by For the First Time in 4 Decades, Congress Is Forcing U.S. Taxpayers to Pay for Abortions
CBN News
The U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval Wednesday to the nearly two trillion dollar COVID relief bill that includes a boost in unemployment payments and stimulus checks for American families. The measure is controversial on many levels because it includes deficit spending and non-COVID pet projects. Now there’s an even bigger concern that’s come up for pro-life Americans because the Hyde Amendment is notably absent from the massive spending bill.
Once supported by President Biden as a senator, that amendment has been included in budget bills for roughly forty years. It prevented federal tax dollars from being used to pay for abortions.
On Wednesday in the Senate, Oklahoma Republican James Lankford expressed his disappointment in the bill that he said violates the conscience rights of many American taxpayers.
“Some people believe that a child is a child no matter how small they are. And some people believe a child is only a child after they’re born. I disagree with that position, but we have as a nation for the last four decades said we’re not going fund it—until this week,” Lankford said.
He made his objection to the abortion funding loophole during a committee meeting that was being held to consider the nomination of Shalanda Young to be Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Lankford is opposing Young because she directly expressed her support for taxpayer funding of abortion.
“This week, what the House is voting on today, what the Senate passed on Saturday morning, will be the first time in 44 years we as a country have used federal tax dollars to pay for abortion—for the first time in four decades. This is no longer a theoretical conversation. It just happened in the Senate, and it’s happening today in the House. And what Mrs. Young was advocating was that it continues to happen time after time after time after four decades of saying we’re not going to compel Americans to pay for the taking of the life of children,” Lankford said.
Dr. Richard Mouw, a spokesperson for the Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden coalition, said his group felt betrayed and blindsided that the COVID relief bill omitted the Hyde Amendment.
“A large majority of Americans are in favor of keeping abortion legal but would want some restrictions attached to it,” he said. “Right now we feel like the best thing that we can advocate is not to lose the restrictions that we already have.”
“I don’t see any reason why a Catholic president like Joe Biden, who certainly has understood the teachings of the church, could not at least say we want to cut back on the number of abortions we don’t want to fund, federally, abortions except in extreme circumstances,” he said.
US Eyes Free Transgender Surgery for Military
(Worthy News) – The Department of Defense has confirmed in recent memos that sex reassignment surgery could be provided free of cost as part of the military’s medical benefits package following President Joe Biden’s Jan. 25 executive order.
“America is stronger, at home and around the world, when it is inclusive. The military is no exception,” the White House said in a press release announcing the order.
“This means no one will be separated or discharged, or denied reenlistment, solely on the basis of gender identity,” the release continued. “Prospective recruits may serve in their self-identified gender when they have met the appropriate standards for accession into the military services.”800 Violent Criminals, 3,200+ Kids Detained at Border, TX Gov. Accuses Biden of ‘Open Border’ Crisis
(Worthy News) – Border officials arrested and encountered more than 100,000 migrants at the U.S. southern border in the last four weeks – the most for the month of February in the past five years.
Between 700 and 1,000 people are illegally crossing the border every day. Most are single adults, but the number of families and children is also increasing.
“February was unprecedented compared to the last five years,” a Homeland Security official told CNN. [ Source: CBN News
Satanic Temple member sues Texas for hindering “Satanic Abortion Ritual”
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A woman who belongs to a satanic cult has filed suit against Texas, arguing that state pro-life laws interfere with her group’s “Satanic Abortion Ritual,” Christian Headlines reports. The suit was filed in February in federal court.
The plaintiff, who goes by “Ann Doe” in the lawsuit, belongs to the Satanic Temple (TST), a group which considers abortion as the culmination of a “religious ceremony” called the Satanic Abortion Ritual, Christian Headlines said. Court documents show that this abortion ritual is conducted before an abortion to help members “cast off guilt, shame, and mental discomfort that the member may be experiencing in connection with their election to abort the pregnancy.”
Texas law requires that the woman has a sonogram before an abortion, that she is offered the chance to view the pictures, and that a sonogram technician describe the results to her. The law also provides for a mandatory waiting period between the sonogram and the abortion.
According to the TST lawsuit, Texan abortion law violates one of the group’s central tenets (known as the Third Tenet) that: “One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone,” Christian Headlines said.
“Ms. Doe objects as violative of the Third Tenet to these requirements’ as efforts to control the decisions she makes for herself and her body,” the lawsuit reads.