John Kerry Backs Taxpayer Funding of Abortions in Presidential Debate 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 10, 2004
St. Louis, MO (LifeNews.com) — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry confirmed his position in favor of taxpayer-funded of abortions during Friday night’s debate, despite a question from an audience member asking for his assurance that he would not use her tax money to pay for something she opposes.
Missouri resident Sarah Degenhart asked Kerry, "[S]uppose you are speaking with a voter who believed abortion is murder and the voter asked for reassurance that his or her tax dollars would not go to support abortion, what would you say to that person?"
Kerry told Degenhart that he respected her pro-life beliefs, but went on to say that he will use her tax money to fund abortions anyway — even in other countries.
Saying he was raised a Catholic, Kerry repeated a line of argument he has used frequently to deflect attention away from his pro-abortion position.
"I can’t take what is an article of faith for me and legislate it for someone who doesn’t share that article of faith," Kerry said.
Despite his refusal to oppose taxpayer funding of abortion, Kerry told Degenhart, "[A]s a president, I have to represent all the people in the nation."
Referring to public funding of abortions, Kerry said he would support "making certain that you don’t deny a poor person the right to be able to have whatever the constitution affords them if they can’t afford it otherwise."
President Bush made it clear he would not use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.
"My answer is, we’re not going to spend taxpayers’ money on abortion," said in response.
Bush has reinstated the Mexico City Policy that prohibits taxpayer money from going to groups that perform or promote abortions in other countries. He expanded the policy to include all State Department programs and also denied federal funds four times to the UNFPA, a U.N. agency that supports China’s policy of forced abortions and sterilizations.
Kerry has said he would restore UNFPA funding and revoke the Mexico City Policy on his first day in office.
