“The poor cry out for justice and equality and we respond with legalized abortion.”
These powerful words appearing in a full-page ad in Roll Call, The Hill, Congressional Quarterly Today, and Congress Daily AM, were attributed to Grace Olivarez, a dissenting member of John D. Rockefeller III’s federal advisory commission on population.
They are part of an effort by the US Conference of Catholic Bishop’s Pro-Life Secretariat to stop
an attack upon the Mexico City Policy. On the same day as the ad appeared in congressional newspapers, the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on the policy.
The Mexico City Policy ensures that U.S. taxpayer dollars will not fund any groups that promote abortion as a means of “family planning” to impoverished and vulnerable women abroad. The policy is a pro-life initiative that protects women and their children by providing better options than terminating pregnancies. Abortion is destructive to both the innocent unborn child and the vulnerable mother and should not be exported overseas as a means of population control. Developing nations need support to provide food, housing, education and health care — not to destroy their future by abortion.
Many of those attacking the policy cite their belief that overturning the Mexico City Policy will decrease “unsafe” abortions while increasing “safe” abortions. However, there is no such thing as a “safe” abortion as it is always deadly for the unborn child whose life is taken in the womb. Studies continue to demonstrate that abortion is equally as destructive to mothers, who suffer from a high rate of mental health problems. Clearly a policy that protects women and children should be continued and strengthened — not overturned and weakened.
Our foreign aid tax dollars must be spent assisting developing nations with their fundamental needs, not attacking basic human life. Millions of Americans who support the culture of life must stand together to ensure that their tax dollars are not used to destroy innocent unborn children in this nation or in the developing world. The impoverished women of the world deserve real help, not the counterfeit alternative of more abortions.
The Mexico City Policy ensures that the lives of women and children are truly protected. Therefore, we urge Senators Reed and Whitehouse and Congressmen Kennedy and Langevin to support the Mexico City Policy and vote against any bill that would overturn it. The less fortunate women and children of the developing world deserve justice and equality, not the destruction and death caused by abortion.
