Monday, Donald Trump put the “Mexico City Policy” back into effect after Obama rescinded it eight years ago. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Mexico City Policy (MCP) “requires foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to certify that they will not ‘perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning,’ using funds from any source (including non-U.S. funds), as a condition for receiving U.S. government global family planning assistance.”
The MCP was put in place by Ronald Reagan in 1984 in Mexico City during the second International Conference on Population. It was reversed by President Clinton in 1993, then reinstated by President Bush in 2001, then reversed once again by President Obama in 2009.
Amanda Terkel, Huffington Post senior political reporter, published a piece Monday regarding Trump’s reinstatement of the policy, titled: “Donald Trump Signs Anti-Abortion Executive Order Surrounded By Men.” The article is subtitled: “It seems like women might be interested in this policy too.”
In the piece, Terkel writes that the U.S. “spends about $600 million a year on international assistance for family planning and reproductive health programs,” and that “none of that money is spent on performing abortions” because of the Helms amendment.
The Helms amendment has prevented U.S. tax dollars from funding overseas abortions since 1973. Proponents of the global gag rule believe the policy is nevertheless still necessary, arguing that Helms isn’t strong enough by itself.
The Helms amendment, named for late North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms, states: “No foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions.” The Kaiser Family Foundation writes that prior to the Mexico City Policy, “U.S. aid recipients could use non-U.S. funds to engage in abortion-related activities but were required [due to Helms] to maintain segregated accounts for U.S. assistance.”
Here’s the problem–money is fungible. Even if an organization that advocates for abortion has two separate accounts, the U.S. is helping to advance abortion advocacy by aiding the organization itself.
Here’s an absurd, but easy to understand comparison. The Empire is the dominant force in the Star Wars universe. The Empire offers those under its purview safety, jobs, and structure. The Death Star alone likely employs hundreds of thousands–from design to engineering to maintenance, etc. However, the Empire is also fiercely oppressive and the Death Star destroys entire planets.
If the government of Coruscant, a planet of billions, wanted to provide financial aid to the Empire, but was reticent about the funds being used to finance the Death Star because it blows up entire planets, an analog to the Helms amendment would suggest that the Empire hold separate accounts. This way, Coruscant could finance the Empire, and not feel bad about the billions of life forms being obliterated by the Death Star.
See how that’s still a raw deal? Coruscant’s funds may not be directly financing the Death Star, but they’re financing the dictatorship that runs it. The same applies to abortion advocacy organizations and U.S. aid.
Terkel adds: “A pan of the people standing by [Trump’s] side showed that there were few, if any, women present.”
This is another way in which the abortion lobby manipulates voters. They disseminate and reinforce the idea that men shouldn’t have a say in abortion policy. They claim that because men don’t have a uterus, and cannot experience an “unwanted pregnancy,” they cannot possibly understand the issue. This is, in the most simple of terms, a con.
Such a belief completely disregards the idea of empathy and intellect. Empathy and intellect are what make us human; they allow us the ability to understand and process situations that we ourselves cannot experience.
The abortion lobby will use any number of arguments to safeguard their crown jewel. The money is in separate accounts; the Helms amendment (or the Hyde amendment for Planned Parenthood funding) doesn’t allow taxpayer money to fund abortions; men don’t understand, and they’re pulling the strings.
Don’t buy into the propaganda. To fund Planned Parenthood and abortion advocacy organizations is to fund the Death Star.