Joe Biden’s Abortion Extremism
Joe Biden’s supposed campaign of unity now extends to forcing American taxpayers to subsidize abortion regardless of their moral qualms.
In an executive order on Thursday, Biden rescinded the Mexico City policy, which prohibits U.S. foreign-aid money from funding groups that provide or promote abortion in other countries. President Ronald Reagan was the first to enact the policy, which has been in place under every subsequent Republican president and undone by every subsequent Democrat.
Despite his professed personal opposition to abortion, President Biden is no exception. Announcing the order, the White House affirmed its support for “women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally” and dismissed the Mexico City policy with the favored rhetoric of abortion-advocacy groups: the “global gag rule.”
The Trump administration had not only reinstated the Mexico City policy after President Obama’s tenure but also had expanded the rule to cover all foreign-health assistance provided by U.S. government agencies. That move increased the amount of aid money covered by the policy from about $600 million to nearly $9 billion.
Following Biden’s executive order, that large pot of federal funding once again will flow indiscriminately to foreign-aid groups such as Planned Parenthood International and other organizations whose chief aim is to profit from an increased number of abortions around the globe — including in countries that reject abortion.
Meanwhile, with the same stroke of the pen, Biden directed his Department of Health and Human Services to consider rescinding a second Trump-administration policy, which prohibits abortion providers from claiming federal funding under the Title X family-planning program.
The current regulation requires abortion groups to financially separate their abortion business from any other services in order to qualify for Title X funding. Planned Parenthood declined to do so, costing the organization about $60 million a year, a mere pittance of its half a billion in federal funding. If Biden’s HHS nominee Xavier Becerra is confirmed by the Senate in spite of his lack of qualifications, undoing this policy will almost certainly be one of the first items on his to-do list.
Though pro-abortion activists cheered these moves, the average American appears to have little interest in forcing the taxpayer to fund abortion. Polling suggests that a majority of the public opposes using U.S. aid money to fund abortions overseas, as do most Democrats and even most who call themselves pro-choice. Likewise, a majority opposes federal funding for abortion here in the U.S., including about a third of Democrats and pro-choice voters.
Despite Biden’s efforts to hide behind his Catholic faith and avoid defending his extremist abortion policy, under his administration, Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers need no longer choose between providing abortion and profiting at taxpayer expense.
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