House committee puts forth bill to stop international abortion funding

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2017. The Congressional Pro-Life Caucus informs Live Action News via email that it contained provisions to reinstate the Mexico City Policy and defund the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), both of which survived the markup process.

The Mexico City Policy, which is traditionally instated and reversed by each president, renders foreign non-government organizations (such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes International) ineligible for taxpayer dollars if they perform or promote abortions. The UNFPA promotes abortion internationally and is alleged to have ties to China’s “one-child” (now “two child”) forced abortion policy.

“Chairwoman [Kay] Granger’s [R-TX] bill capped international family planning funding at $461 million (the level from Bush administration),” the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus reports, “because without the Mexico City Policy this is a funding stream for providers and promoters of abortion.” It further notes that the State Department has admitted the UNFPA “provides support for and participates in the management of the Chinese government’s program of coercive abortion and involuntary sterilization.”

Democrats Tim Ryan (OH) and Rosa DeLauro (CT) both introduced amendments that would have restored UNFPA funding, but both failed on party-line or near-party-line votes (Republican Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania voted for the latter). Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced another unsuccessful amendment to eliminate several provisions including the Mexico City Policy.

Tim Ryan once identified as a pro-life Democrat, but officially admitted he was pro-abortion last year.