No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion In The US
One of the first things that the new US President Donald Trump has done since taking office is to execute a declaration that has barred subsequent U.S. federal funding for abortion and family planning for foreign NGOs. This followed a vote of 238 to 183 in the US House of Representatives to permanently ban taxpayer funding of abortion through The No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act. In effect, this bars non-governmental organizations that provide abortion services or that lobby for abortion from receiving any monetary assistance from the U.S government. The order came a day after the 44th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade ruling which paved way for abortion-on-demand in the United States in 1973.
The US President has also nominated Neil Gorsuch, a conservative Justice with anti abortion leanings to the Supreme Court. Judge Gorsuch is known for believing that the Constitution should be interpreted exactly as the US Founding Fathers intended. While he hasn’t issued any major opinion or written directly about abortion during his time as a Federal Judge, Gorsuch is known for having a strong record of valuing and protecting life (as evidenced in his doctoral dissertation where he wrote that “human life is fundamentally and inherently valuable) and for protecting religious liberty. Certainly, Judge Gorsuch is considered conservative enough to make the pro abortionists fear a slow decay of the pro-choice movement and eventual overturn of Roe v Wade.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands has announced intentions to set up an international abortion fund in response to President Trump’s directive to restrict US funding to pro-abortion groups worldwide. Ms. Lillian Ploumen who is the Dutch Government’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation announced that she intends to set up the fund to finance projects relating to access to birth control, abortion and women’s education. She hopes that this international fund will be supported by businesses, social groups and governments to help mitigate any financial setbacks that would arise from President Trump’s Order.
Not surprisingly, President Trump’s move to defund the pro-abortion organizations has been met with a lot of outrage and resistance from pro-abortion organizations, activists and sections of mainstream media. Groups such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation are ideologically committed to the doctrine that abortion on demand must be universally available as a birth control method. These pro abortion groups receive a significant portion of funds meant for improving the lives of women around the world, which means that millions of dollars get diverted away from non abortion groups that also provide medical care and other services to women.
Pro-abortion groups have been spreading a fallacy that in order to be pro-women, you have to be pro-abortion. Recently, a series of marches were held in a number of cities with the aim of promoting women’s rights. But any honest observer would tell you that these marches were more about being pro-abortion than anything else. Being pro-life means wanting the well being of all women, whether they are born or still in the womb. The pro-life movement tells women that they have what it takes to do the hard and wonderful work of being a mother. Encouraging women to choose life for their babies is to celebrate the unique and inherent abilities of women. Being pro-life means that you believe that all life deserves protection, no matter how small, poor, unwanted or insignificant. To be pro-life is to defend the unborn, the widows, the disabled and the orphans. Being pro-life means building institutions that promote the flourishing of all human beings.
As stated by U.S. Representative Trent Franks from Arizona, "real question before us... is does abortion kill a little baby? If so, then abortion is the "greatest human genocide" in history.”
Abortion remains an ethical and moral wrong. Once abortion is universally accepted, no logical arguments will stop other forms of murder and other forms of human brutality.
