On Wednesday, House Republican leadership released the details of a deal for the federal government’s 2016 spending, which is the latest in a series of budget measures that fails to defund Planned Parenthood.
The nation’s primary abortion provider receives approximately $528.4 million in annual taxpayer funding, and while it is technically prohibited from spending public money directly on abortion services, increases in subsidies to the abortion giant have been linked to increasing abortion rates. The $1.2 trillion plan agreed to by the House of Representatives’ GOP leadership does not alter that status quo.
However, recently-elected House Speaker Paul Ryan, stressed that the bill did continue existing pro-life limitations on abortion funding, such as the Hyde Amendment, and reduced funds for the United Nations Population Fund, which promotes abortion internationally and is alleged to have ties to China’s “one-child” forced abortion policy.
“Look, in divided government, you don’t get everything that you want. Republicans didn’t get all that we wanted. Democrats didn’t get all that they wanted,” Ryan said. “This is a bipartisan compromise. It is a bicameral compromise. And I understand that some people don’t like some of the aspects of this. But that is the compromise that we have. And I do believe that we will have bipartisan votes on both of these bills.”
As Live Action News has covered, Ryan was elected Speaker after widespread declarations that he was the natural choice to succeed John Boehner. Boehner received criticism from pro-lifers over the years who argued he should have fought harder to defund Planned Parenthood.
Upon his election as Speaker, Ryan echoed Boehner’s opposition to the shutdown defunding strategy advocated by other pro-life politicians, such as GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz.
