Advancing Life and Liberty Through Action

Protecting Your Money from Foreign Abortionists

Sep 18, 2020

 
Liberty Counsel Action has been working hard on Capitol Hill to defund the many different sources of taxpayer funding to abortionists, both domestically and internationally. In the past two weeks, we had multiple, high-level meetings on pro-life topics. Just days later, President Trump signed a new rule that blocks funding to abortion advocates and providers that will include subcontractors.

This is a huge victory and we are very grateful to President Trump for his action!

The inclusion of subcontractors now applies this pro-life focus to about 40% of the funds that had the potential to be money laundered through multiple organizations before it ended up in the pockets of abortion clinics and abortionists. This system was allowing the continuation of American tax dollars to fund abortions—until the President just put an end to it.

Calvin Freiburger reported on this new rule with LifeSite News, saying:

“The new rule would significantly increase the amount of money directed away from abortion.”
 
A State Department report said only eight organizations out of the 1,340 who accept federal aid from the U.S. had declined to agree to President Trumps’ original Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy (PLGHA), formerly known as the Mexico City Policy. Therefore, Trump’s Administration works to promote support for life initiatives without basically no disturbance or delay in overall health care services.

Freiburger stated:

"In rare cases where services have been disrupted, the government says it 'has worked to transition activities to new partners as quickly as possible to prevent or resolve instances in which delays or gaps in service could or have occurred.'"

This new policy is a testament to the Trump Administration’s dedication to fighting for the lives of the unborn, says Freiburger.
 
“The U.S. Government is committed to protecting human life before and after birth,” the report declares. “The principles set forth in PLGHA and the significant funding the U.S. Government devotes to global health assistance clearly illustrate these dual priorities.”
 
This continues to establish and reinforce Trump’s Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy (PLGHA), formerly know as the Mexico City Policy. As explained by the U.S. Department of State:

“The Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) Policy aims to ensure that U.S. taxpayer funding does not support foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.”

PLGHA prohibits America’s foreign aid from being used to fund organizations that perform, promote, or discuss abortion. This aid pertains to grants and cooperative agreements, but the new rule also includes institutions that receive the aid from contracts. This new stipulation in the PLGHA policy substantially cuts tax-payer funding for foreign abortions.

The original PLGHA policy emphasized the Mexico City Policy, which prevents $8.8 billion of U.S. foreign, medical aid from being dispensed to organizations that perform abortions. The Federal Register explains this policy:

“The Mexico City Police was first issued by President Reagan in 1984 and required foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to agree, as a condition of receiving U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) family planning assistance, not to perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning with any source of funds.”



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