Democrats Pass Bill Forcing Americans to Fund International Planned Parenthood

National   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   Jun 19, 2019   |   5:15PM   |   Washington, DC

Democrats in Congress passed a bill Wednesday to restore the taxpayer funding that President Donald Trump cut from Planned Parenthood and other international abortion groups.

The $1 trillion spending bill passed the U.S. House in a 226-203 vote, with seven Democrats joining all Republicans to vote against the measure, The Hill reports. The bill provides funds for the Departments of Defense, Labor, Health and Human Services and Education, as well as foreign aid.

It also would eliminate the Mexico City policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding to groups that promote or provide abortions overseas. Trump reinstated and expanded the pro-life policy in one of his first acts as president. Historically, Republican presidents have enacted the policy since Ronald Reagan, while Democratic presidents have repealed it.

Under the Trump administration, the policy defunded Planned Parenthood’s international arm of about $100 million in U.S. tax dollars. It took tax dollars away from the British-based abortion chain Marie Stopes International as well.

The International Planned Parenthood Federation performed more than 1 million abortions in 2016 and received more than $27 million in U.S. government grants in 2015-2016 under pro-abortion President Barack Obama.

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Now, Democratic leaders want to see that funding restored. Though the spending bill passed the House, it is not likely to pass the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate.

Party leaders are pushing for taxpayer-funded abortions through the repeal of the Hyde Amendment as well. The Hyde Amendment is a four-decades-old measure that historically has had strong bipartisan support. However, the new Democratic Party platform calls for the amendment to be repealed, and the leading Democrats running for president support the platform.

Polls indicate that most Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund the killing of unborn babies. In 2016, when Hillary Clinton campaigned on the same issue, a Harvard University poll found that 36 percent of likely voters support overturning the Hyde Amendment.

Interestingly, the poll also found that voters who make more than $75,000 were more supportive of forcing taxpayers to fund abortions (45 percent in favor), while those who make $25,000 or less were strongly against it (24 percent in favor). In other words, the people most likely to qualify for a Medicaid-covered, taxpayer-funded abortion are the ones most likely to oppose it.

A January poll by Marist University found similarly strong opposition, with 75 percent saying they oppose taxpayer-funded abortions and 19 percent support them.

Last week, former Vice President Joe Biden said he no longer supports the Hyde Amendment. If elected president, he would try to force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies.