Congressional leaders and President Donald Trump reached a budget agreement Monday that will preserve several important pro-life policies.
The two-year spending plan will ensure that the Hyde Amendment, which bans taxpayer-funded abortions, and Trump’s new Protect Life rule will not be repealed by radical pro-abortion Democrats, the Daily Caller reports.
“I am pleased to announce that a deal has been struck with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — on a two-year Budget and Debt Ceiling, with no poison pills,” Trump wrote Monday on Twitter.
The budget plan has to pass the U.S. House and Senate, which the Caller predicted could be a hard sell for many House Democrats. A number of prominent Democrats have been pushing to end the Hyde Amendment and force Americans to fund abortions.
[The budget deal] comes with new restrictions for Democrats in the next round of funding negotiations this fall: No “poison pill” riders. Under the agreement, Democrats won’t be able to push for policy priorities, like scrapping the so-called Hyde Amendment prohibition on using federal funds for abortion, or further restricting Trump’s use of Pentagon money for his border wall project until legal challenges on the issue are resolved.
Both are major compromises for the emboldened House Democratic caucus, which has already passed those provisions in their own party-line spending bills this year.
The leading pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List celebrated the news.
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“This budget agreement ensures that longstanding pro-life policy riders such as the Hyde Amendment along with every single one of President Trump’s pro-life executive actions are protected, effectively ending relentless efforts by House Democrats to repeal them in the budget process,” President Marjorie Dannenfelser said.
In June, they tried. The Democrat-controlled House passed a $1 trillion spending bill that would have restored funding cuts to Planned Parenthood and other abortion businesses. If it had succeeded, the bill would have given about $100 million additional dollars to the international arm of Planned Parenthood.
Democratic Party leaders are pushing for taxpayer-funded abortions through the repeal of the Hyde Amendment as well. The Hyde Amendment is a four-decades-old measure that historically has had strong bipartisan support. However, the new Democratic Party platform calls for the amendment to be repealed, and the leading Democrats running for president support the platform.
Polls indicate that most Americans do not want their tax dollars to fund the killing of unborn babies. In 2016, when Hillary Clinton campaigned on the same issue, a Harvard University poll found that 36 percent of likely voters support overturning the Hyde Amendment.
A January poll by Marist University found similarly strong opinions, with 75 percent saying they oppose taxpayer-funded abortions and 19 percent support them.
Dannenfelser said voters must remain vigilant as Democrats like U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and “the alleged moderate” Joe Biden push for taxpayer-funded abortions.
“Most notably, this agreement ensures that the Protect Life Rule goes into effect, stopping the funneling of Title X tax dollars to abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood,” she said. “We thank President Trump, Leader McCarthy, Leader McConnell, and Senator Daines for prioritizing the protection of pro-life policies in budget negotiations.”
Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, told LifeNews she was delighted by President Trump’s efforts to preserve pro-life policies in the budget.
“National Right to Life praises President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leadership for a bipartisan two-year budget and debt-ceiling deal that protects all pro-life riders such as the Hyde Amendment,” she said. “We thank House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for all of their hard work in protecting the most vulnerable among us. President Trump and Republican congressional leaders have ensured that pro-life policies remain in place for the protection of women and their unborn children.”
“We have seen the radicalism in which pro-abortion groups are willing to engage but we are confident in President Trump and Republican congressional leadership; we know they will be vigilant throughout the appropriations process,” Tobias added.
Since he took office, Trump has advanced a number of pro-life policies. He reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy in one of his first acts as president. The policy cut about $100 million from the International Planned Parenthood Federation and additional money from the British-based abortion chain Marie Stopes International.
Trump’s Protect Life Rule, which recently won a court victory, would cut an additional $60 million from Planned Parenthood’s budget.
He also stopped funding the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), a population control agency that promotes abortions worldwide. UNFPA has a long history of supporting China’s population control regime, which forces and coerces women to abort their unborn babies.
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Author: Micaiah Bilger
