Penna Dexter

The U.S. Congress and the Trump Administration have taken three significant actions to prevent American taxpayer dollars from being used to fund or promote abortion. All three are reversals of Obama Administration policies. One involves domestic policy. Some states prefer to direct Title X funds toward health clinics that provide family planning services to poor women, but not abortions. The Department of Health and Human Services, wanting to keep the money flowing to Planned Parenthood clinics, issued regulations denying states that freedom. Last month Congress voted to overrule this executive overreach. The vote was close in the Senate. Georgia’s Johnny Isakson had to get permission from his doctor after back surgery to travel to DC for the vote, which made it a 50-50 tie. Vice President Pence, in his role as President of the Senate, swept in to cast his vote to break the tie. Now Congress needs to take the next step and defund Planned Parenthood at the federal level. In one of his early actions as President, Donald Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy, which prevents federal funds from going to foreign Non-Governmental Organizations that perform abortions overseas. The Mexico City Policy is like a ping pong ball. Pro-abortion Administrations rescind it, allowing funding, not of abortion per se, but of groups that perform and promote abortions. Then pro-life administrations restore the policy. Just a couple of weeks ago, the Trump Administration lobbed another ping pong ball back over the net, again advancing human dignity in our foreign policy. The State Department cut off funding of the United Nations Population Fund. This agency continues to support and participate in China’s coercive family planning practices. China may have switched from its One-Child Per Family Policy to a Two-Child Policy, but this population control program is still implemented using forced abortion — even into the ninth month of pregnancy — and involuntary sterilization. There’s more to do. The Chinese leader didn’t get much pressure on human rights during his recent visit. He needs to.