith said: “U.S. foreign policy—and the foreign entities we fund with billions of dollars in grant money—should consistently affirm, care for, and tangibly assist women and children—including unborn baby girls and boys.”
The Biden order reverses the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, also known as the Mexico City Policy—which was a reiteration and expansion of President Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy.
Smith, who authored the letter, said: “Americans overwhelmingly oppose using U.S. foreign aid to subsidize abortion,” and pointed to a new Marist Poll that found more than three in four Americans—77 percent—oppose using tax dollars to support abortions in other countries.
Smith said the “original policy was announced by President Reagan at a United Nations Conference on Population Control in Mexico City in 1984—hence its name—and it established pro-child safeguards—benign, humane conditions—on about $9 billion in annual global health assistance. It was,” he said, “designed to ensure that U.S. taxpayer money is not funneled to foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that perform or promote abortion as a method of family planning.”
“Many countries throughout the world have been besieged by aggressive and well-funded campaigns to overturn their pro-life laws and policies,” Smith continued. “The Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy was designed to mitigate U.S. taxpayer complicity in global abortion.”