President Trump just banned federal funding of abortions
01/23/2017 / By Vicki Batts
As of this morning, President Donald Trump has signed three executive actions. In addition to putting a stop to the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, President Trump has instituted a federal hiring freeze (except for the military) and has re-instituted Mexico City Policy — which prevents federal funds from going to overseas organizations that perform or promote abortions.
Mexico City Policy was first instated by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. It has been rescinded twice under the Democratic administrations of Clinton and Obama, and now has been re-instated twice by the Republican administrations of Bush and Trump.
(Related: Keep up with the President’s latest policy decisions at Trump.news)
A poll collected by Gallup early in Obama’s presidency revealed that rescinding Mexico City policy was not popular decision: only 35 percent of voters approved of the action.
Pro-abortion groups have, unsurprisingly, been opposed to this legislation for a very long time. When then-President Clinton revoked Mexico City Policy in 1993, he declared that the “broad conditions” were “unwarranted.”
Eight years later, President George W. Bush re-instated the policy, noting that tax-payer dollars should not be used to fund abortions. “It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad. It is therefore my belief that the Mexico City Policy should be restored.”
When Obama again repealed the policy in 2013, he cited similar reasoning as Clinton.
Mexico City Policy has clearly been controversial from the get-go. Those who favor abortion feel the policy is too stringent; those who oppose abortion feel that their tax dollars should not be used to pay for something they do not support.
The policy’s detractors maintain that without our precious funding, thousands of women will not have access to safe abortions. Activists have even gone so far as to condemn the decision as an “assault on women’s health” — which is just as ludicrous as it sounds.
Mexico City Policy does not prevent private individuals from donating to causes they are concerned about. It merely prevents federal funds — which are collected from every single tax-paying citizen in the United States — from being used by international organizations to pay for or promote abortions. Given that only about a third of Americans approved of Obama’s removal of the policy, it stands to reason that the majority of tax-payers do not want their hard-earned dollars being used to fund abortions.
The people who oppose abortion, and tax-payers funding it, have rights too. The Supreme Court has already legalized abortion in all 50 states; should those who oppose it really be mandated to pay for it in other countries, as well? Absolutely not.
The revoking of Mexico City Policy was a highly controversial choice that Obama made early on in his presidency, back in 2009. Now that Trump has re-instated it, it is not surprising that the liberal media is out in full-swing, decrying the policy as an attack on women. The reality is that Trump is protecting the right of the majority to not have their tax dollars used for a purpose they disagree with.
Trump’s reinstatement of Mexico City Policy has garnered much approval from conservatives and anti-abortion activists across the board. Even Senator Rand Paul has tweeted about his support of the policy, noting that tax-payer money should never be used to take innocent lives.
Sources:
Tagged Under: abortion, emergency, Mexico City Policy, TOP PRIORITY, Trump
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