“Life is winning in America,” declared Vice President Mike Pence last week as he spoke to the countless thousands of Americans assembled on the National Mall for the annual March for Life.
Pence’s presence at the rally was itself evidence of the momentum behind the pro-life movement in America. Last week marked the March for Life’s 44th consecutive year, but it was the first time that a government official as high ranking as the vice president attended in person to speak to the crowd.
This timing of the vice president’s attendance was fitting, as it came on the heels of President Donald Trump’s momentous decision earlier in the week to reinstate the Mexico City policy, which prevents American taxpayers from financing international organizations that perform or promote abortions abroad.
Established in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan, the Mexico City policy was revoked by President Barack Obama and then, in one of his first major actions after taking the oath of office, restored by Trump.
To account for the shifting landscape of today’s global health and foreign aid environment, Trump’s executive order also modernized the Mexico City policy to ensure that it applies to other U.S. foreign aid funding sources beyond simply the U.S. Agency for International Development family planning account.
But despite these successes and reasons for optimism, there is still more work to do.
Life may be winning in America, but it has not yet won. And it won’t ever win so long as the United States Congress permits a dime of taxpayer money to flow to the abortion giant Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood doesn’t just lead the abortion business in America—it performed nearly 1 million abortions between 2011 and 2013—but abortions lead Planned Parenthood.
Of the “pregnancy services” offered by the organization, 94 percent are abortions, according to its 2013-2014 annual report, while prenatal care and adoption referrals account for only 5 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.
And what does this horrifying business model earn Planned Parenthood from the federal government? More than $520 million every year in taxpayer-funded subsidies.
This is indefensible and it must stop. Luckily, Congress will have an opportunity in the next several weeks to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood and transfer its subsidies to other women’s and community health clinics.
When the House and Senate vote to repeal Obamacare, as Republican leaders from both chambers have committed to do, we can attach a provision that would eliminate all taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood.
The privileged status of the Obamacare repeal measure, which requires only 51 votes to pass the Senate, presents a unique opportunity for Congress, once and for all, to revoke Planned Parenthood’s lavish government subsidies, which have long been a stain on our nation’s great history.
With last week’s March for Life as our inspiration, I can think of no better reason for Congress to move swiftly and boldly to repeal Obamacare as soon as possible.
