By eliminating the Helms Amendment, Democrats are attempting to impose an unwanted abortion imperialism on both taxpayers and developing nations, many of which have pro-life laws. Marist polling shows that Americans overwhelmingly oppose the international funding of abortion –77%, including most Democrats, support such restrictions on foreign aid. Abortion is not development assistance and American taxpayers should not be forced to fund the abortion industry, either at home or abroad.”
Tom McClusky, president March for Life Action
Biden’s Values: Breakdown of the FY 2022 President’s Budget
President Joe Biden once said, “Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I’ll tell you what you value.” With his newly released $6 trillion spending proposal that removes the decades-old, bipartisanly supported Hyde Amendment, President Biden has shown the American people exactly what he values.
Breakdown of Biden’s Pro-Abortion Budget
Eliminates the Hyde Amendment (pg. 807) – which would allow taxpayer funding for abortion on demand through Medicaid, Medicare disability, and other programs funded under the Labor/Health & Human Services appropriations bill. Before the Hyde Amendment took effect in 1980, an estimated 300,000 abortions were performed annually using taxpayer funds. The Hyde Amendment has saved an estimated more than 2.4 million lives since it first became policy in 1976, and it routinely saves more than 60,000 lives in the United States every year.
Eliminates the Dornan Amendment (pg. 1272), which would allow the District of Columbia to fund abortions through its Medicaid program. When the Dornan amendment was last gutted in FY2010, D.C. funded 300 abortions through Medicaid.
Eliminates the Aderholt Amendment (pg. 188), which would lift the Federal ban on gestating gene-edited embryos, such as three-parent embryos.
19% increase in funding for the Title X family planning program by $53.521 million to $340 million from $286.479 million (pg. 438). Once the Biden administration finalizes its new Title X rules, this funding will serve as a slush fund for Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry. Biden promised on the campaign trail that the public option would cover abortion on demand.
Calls for making permanent the expanded Obamacare premium tax credits (which subsidize abortion coverage) under the American Rescue Plan Act, and the creation of a so-called “public option” for a government-run health insurance plan offered through the Obamacare exchanges. (pg. 24) Biden promised during his campaign that any public option would cover abortion on demand.
Increases the funding floor earmark for international family planning/reproductive health by $8.7 million to $583.7 million from $575 million (pg. 916). This is a slush fund for international pro-abortion organizations including International Planned Parenthood and Marie Stopes International, which can now receive these funds due to Biden’s rescission of Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.
72% increase in funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) by $23.5 million to $56 million from $32.5 million (pg. 125 of State Dept request). The UNFPA promotes abortions around the world and supports China’s forced abortion and sterilization regime.
Eliminates conditions on U.S. funds to the UNFPA, including requirements that the UNFPA not fund abortions and that funds not be directly used for coercive abortion programs in China (pg. 916)
Adds a sweeping notwithstanding authority for funding “to promote gender equality” overseas, which would bypass the Helms Amendment and Siljander Amendments, to potentially allow taxpayer funding for abortion or abortion lobbying overseas. (pg. 916)
Replaces the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Fund with the ideologically rebranded, “Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund” (pg. 916), made further dangerous by the aforementioned notwithstanding authority for gender equality activities.
Eliminates the application of the Helms Amendment to the Complex Crises Fund (pg. 832), which could allow those funds to pay for abortions
Expands the HIV/AIDS Working Capital Fund (WCF) to include pharmaceuticals and other products for global health activities broadly, including contraceptive commodities, and via funds from non-U.S. Government donors, potentially abortion-related commodities (pg. 901).
Expands the notwithstanding authority for bypassing country prohibitions to include global health activities more broadly, including contraceptives (pg. 916).
Eliminates provisions removing time limitations on embryo storage for IVF procedures funded by the Department of Defense (pg. 329)
The Biden/Harris budget is radically out of touch with the American people on the issue of taxpayer support for abortion. The majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars funding abortion, yet the Biden/Harris administration removed the long-standing – since 1976 – Hyde protections against such a policy. Joe Biden once said, ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.’ Sadly, this administration does not value human life nor does it represent the wishes of mainstream America on such a critical issue.
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action
March for Life Statement on Biden/Harris Budget
The Biden/Harris budget is radically out of touch with the American people on the issue of taxpayer support for abortion. The majority of Americans do not want their tax dollars funding abortion, yet the Biden/Harris administration removed the long-standing – since 1976 – Hyde protections against such a policy. Joe Biden once said ‘don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.’ Sadly, this administration does not value human life nor does it represent the wishes of mainstream America on such a critical issue.”
Tom McClusky, president of March for Life Action
New Title X Rules Would Restore Sanger’s Eugenics Project
The Title X program was authorized in 1970 for the purpose of reducing population growth by providing family planning services to low-income women. From nearly the beginning, the program warranted concerns due to its lack of parental notice for minors, the sharing of resources between abortion clinics and Title X clinics in the same facility – or “co-location” — and mandatory abortion referrals for pregnant women. But perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Title X program is that it has provided a high level of funding for the nation’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood. Most recently that number was around $60 million per year. This amounts to the government subsidizing abortion without any mandate from the American people.
Some argue that Title X family planning dollars cannot, by law, directly pay for abortions. But these same skeptics ignore the fact that the funding is used to offset the operational and overhead costs of abortion businesses that both encourage and refer for abortions while rendering Title X services. According to the organization’s current president, Planned Parenthood affiliates “proudly” performed 345,672 abortions in FY2018. During this time period Planned Parenthood claimed almost $2 billion in net assets and took in a total of $616.8 million in taxpayer funding — an increase from $543.7 million the year prior.
When the Trump administration’s proposed Title X rules, which were designed to realign with the original intent of the program, required physical and financial separation of abortion and Title X services, Planned Parenthood decided to drop out of it. The abortion business bemoaned the fact that it would lose about $60 million in taxpayer funds that could have helped poor women. But financially dropping out of the Title X program made sense in terms of Planned Parenthood’s bottom line. The $60 million was more than made up for between an increase in Medicaid funding and fundraising off of opposition to the pro-life Trump administration. In fact, Planned Parenthood took in $591 million in donations in 2018, an increase of over 50% from 2014 levels.
Despite this healthy financial picture – thanks to American taxpayer support — the Biden administration is eager to enrich Planned Parenthood even more. The administration’s proposed Title X rules once again permit co-location and mandate abortion referrals, but they also include some troubling additions. The proposed rules specify that, in determining whether to award Title X project funding, the department of Health and Human Services must consider “the ability of the applicant to advance health equity.”
Advancing “health equity” is the federal government’s way of saying Title X grant recipients, the largest of which has been Planned Parenthood, must target underprivileged, minority populations for reduction. This comes just as Planned Parenthood is attempting to distance itself from its eugenicist founder Margaret Sanger, who also targeted underprivileged minorities, and particularly communities of color.
Since the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, some have estimated more than 19 million African American children have been lost to abortion. Tragically, Sanger’s strategy of targeting this minority has been successfully implemented by Planned Parenthood. In 2015, African Americans made up only 13.4% of the population and yet, according to the Centers for Disease Control, they accounted for 36% of abortions performed annually in the United States.
In the name of “equity,” the Biden administration is transforming the Title X program into a taxpayer funded eugenics project in the Planned Parenthood tradition of Margaret Sanger. The U.S. government should play no role in institutionalizing the racially discriminatory strategies of Planned Parenthood and its founder. The abortion industry’s leader is far too controversial (and wealthy) to be worthy of public support.
8 Ways the Ill-Named HEROES Act Funds Abortion
For the second time in dealing with Coronavirus, Politifact decided that defending Speaker Nancy Pelosi was more important than presenting the facts. Their latest posting unfortunately portrays the March for Life as liars—even though they never took the initiative to ask for information to substantiate our claim that the HEROES Act would help fund abortion. Not only can we confidently support our claim, but we have collected EIGHT different pieces of overwhelming evidence.
March for Life Action took to twitter to stand up to Politifact and present the facts. You can read a break down of the thread below.
Nancy Pelosi's HEROES Act does support abortion despite what Politifact says. If @PolitiFact had asked before publishing their "analysis" we would have supplied them the following information with citations: 1/13 (long thread, bring coffee)
— March for Life Action (@MFLAction) June 4, 2020
While it would be great if Politifact got the record straight, what is really important is that we take a stand to make sure our lawmakers know that pro-life Americans DO NOT support ANY public funding of the abortion industry. Click below to send a message to your elected officials about demanding Hyde protections in funding bills.
Take Action!
8 Ways the Ill-Named HEROES Act Funds Abortion
1. Division A, Title III—Financial Services and General Government (FSGG)—Coronavirus State Fiscal Relief Fund and Coronavirus Local Fiscal Relief Fund (pgs. 22-33): These two relief funds, lack pro-life protections, appropriates $915 billion.
2. Division A, Title VI—Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education—Public Health and Social Services Emergency Fund—Health Care Provider Relief Fund. Division C, Title VI, Subtitle A—Assistance to Providers and Health System—HEALTH CARE PROVIDER RELIEF FUND—SEC. 30611: The bill creates a novel Health Care Provider Relief Fund containing $100 billion that could go to abortion providers. (pg. 570), (pg. 585), (pg. 87).
3. Division B, Title II—Additional Relief for Workers: This division includes expansions of federal subsidies of employer-sponsored health insurance, including plans that cover abortion: Subtitle B— Section 20211 – Tax Credits to Prevent Business Interruption (pg. 236). Subtitle C— Section 20221 – Credits for Paid Sick and Family Leave (pg. 267). Through this credit, taxpayers subsidize the cost of health insurance that may often include elective abortion. This bill extends the tax credit an additional calendar year but does not include any Hyde protections.
4. Division C, Title III—Private Insurance Provisions, Subtitle B—Worker Health Coverage Protection (pg. 402-448): Many employer-sponsored health care plans include elective abortions, but no Hyde protections were applied to ensure that taxpayer dollars would not finance abortion-covering plans.
5. Division I, Small Business Provisions— AMENDMENTS TO THE PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM (beginning pg. 821): The HEROES Act removes the affiliation rule from the PPP allowing the abortion-giant Planned Parenthood access to the funds.
6. Division Q, Title I—Provisions Relating to State, Local, Tribal, and Private Sector Workers (pg. 1527). The bill creates a COVID-19 Heroes Fund that will issue grants for employers to pay individual essential workers $13/hour up to $10,000 above normal employee earnings until 60 days after the last day of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Nothing bars abortion clinic employees from eligibility for this premium pay.
7. The Manager’s Amendment (Title VII—Other Matters, Sec. 30701), — States that, both in this bill and provisions in past COVID-19 relief bills signed into law, no person shall be “excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination… based on any factor … such as… pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions…”. If adopted, this provision could override the Hyde protections that have been included in this bill and in past COVID-19-related legislation: the CARES Act (HR 748), the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (HR 6201), and the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (HR 6074).
8. The Manager’s Amendment — Also contains two provisions (SEC. 30307 and SEC. 30308) that provide funding to group health insurance plans. Neither provision includes any Hyde protection language to ensure taxpayer dollars do not fund health plans that include elective abortion.
We will continue to provide you with this important pro-life information, but we need your help to make sure our elected officials hear from you to really make a difference!