Senate Omnibus Bill Funds Planned Parenthood, UNFPA, Ditches Abstinence Ed
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 11, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The omnibus spending bill the Senate will consider this weekend could pave the way for funding abortions in the nation’s capital for the first time in 13 years. There are other winners and losers in the legislation — with Planned Parenthood and the UNFPA dining at the Congressional trough.
As LifeNews.com has reported, the Senate is expected to vote on the bill and a filibuster of it this weekend.
In the House, not a single Republican voted for the bill and 28 Democrats joined them in opposing the measure, in part because of the abortion funding.
But, there’s more.
"Because the legislation funds so many federal agencies, there’s ample room to squeeze in liberal goodies like abortion," says Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, tells LifeNews.com.
After the $10 million boost for Title X funding, Planned Parenthood is expected to be the biggest recipient of the Fed’s $317.5 million pool, Perkins notes.
The bill also says farewell to abstinence education — the Omnibus zeros out "save sex" programs and replaces them with $110 million in condom promotion.
Perkins also says, under the current omnibus language, the U.S. would open up the spigots ($703.5 million) to overseas groups like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) that promote abortion.
Specifically, as the Heritage Foundation explains, "The bill makes $55 million available to the United Nations Population Fund which had been withheld by President Bush due to continued concerns over the UNFPA’s involvement in China’s coercive one-child per family policy."
"The portion of the bill devoted to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) increases the agency’s funding by 8.5 percent over last year, but the $6.3 billion increase had no room to retain even one dollar for abstinence funding," the conservative group notes.
Perkins says pro-life advocates need to get on the horn now and ask for no votes on the bill and support for the filibuster.
"The budget still needs Senate approval, so contact your leaders and ask them to steer this Omnibus back to respectability," he said.
ACTION: Contact members of the Senate at 202-224-3121 or https://www.Senate.gov and urge them to oppose the omnibus bill because of the taxpayer funding of abortions in the District of Columbia and for other reasons.
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