Attempt to restore Mexico City Policy sunk by committee

Washington D.C., Jul 10, 2009 / 03:39 am

Testifying before the U.S. House Rules Committee in support of the bipartisan Smith-Stupak-Sensenbrenner-Jordan Amendment to restore the Mexico City Policy, Rep. Chris Smith said on Wednesday the proposal would reflect a pro-life trend and would prevent the U.S. from funding the “Trojan horses” of the abortion industry.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) told the committee that polls showed 65 percent of Americans opposed President Obama’s January executive order reversing the Mexico City Policy, which forbade federal funding for groups which promote or perform abortions overseas.

“The United States is clearly trending pro-life—ultrasound technology has shattered the myth that an unborn child is not a person,” he remarked.

Without euphemism, he said, abortion is “violence against children” that also harms women “emotionally and physically.”

He argued that abortion should be understood as infant mortality, which everyone recognizes as an evil.

“An unborn child’s immaturity or dependence shouldn’t mitigate, negate, or nullify an unborn child’s inherent humanity. Human rights ought to be about inclusion, especially for the weakest and most vulnerable, not exclusion.”

Rep. Smith also told the House committee that the 2009 Foreign Operations appropriations bill increases population control funding by 40 percent to a record $648 million.

“Our amendment would simply ensure that the huge allocation of tax-payer grant money not be awarded to foreign non-government organizations (NGOs) that perform abortion or lobby for abortion on demand in developing countries,” Rep. Smith said.

He said the amendment would direct funds to “family planning services,” not abortion.

“Prior to January, the pro-life Mexico City Policy guaranteed, to the extent possible, that unborn children in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere not be put at risk of death by the NGOs we fund,” he continued. “Every human life is precious and sacred and worthy of respect. No one is expendable.”

Empowering some NGOs would create a “Trojan Horse” for the “global abortion industry,” which Rep. Smith said would render President Barack Obama’s endorsement of reducing the number of abortions into “cheap political sophistry.”

Late on Wednesday evening, the amendment was blocked in the Rules Committee by the Democratic majority.

The Foreign Operations bill, sans amendment, passed the House on Thursday afternoon.