CONTACT YOUR SENATORS: Tell them to oppose abortion funding in the new COVID relief bill! Click to contact your Senators, now.
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 1, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Over the weekend, the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a COVID-19 relief bill which aims to use taxpayer money to fund abortions and the abortion industry under the guise of coronavirus relief.
Known as H.R. 1319, the $1.9 trillion, 592 page “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,” passed by a narrow 219 to 212 margin, largely along party lines. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR), joined Republicans in opposing the measure.
“Now, the bill moves to the United States Senate, where I hope it will receive quick action. We have no time to waste,” said Joe Biden, the most pro-abortion president in U.S. history. The Washington Post called the measure “the White House’s first major piece of legislation.”
“Emboldened by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, radical House Democrats are once again capitalizing on the COVID-19 crisis to expand abortion on demand, refusing to add Hyde Amendment protections to the relief bill,” warned Washington-based pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement issued on Saturday.
The massive funding bill, unlike previous COVID-19 relief legislation, excluded Hyde Amendment protections, meaning that there are no safeguards against over $400 billion from being used to cover elective abortions.
“In addition, their bill creates a $50 million slush fund for Planned Parenthood – which violently ends the lives of more than 354,000 unborn children a year – and changes the rules for small business funding so that the abortion giant can tap into that money as well,” noted Dannenfelser.
“This divisive move flies in the face of the ‘unity’ this administration promised to promote. The majority of Americans, including millions of Democrats and Independents, oppose using tax dollars to fund abortion and bail out the abortion industry,” continued Dannenfelser, who noted that U.S. Reps. Jackie Walorski, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and Virginia Foxx had spearheaded efforts to apply pro-life Hyde Amendment protections to the bill.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS: Tell them to oppose abortion funding in the new COVID relief bill! Click to contact your Senators, now.
Included in the Democrats’ proposed stimulus package:
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$750 million for global health activities and billions in funding for community health centers without applying the Hyde Amendment;
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A $50 million funding increase for the Title X program. On the heels of President Biden’s order directing the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services to begin rolling back President Trump’s Protect Life Rule, Title X would once again become a slush fund for abortion businesses like Planned Parenthood;
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Granting Planned Parenthood access to small business funding;
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Expansions of taxpayer-funded abortion coverage via Obamacare and a new initiative that would fund abortion-covering COBRA insurance.
“As we discuss these issues that are central to our nation’s recovery, it’s difficult to comprehend why the COVID-19 Relief Bill that we are considering today [gives] millions of dollars for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers,” noted Rep. John Joyce (R-PA), a medical doctor who is a member of the U.S. House Commerce Committee, commenting on the proposed COVID Relief Bill last month.
“This is not the time to play politics… It would be malpractice to allow funding intended for COVID-19 relief to pay for access to abortion.”
– Medical doctor @RepJohnJoyce @HouseCommerce responds in disbelief as Dems try to send $50M to abortion orgs in #COVID19 relief bill pic.twitter.com/UyhHHvEXk6
— Susan B. Anthony List #StopBecerra (@SBAList) February 12, 2021
“As millions of Americans are struggling with health, economic, and educational ramifications of this pandemic, this is not the time to play politics,” asserted Joyce, adding that Democrats are pushing “extreme anti-life provisions masquerading as COVID-19 relief are a blatant disregard for all pro-life Americans.”
A January 27 Marist/Knights of Columbus poll released last month found that 58% of Americans — including 65% of Independents and nearly one third of Democrats — oppose using taxpayer money to fund abortions in the United States.
The same poll found that 77% of Americans — including 55% of Democrats, 85% of Independents, and nearly two thirds of “pro-choice” respondents — oppose using taxpayer dollars to promote abortion overseas.
“If [the Democrats] codify Roe and repeal the Hyde Amendment, they can kiss the House and Senate goodbye in 2022,” tweeted the pro-life group Democrats for Life.
If @TheDemocrats codify Roe and repeal the Hyde Amendment, they can kiss the House and Senate goodbye in 2022.
Let's not sacrifice our entire legislative agenda for something like this. We can do better.
— Democrats for Life (@demsforlife) February 11, 2021