Opinion

September 27, 2011 (HLIWorldWatch.org) – Senator Barbara Boxer is in a tough situation: she thinks there are too many children in the developing world, she thinks abortion and contraception are the answer to this problem, and she has to try to convince the majority of Americans who are deeply offended by her views that she actually wants something good and just.

So what’s a busy, far-left California Democrat supposed to do? It’s not as if she can just come out and say that the mothers of Asia, Africa and Latin America are having more children then she would prefer. There must be a way to “spin” this.

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How about recasting population control as “free speech” and “democracy promotion?” After all, who could possibly be against these essential American values?

This would be a brilliant rhetorical move if it made any sense whatsoever. Yet that is exactly what she is doing with the support of the “Catholic” John Kerry of Massachusetts and thirteen more of her Democrat colleagues in the Senate.

In case you think I’m exaggerating, below is a press release that the senator’s office released earlier this month, with some comments that might help us understand what Senator Boxer is really proposing.

Boxer Reintroduces Bill to Permanently Repeal Global Gag Rule

Legislation Would Prevent Policy From Being Reinstated By Executive Order

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and 15 other colleagues last night reintroduced the Global Democracy Promotion Act, which would permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule.

“Global Democracy Promotion Act”? Is she really proposing that the citizens of developing nations be allowed to vote on whether or not abortion should be legalized in their country with an honest, open referendum on the question? Because that’s not what happened in Kenya last year, and that’s not what is happening in the Philippines right now. In fact, no developing nation has ever voted to legalize abortion in an open vote on the subject. If this is what she means by “democracy promotion,” that would be a welcome development indeed.

Abolishing the Global Gag Rule, also known as the “Mexico City Policy,” would ensure that foreign nongovernmental organizations that use their own funds to provide comprehensive reproductive health information and services that are legal in the countries in which they operate – and legal in the United States – remain eligible to receive U.S. assistance.

So no, there will be no open democratic vote on the legalization of abortion. The Mexico City Policy is an executive order that prohibits federal funding for organizations that perform or promote abortion. First adopted by Ronald Reagan, it was kept in place by George H.W. Bush, repealed by Bill Clinton, and reinstated by George W. Bush. President Obama almost interrupted Chief Justice Roberts during his inauguration ceremony to interject that he would be repealing the pro-life policy immediately, but instead he waited until the next day. For the last three years, Senator Frank Lautenberg has tried to insert language into foreign appropriations bills that would permanently revoke the policy, but so far pro-life senators have been able to get the language removed each time.

Barbara Boxer is aware that the policy she wants to kill enjoys wide approval among the American public. So, like all promoters of abortion and population control, she changes her language, and calls it the “Global Gag Rule,” as if the issue were one of free speech, and not the destruction of unborn human beings in nations where abortion is almost always illegal. But there is a more direct deception here as well – she is asking that taxpayers’ money be given to organizations who “use their own funds” to promote and perform abortion. Even if she and her party spent many weeks and millions of dollars paying consultants to come up with this sentence, she can’t really expect anyone with more than a 4th grade education to believe it. (That is, until you pay close attention to her views on elementary education…)

Senator Boxer said, “If the Global Gag Rule were applied in the United States, it would violate the First Amendment because it restricts what organizations can do or say with their own funds. Ending this undemocratic policy is long overdue.”

This is an outright falsehood. If they were only using their own funds, this policy would not apply to them. The fact that they want taxpayers to pay for their attack on the children of the developing world is the only reason this is even an issue.

Senator Boxer’s nonsense is valuable in that it gives an insight into how the population control movement uses language. They cannot say what they really want, so they use language that still has purchase in the mainstream to hide their true goals. Apparently by “undemocratic” she means “inconvenient for me and my allies.” That’s a pretty big stretch, even for her.

The remainder of the press release continues in the same vein. Respecting other nations’ legal limits on abortion is “undemocratic.” Restricting the ability of future presidents to exercise the proper authority of their office, if they disagree with her, is “democratic.”

I think the unforgettable Inigo Montoya said it best in The Princess Bride: “You keep using that word… I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Reprinted with permission from HLIWorldWatch.org