President Obama Forces Americans to Pay for Abortions in Nation’s Capital

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Dec 17, 2009   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

President Obama Forces Americans to Pay for Abortions in Nation’s Capital

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 17
, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — President Barack Obama signed an omnibus government spending bill today that made it official — Americans will be forced to pay for abortions in the nation’s capital. The bill Obama signed overturns a 13-year-long ban on the practice and could lead to as many as 1,000 more abortions annually.

Though Obama campaigned on the promise of reducing abortions, he has repeatedly violated that pledge.

Obama waited less than a week to overturn the Mexico City Policy sending taxpayer dollars to groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.

Closer to home, Obama’s signature means the Dornan Amendment is no more and Americans will be forced to fund abortions in the District of Columbia, which already has one of the nation’s highest abortion rates.

Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, condemned the bill and its abortion funding components.

"Our country is broke. We keep having to increase our debt limit so we can borrow more money. And we are now borrowing money so that our government can fund the killing of unborn children," he said. "I cannot imagine a scenario more shameful than that which we are now witnessing."

"With President Barack Obama’s January 2009 reversal of the Mexico City Policy, federal funds are again permitted to be funneled toward groups that perform and promote abortion worldwide–permission that had been denied by the previous Bush administration," Euteneuer said.

National Right to Life Committee legislative director Douglas Johnson wrote to members of Congress urging them to oppose the bill because of the abortion funding in the District of Columbia.

"The National Right to Life Committee urges you to vote against passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (H.R. 3288), because the bill would lift a longstanding prohibition on the use of funds appropriated by Congress to pay for elective abortions in the District of Columbia," the group said in a letter LifeNews.com obtained.

"Prior to the initial adoption of the congressional ban, public funds were used to pay for over 4,000 abortions annually in the nation’s capital," Johnson notes.

"If the pro-life policy is lifted by enactment of H.R. 3288, public funding of elective abortion will resume, and the predictable result will be that the number of abortions performed will increase, probably by around 1,000 per year," he explains.

The bill also appropriates $648.5 million for international family planning funding, an increase of $103 million from Fiscal Year 2009, without the constraints of the Mexico City Policy to prevent these dollars from being provided to organizations that promote and perform abortions.

The bill also increases funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which has an admittedly pro-abortion agenda and has been criticized for working hand-in-hand with Chinese population control officials, to $55 million, a $5 million increase from FY09.

The Senate passed the bill, which funds several federal government departments, by a 57-35 vote, with Democrats backing the measure and most Republicans opposing it.

Passage of the measure was no surprise given that Democrats won a filibuster battle on a narrow 60-34 vote that saw Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Richard Shelby of Alabama side with Democrats to move ahead to a vote on the bill.

Those same three Republicans voted for the bill and three Democrats, pro-abortion Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, all voted against it for other reasons.

Shelby voted for the bill even though he signed a letter along with 35 other Republicans saying they would filibuster it because of the abortion funding. Collins and Cochran did not sign the letter.

ACTION: Send your complaints to Obama at https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com

Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report
Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.