The Senate has taken the unlikely step of passing a bill that would allow US foreign aid to be used to perform and advocate abortion.
(CNSNews.com) - In a blow to pro-life Americans, the U.S. Senate voted 52-46 on Tuesday to repeal a Reagan-era policy that blocks U.S. aid from flowing to foreign groups that perform or advocate abortion.The amendment that passed on Tuesday was attached to a State Department funding bill. It was sponsored by Democrat Barbara Boxer of California and Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine.
Snowe said the policy "infringes on a woman's right to personal, private medical care. This is a question of making sensible medical care available to women."
This is a perfect example of why we still need to elect more Republicans to the Senate. The handful of lefty Republican senators continue to gnaw at important planks of the Republican platform, not to mention their obstruction on judicial nominations. Nevertheless, the article overreaches a bit -- this amendment is almost certain to be knocked down by the House in the conference committee and is very unlikely to ever become law.
Even those who advocate abortion should be opposed to our foreign aid being used in this way; once we write the check it's impossible to control how the money is used. Under President Clinton, some US money went to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which funded forced abortions in China. The UN and many recipients of our foreign aid are just plain evil.
