President Biden has issued an Executive Order abolishing the “Mexico City Policy,” which prohibited taxpayer funding from going to organizations that provide or promote abortion.
Life Legal was founded over 30 years ago. We have been through administrations that were friendly, not-so-friendly, and overtly hostile to our mission. That gives us some perspective on the current situation.
By way of background, President Reagan issued the initial Executive Order establishing the Mexico City Policy in 1984.
Since then, the Policy has been adopted by every Republican administration – and revoked by every Democrat administration. President Trump reinstated the Policy as one of his first acts in office in January of 2017.
While Life Legal celebrated the temporary prohibition on funding for international abortionists like the International Planned Parenthood Foundation, we have long been concerned that because the Mexico City Policy was never codified, it could be easily dissolved—and would be dissolved—by any pro-abortion administration. While Executive Orders are binding directives, they are not actual legislation and the mechanism for creating and eradicating them requires just a single pen stroke.
Executive Orders are not subject to the same level of public scrutiny as enacted laws. If you’ve ever watched the Schoolhouse Rock clip “I’m Just a Bill,” you will remember that the process of a bill becoming a law can be quite arduous. There are public legislative hearings, markups, and usually recorded votes – all of which take place in both houses of Congress.
Biden and his pro-abortion cohorts know that public opinion is not with them on funding international abortions. In fact, a recent poll showed that 77% of Americans are opposed to funding abortions overseas.
Unfortunately, all of Trump’s pro-life Executive Orders are likely to be eradicated in the coming days and weeks. This includes the 2019 restrictions on fetal tissue experimentation, a grotesque type of human subject research involving the creation of “humanized” mice implanted with the intestines, reproductive tracts, lungs, and other organs of babies who are 18 to 24 weeks old when they are aborted. Scientists even graft the scalps of unborn children– complete with tufts of baby hair – onto rodents.
Also on the chopping block will be the 2020 Order directing health facilities – including abortion clinics – to provide care for babies born alive. Life Legal briefed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on the practice of some hospitals to deny medical treatment to children born prematurely or who have serious disabilities.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra is on the short list to head up HHS under Biden. He is not likely to take an interest in the plight of vulnerable babies – especially those born in an abortion mill. When he was in Congress, Becerra voted against the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act, which would have required abortionists to care for viable babies born alive during an abortion. As I write this, he is prosecuting David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for exposing Planned Parenthood’s illegal trafficking in the body parts of fully-formed, second trimester babies.
So, what do we do now?
It is essential that we let our elected representatives know where we stand on the protection of life. Every member of Congress and one-third of all Senators are up for reelection in less than two years. Email them, call them, write letters, schedule visits with their District Office staff. Explain why the killing of unborn children is wrong and that it is unethical to force Americans to participate in this abhorrent practice by funding it with taxpayer money.
Is there any good news?
Yes! The reality is that very few people share the extremist abortion views of Biden, Becerra, and their Planned Parenthood funded comrades. The vast majority of people want women to have life-affirming options when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. A recent report issued by Operation Rescue found that 45 abortion clinics closed or halted operations in 2020 alone. And in Missouri, the last remaining abortion clinic—a Planned Parenthood mill—shut down after numerous botched abortions and other legal violations. Missouri is now abortion free!
Our efforts are paying off. Of course, we enjoyed the past four years of cooperation from a pro-life administration. But the fight for babies is not limited to the White House. We will continue to fight in the statehouse, in the houses of Congress, and in the courthouse.
I have a framed card in my office that reads “The Tiny Humans are Winning.” Now, perhaps more than ever, we need to remember that and press on!