Tag: Helms Amendment

Congressman Slams Democrats: They Want to Use Our Tax Dollars to Dismember Unborn Babies

Micaiah Bilger – November 19, 2021

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey criticized Democrats on Thursday for trying to force taxpayers to pay for the killing of unborn babies in abortions through a massive spending bill.

Democrats’ $2 trillion “Build Back Better” bill, which passed the U.S. House on Friday, does not include any of the long-standing bans on taxpayer-funded abortions. If it passes the U.S. Senate, Americans could be forced to pay for the killing of unborn babies in elective abortions both in the United States and in other countries.

Smith, a leading pro-life voice in Congress, said it’s shocking that Democrats removed the Hyde Amendment and other measures that protect American taxpayers and unborn babies.

“It is time, I believe, for more of us to face the harsh reality of what abortion does to children and look beyond the sound bites and slogans,” Smith said. “No one in the media ever bothers to expose the violent methods of abortion that include dismemberment of a child’s fragile body, including decapitation, and that drugs like RU-486 starve the baby to death.”

He urged lawmakers to restore the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions in Medicaid and other federal programs, as well as the Helms Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortions in other countries.

“Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize or facilitate the killing of an unborn child,” Smith said, pointing to recent polls showing strong public opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions.

The massive spending bill mandates abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, and includes a number of other funding measures that could pay for abortions, Smith continued.

https://www.lifenews.com

Democrats Vote for Bill to Make Americans Fund Killing Babies in Abortions in Other Countries

Steven Ertelt  –  Jul 29, 2021

Late Wednesday night, Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats voted for a bill that would make Americans fund abortions with their tax dollars in other nations. The House voted for the State Department funding bill, which contains language overturning the helms Amendment, which has stopped taxpayer funding of foreign abortions for decades.

The vote was 217-212, with every Republican voting agaisnt the bill and every Democrat except three voting for it. The  three Democratic “no” votes — Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib — voted against the bill for other reasons.

The SFOPS appropriations bill removes or weakens four longstanding pro-life protections, including the Helms Amendment, which prevents taxpayer funding from being used to fund abortion overseas.  It increased funding for both the United Nations Population Fund and international family planning funding.  It also includes text permanently preventing a President from re-establishing the Protection Life in Global Health Assistance policy (also referred to as the Mexico City Policy), which defund Planned Parenthood and other groups that promote and perform abortions overseas.

Congressman Chris Smith, a New Jersey Republican, spoke on the House floor against the bill and the pro-abortion provisions.

“Since 1973, the Helms Amendment has prohibited using U.S. taxpayer funds to directly pay for abortions in other countries. Helms is the Hyde Amendment for the rest of the world. The bill before us today, however, completely reverses Helms,” he said.

https://www.lifenews.com

Dems Push Taxpayer-Funded Abortions Overseas

– June 30, 2021

House Democrats are fighting for taxpayer-funded abortions through international aid in a bid to overturn a decades-long bipartisan agreement.

A spending bill advanced by the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee Monday would repeal the Helms Amendment, which bans direct funding of abortions through foreign aid. The bill would also repeal the Mexico City policy, known by critics as the global gag rule, which prevents the United States from funding international organizations that are involved with abortion services. The policy has been implemented and repealed by presidents of opposing parties since its inception under President Ronald Reagan in 1985.

The United Nations Population Fund, which the Trump administration stopped funding in 2017 due to the group’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party’s family planning program, would receive a 50 percent increase in funding under the bill.

Supporters of the Helms Amendment and the Mexico City policy expressed concern with the U.S. government using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions globally.

“Repealing the Helms Amendment and funding United Nations Population Fund would endanger unborn lives worldwide and represent cultural imperialism of the worst kind, attempting to impose leftist values on countries whose people overwhelmingly reject them,” Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project, told the Washington Free Beacon. “This extremism is also widely opposed by Americans, and Democrats will be forced to answer for it next time voters head to the polls.”

Pro-choice groups have long opposed the Helms Amendment and Mexico City policy, which they claim prevent funds from aiding vulnerable women across the globe in need of safe abortions.

https://freebeacon.com