On Thursday Senate Republicans introduced a measure that would ban organizations from the use of taxpayer funds to promote or refer girls and women for abortions abroad.
The legislation, known as the American Values Act, is in response to President Joe Biden’s executive order revoking the Mexico City Policy, which the Trump administration expanded to prohibit organizations that receive U.S. health assistance funding from promoting or performing abortions overseas as a method of family planning.
Biden signed the executive order despite consistent polling that shows Americans share bipartisan unity on barring taxpayer funding of abortion both within the United States and abroad.
Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Todd Young (R-IN), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced the measure that seeks to “permanently enact and expand existing prohibitions on the use of U.S. foreign assistance to pay for the performance or promotion of abortion services overseas,” a joint press release stated.
Risch said in the statement that “pro-abortion groups have set their sights on exploiting loopholes and even overturning the long-standing pro-life provisions of law that have provided a solid foundation for values-based U.S. foreign assistance.”
“It is time for Congress to take decisive action and eliminate any ambiguity about how these provisions are meant to be applied, and so I’m proud to introduce the American Values Act to make them permanent in U.S. law,” he added.
“U.S. foreign assistance is a critical tool of our national security and should not, in any way, go towards abortion or the promotion of abortion overseas,” Rubio said.
“The progressive left is working to enact their agenda at every possible opportunity,” Young said, adding “pro-abortion groups are hard at work trying to hijack those tax dollars not to protect our nation, but to perform or promote abortions around the world.”
The legislation would permanently enact restrictions on the use of U.S. foreign aid to pay for the promotion or performance of abortions, forced sterilizations, or biomedical research related to abortions.
Paul also reintroduced two pro-life bills that seek to defund Planned Parenthood and “define human life starting at conception”:
“Abortion providers like Planned Parenthood will tell you differently, but every single life matters, including the unborn,” Paul said in a statement. “I was proud to force the Senate to vote on defunding this organization. Our nation cannot expect to fully protect and maintain our other rights if we do not respect the fundamental right to life even starting in the womb.”