Even if taxpayers dodge the bullet of paying for abortions in the Democrats’ health care bill, a group of pro-life senators is concerned that this year’s appropriations bills lack longstanding provisions that protect the taxpayer from subsidizing abortion in Washington, D.C., in the foreign aid budget for family planning, and in the federal health plan.
“Democrats have added language to appropriations bills that would fund abortion on demand for residents of the District of Columbia, for federal employees including members of Congress and their staff, and a permanent provision to immunize foreign organizations that want to promote abortion as a method of birth control,” reads a statement from Sen. Jim DeMint, R, S.C. “These are changes to existing law that currently protect taxpayers and they cannot stand.”
DeMint and a group of other pro-life lawmakers have sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid, D, Nev., expressing their concern about what’s missing from this year’s appropriations and what’s been added:
We have grave concerns regarding the exclusion of longstanding funding limitations on abortion in the various appropriations bills that are currently before Congress. These measures, which have enjoyed broad bipartisan support for many years, are meant to ensure that taxpayers are not forced to pay for or promote elective abortions either in the United States or abroad.
