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Lawmakers Attempt to Smuggle Abortion Coverage in Appropriations Bill

By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS Staff Journalist Pro-life groups are warning that pro-abortion lawmakers are attempting to use a year-end omnibus funding bill to remove three longstanding bans on government-funded abortion. According to Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life Committee,  Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are using the omnibus legislation as “camouflage” for provisions that would drop the ban on government-funded abortion in Washington, DC as well as in the insurance plans that cover members of Congress. They also hope to include a provision that will prevent any future president from curbing U.S. funding of organizations that promote abortion overseas through the foreign aid program. "What the congressional Democratic leaders are considering doing is taking a single appropriations bill that's just supposed to cover a couple of departments and just stapling a bunch of other bills to it that were never even taken up by the Senate," Johnson said. "And these bills contain three different pro-abortion provisions. So, they want to ram these through under a fast-track procedure where the Senate would never have even debated or had a chance to vote on these measures." They’re trying to “smuggle through some changes in law that would remove some longstanding pro-life policies," he said. "They're trying to do this through an end-of-the-session catchall funding bill, which is being cooked up behind closed doors."   If these provisions are attached, Johnson believes they will ultimately threaten passage of an appropriations bill that must be approved if the government wants to continue operating after December 18.   Thirty-five senators led by Republican Jim DeMint of South Carolina have sent a letter to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), warning him that if the three pro-abortion provisions are included in the omnibus bill, they will use all procedures at their disposal to block its passage. The pro-abortion provision was authored by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). © All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com

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