New GOP "Pledge to America" Calls for Tax-Funded Abortion Ban, HCR Repeal
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 21, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — House Republican leaders plan to officially released the 21-page "Pledge to America" on Thursday morning, but advance copies of the yet-to-be-approved document show it includes a call for a ban on all taxpayer funding of abortions and an aggressive strike against the ObamaCare law.
"With this document, we pledge to dedicate ourselves to the task of reconnecting our highest aspirations to the permanent truths of our founding by keeping faith with the values our nation was founded on, the principles we stand for, and the priorities of our people. This is our Pledge to America," the document says.
The document focuses primarily on economic issues with a reference in the "preamble" section to pro-life concerns.
"We pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values," the document is expected to say.
When it comes to abortion, the Republican "Pledge to America" says "Americans are overwhelmingly opposed to using tax dollars to pay for abortion, and the executive order issued by President Obama in conjunction with congressional passage of the health care law is inadequate to ensure taxpayer funds are not used in this manner."
The pledge document calls for a bill to "Permanently Prohibit Taxpayer Funding of Abortion."
"We will permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and codify the Hyde Amendment," the document promises.
"We will establish a government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion and subsidies for insurance coverage that includes abortion, this includes enacting into law what is known as the Hyde Amendment. We will also enact into law conscience protections for health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and hospitals," the draft document says.
When it comes to the health care bill President Barack Obama signed that funds abortions, the Pledge is also in line with the thoughts of pro-life advocates.
Republicans say they “will immediately take action to repeal” Obamacare and will "offer a plan to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care
with common-sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American
jobs."
The Pledge is an updated version of the famous "Contract" pro-life former Speaker New Gingrich and Republicans unveiled in 1994 that led to a landslide over pro-abortion Democrats and pro-life Republican leaders re-taking Congress.
Will polls showing Republicans have an outside chance of capturing the House, Senate or both this election cycle, the Pledge could rally conservative and independent voters behind GOP candidates.
The agenda items are based on the feedback the party has received at its "America Speaking Out" web site, which collected 160,000 ideas and received 1 million votes and comments on the proposals, according to organizer Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a pro-life California congressman.
Susan B. Anthony List, a national pro-life women’s group that helps pro-life candidates, launched a campaign to get pro-life people to press the pro-life agenda on the America Speaking Out web site.
In addition to funding abortions via the ObamaCare legislation, Congressional Democrats also allowed taxpayer financing of abortions in the nation’s capital — making it so abortions are paid for with federal funds in the District of Columbia for the first time in more than a decade.
Democrats in the House also denied pro-life Rep. Chris Smith a vote on an amendment to restore a consistent application of Kemp-Kasten for all organizations the federal government funds, including the UNFPA. That would have stopped the Obama administration from allowing taxpayer funding of the UNFPA, which has been found to be complicit in the forced abortion one-child policies in China.
Smith also wanted to offer an amendment to limit international family planning funds to those organizations that certify that they will not perform abortions or lobby for the legalization of abortion.
That would have the effect of reversing President Barack Obama’s decision to overturn the Mexico City Policy and force taxpayers to fund groups that promote and perform abortions overseas. Democrats prevented a vote on that amendment, too.
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