Biden Pushes for Taxpayer-Funded Abortion in Budget
Biden supported ban on taxpayer funding for abortions while in the Senate
President Joe Biden's proposed federal budget throws open the door for taxpayer-funded abortion by forgoing a longstanding measure he supported as a senator.
The Biden administration's 2022 fiscal budget massively boosts federal spending and lacks any protections from the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer money from funding abortions. The administration issued the budget request to Congress Friday.
The budget calls for $6 trillion in funding overall, the majority of which will go to pay for entitlement programs and interest on the national debt. The Department of Health and Human Services is requesting $133 billion in discretionary funding, none of which includes the Hyde Amendment. The request represents a nearly 25 percent increase from last year.
The Biden administration did not respond to a request for comment.
Pro-life groups condemned Biden's spending priorities. The budget proposal not only reversed the pro-life policies of the Trump administration but also ran against Biden's defense of the Hyde Amendment during his career in elected office.
"For more than four decades, the Hyde family of pro-life policies has kept American taxpayers out of the abortion business, with the Hyde Amendment itself saving nearly 2.5 million lives," said Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser. "The Biden budget throws that longstanding, bipartisan consensus out the window to fulfill a campaign promise to the radical abortion lobby."
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action, said Biden is forcing the American people to violate their consciences.
"The Biden/Harris budget is radically out of touch with the American people on the issue of taxpayer support for abortion," McClusky said. "The majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars funding abortion, yet the Biden/Harris administration removed the long-standing—since 1976—Hyde protections against such a policy."
Biden reversed his position on the Hyde Amendment during the 2020 presidential campaign after he repeatedly voted to reauthorize the amendment during his time in the Senate. After wavering on the issue, Biden said he supported taxpayer-funded abortions because of state legislatures passing restrictions on the procedure.
Published under: Abortion, Biden, Hyde Amendment, Pro-Life
State AGs Threaten Legal Action Against Biden Admin Push for Taxpayer-Funded Abortion
HHS Sec Becerra already in hot water for border surge
More than 20 Republican state attorneys general are threatening legal action over the Biden administration's expansion of taxpayer funding for abortion.
The letter, authored by Ohio attorney general Dave Yost, rips into a rule change to the Title X family funding program proposed by President Biden's Department of Health and Human Services that would grant abortion providers access to millions in taxpayer funding. The letter said the proposed changes would place recipients of the funding in "jeopardy of violating federal law."
"Title X reflects a compromise. It funds services that large numbers of Americans support while withholding that funding from services that large numbers oppose," the attorneys general state in the letter. "The Proposed Rule tramples that compromise, by intertwining family-planning services with the divisive issue of publicly funded abortions."
The Republicans also criticize the rule's focus on "health equity," which they say could run afoul of anti-discrimination law, because "health programs that receive funding from the Department may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability."
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
The Biden proposal, issued on April 15, walks back changes instituted under the Trump administration that required recipients of the program's funding to maintain a physical separation between abortion services and family planning services. "By focusing on advancing equity in the Title X program, we can create opportunities for the improvement of communities that have been historically underserved, which benefits everyone," the proposal says.
The letter comes as Health and Human Services secretary Xavier Becerra faces bipartisan criticism on a number of fronts, including a deteriorating situation at the southern border. White House officials are frustrated with Becerra's ineffective attempts to deal with a record number of unaccompanied minors illegally crossing the border, according to Politico. A group of congressional Republicans called for increased communication from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Homeland Security over security concerns surrounding child trafficking at the border.
Becerra also took flak from Republican lawmakers and pro-life groups after he falsely claimed there is no federal law prohibiting partial birth abortion. "There is no law that deals specifically with the term ‘partial birth abortion,'" he said at a congressional hearing on May 17. The statement ignored the existence of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, a law Becerra voted against when he was in the House of Representatives.
"Becerra can hardly plead ignorance on this topic. As a freshman congressman, he voted against the ban. This shameless lie is standard for the most radical pro-abortion administration in history," said Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser.
Becerra's time as head of the department could see the most consequential Supreme Court ruling on abortion in decades. The Court's decision to take up a Missouri law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy puts decades of abortion law in the crosshairs of the justices.
The department said that the period for comment on the proposed rule change has closed and that the agency is reviewing comments on the rule.
Published under: Abortion, Hyde Amendment, Planned Parenthood, Title X, Xavier Becerra
Texas Joins Growing Number of States Passing Heartbeat Bills
Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) signed a bill banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making Texas the latest in a growing number of Republican-controlled states cracking down on abortions.
The new law, set to take effect in September, bans abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The legislation differs from other "heartbeat" bills by allowing private citizens to sue abortion providers if they believe the provider violated the ban. The only exception to the ban is an abortion performed in a medical emergency.
"Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year because of abortion. In Texas, we work to save those lives," Abbott said at the bill signing.
The bill comes after one of the largest cities in the state passed an ordinance declaring itself a "sanctuary city for the unborn." Lubbock, a city of more than 250,000 people in northwest Texas, joined more than two dozen towns in adopting policies that will automatically outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.
The Court has signaled its willingness to reconsider the constitutionality of abortion after months of pressure from pro-life activists. The Court on Monday agreed to hear a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks. The case represents the most significant abortion-related case the Court has agreed to hear in decades. The Court's conservative majority has provided hope for pro-life advocates that the Supreme Court will reevaluate restrictions on abortion.
The High Court's decision on the Mississippi law is likely to come toward the middle of 2022 after oral arguments later this year.
Several other Republican states have passed similar heartbeat bills only to have the laws immediately challenged in court. Arkansas, South Carolina, and Montana are among the states taking swift action to ban most or all abortions after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.
Published under: Abortion, Pro-Life
City in Texas Declares Itself a Sanctuary for the Unborn After Ballot Initiative
Lubbock law will outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned
Voters have made one of the largest cities in Texas a "sanctuary city for the unborn," passing an ordinance to automatically outlaw abortion in the event Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Lubbock, a city in northwest Texas with a population of more than 250,000 people, became the 25th city to declare that abortion will be outlawed in the city in a post-Roe, post-Planned Parenthood v. Casey world. The ban passed with 63 percent of votes cast. The vote comes after contentious legal battles between the Trump administration and Democrat-run cities that declared themselves sanctuaries over disagreements with former president Trump's immigration policies.
"The State's temporary inability to prosecute or punish those who violate its abortion statutes on account of Roe v. Wade does not change the fact that abortion is still defined as a criminal act under Texas law," the ordinance states. "It shall be unlawful for any person to procure or perform an abortion of any type and at any stage of pregnancy in the City of Lubbock, Texas."
Lubbock is the largest city to adopt such a ban. The ban would most significantly impact a Planned Parenthood clinic that opened in June 2020. The state of Texas accounted for about 6 percent of U.S. abortions performed in 2017, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. The institute reports that 55,440 abortions were performed in the state in 2017, a decrease of 3 percent from 2014.
"Voters made it clear that Lubbock will become the next sanctuary city for the unborn," Lubbock mayor Dan Pope (R.) said in a statement.
The ordinance takes direct aim at Planned Parenthood. It would allow citizens to take legal action against "any personnel from Planned Parenthood or other pro-abortion organizations who perform abortions of any kind." It does exempt procedures in the case of threats to the health of the mother or child.
Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas did not respond to a request for comment. The organization said in a statement that it is "carefully reviewing" the impacts of the ordinance before determining its next steps.
"The Lubbock ordinance approved on May 1, 2021 establishes an abortion ban for Lubbock residents, creating significant barriers and the need to travel a minimum 600 mile round trip or out of state to obtain an abortion," the statement said.
Pro-life and religious organizations praised the ordinance for setting the stage for a future in which abortion law is entirely up to states.
"Babies' lives will be saved as a result of this ordinance," Jim Baxa, president of West Texas for Life, said. "States should be asserting their authority to ban abortion regardless of what tyrants in the federal court think. Until States have the courage to ban abortion statewide, cities have a right and a duty to outlaw abortion within their city limits."
Robert M. Coerver, the bishop of the Catholic diocese of Lubbock, said he hopes the ordinance "will be successful in bringing about an end to the killing of voiceless innocents through the act of abortion."
"I hope that this moment in the city of Lubbock will be an occasion for all residents to grow in their respect for all human life, from the moment of conception to natural death," he said.
The city will likely adopt the ordinance on June 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment