Washington, DC -- Family Research Council applauded members of Congress on Wednesday for voting (218-210) to uphold the Mexico City Policy, a ban reinstated by President Bush on taxpayer funding to groups that actively promote or perform abortions overseas.
"We thank President Bush and those members of Congress who took a strong stand in defense of the Mexico City Policy," Family Research Council President Ken Connor said Wednesday. "We applaud Rep. Henry Hyde for leading the charge to affirm the Policy. His support emphasizes the principle that the federal government has no right to use the hard-earned dollars of the American people to pay for abortion.
"Abortion advocates want to paint this as free speech issue. Nothing could be further from the truth. Using taxpayer dollars to export the practice of the taking of innocent human life can scarcely be considered a form of expressive speech protected by the First Amendment.
"The radical viewpoint of the abortion industry is not shared by the taxpayers whose money would be used to underwrite the industry's abhorrent practices."
Yuri Mantilla, FRC's Hispanic Project advisor, added that the action today by Congress "is a measure of goodwill towards the legal and historical traditions of Latin American countries, most of which have laws defining abortion as a crime. It also restores harmony between the laws of Latin America on abortion and the foreign policy of the United States."