President Barack Obama has received a challenge from a pro-life group on his State of the Union address he will deliver to Congress and the nation Tuesday night.
The Susan B. Anthony List is challenging Obama to include mention of support for bills in Congress that would prevent taxpayer funding of abortions under the health care law he and his Democratic colleagues pushed through last year.
Its president Marjorie Dannenfelser delivered her own State of the Unborn video address today in which she said Americans should hold Obama accountable for his pledge to oppose taxpayer funding of abortions in Obamacare and said supporting the bill to ensure no abortion is included would be the president’s opportunity to make good.
She urged the hundreds of thousands of people participating in today’s March for Life to “see if the president decides to follow up on his promise [that tax dollars not be used to fund abortion in health care] because right now is the moment, a moment in time which we have not seen since 1973, where we have the momentum.”
“When he gives his State of the Union message, it should certainly include how he has or has not lived up to that promise,” she said.
Dannenfelser says the pro-life movement has the ball in its court right now because of the new pro-life majority elected in the House and the enthusiasm to challegne Obama and the abortion-funding health care law.
“It’s not just a movement anymore. All the polls show this is pro-life America now,” Dannenfelser said. “It’s time for us to flex the muscle that we just flexed in this election and do everything we can in this Congress to protect human lives. We have the power. We have all the ability to save children’s lives by stopping the funding of their deaths.”
Dannenfelser’s address comes on the heels of the introduction of three bills aiming to end taxpayer funding of abortion. They include the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act sponsored by the co-chairmen of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus: Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski of Illinois that would stop all abortion funding across all federal government departments and programs.
The bill also codifies the Hyde amendment which ensures that no federal funds pay for abortion under the Labor Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill along with several other pro-life riders that currently have to be considered every year.
The Protect Life Act, which would specifically stop any abortion funding in Obamacare, is another new bill and it is sponsored by Rep. Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania, a Republican who is the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health. The third bill, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, is sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana. It ensures that tax dollars are not sent to abortion providers under Title X family planning grants, such as Planned Parenthood.
