Last week the House defeated
the Pence Amendment, which would have stopped taxpayers from
funding the country's leading abortion provider, Planned
Parenthood. At the same time, some soi disant pro-lifers
are working to increase Planned Parenthood's tax take.
Congressman Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) quickly emerged as a leading
pro-life Democrat and advocate for finding "common ground" on
abortion. But his Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting
Parents Act has been criticized by some pro-lifers for increasing
rather than decreasing the likelihood of abortion.
The bill contains an increase in funding for family planning
under Title X, in order to reduce the likelihood of unplanned
pregnancies. But many of the organizations providing these
services also are involved in abortion. A recent Family Research
Council statement on the legislation points out:
The Ryan bill contains no provisions preventing recipients from
promoting or referring patients for abortion. Since Planned
Parenthood -- the nation's largest and most profitable abortion
provider -- is funded under the Ryan measure, inevitably the
group will use the funds it receives to encourage the very
procedure the bill says it wants to make more rare.
Not long ago, Ramesh Ponnuru said of Ryan in National
Review, "Nowadays his allegedly 'pro-life' advocacy consists
almost entirely of working with [pro-choice] Congresswoman
DeLauro to funnel more money to abortion providers." It's the
kind of logic that gets you an
ambassadorship to Malta these days.
