Guest Post by Pro-life Leader Frank Pavone, National Director, Priests for Life
When dozens of national and state pro-life leaders gathered at Priests for Life headquarters in Titusville, Florida, earlier this month for a three-day strategy meeting my team and I organize each year (along with quarterly meetings in Washington), our discussions were substantive and wide-ranging. It was evident that while we are all seeking to abolish abortion without exceptions, different groups have differing strategies when it comes to how we get there.
On one topic, however, there was near universal agreement: Abortion profiteers, including the nation’s number one abortion cartel, Planned Parenthood, should not receive one more dollar in taxpayer funding.
We agreed to publish and send a joint letter to Congress, urging elected representatives to ensure that Americans are not forced, through their taxes, to aid and abet child killing.
“As pro-life leaders across the United States,” the letter began, “we write today to urge you to protect the taxpayer dollars of American citizens from funding abortion and abortion businesses such as Planned Parenthood.
American jurisprudence has consistently maintained that the legality of abortion does not create an obligation for the state to fund it.
Moreover, polling has consistently indicated that Americans do not want their tax dollars paying for abortion
Whether “pro-choice” or pro-life, Americans have been very clear that they don’t want to pay for someone else’s abortion. And while it’s true that federal tax dollars cannot be used to directly subsidize abortion, you can be sure the nearly $700 million Planned Parenthood received from the government from 2022-2023 helped kept the killing machines up and running.
As the letter noted, bills calling for the defunding of Planned Parenthood have been introduced in Congress: S. 203 in the Senate, introduced by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and H.R. 271 in the House, introduced by Minnesota Rep. Michelle Fischbach.
With pro-life majorities in both the House and Senate and a president ready with a pen to sign legislation protecting the hard-earned tax dollars of his constituents, now is the time For Congress to pass appropriate measures to accomplish that. The pro-life movement is ready to help, and you can expect to see the fruits from this recent leadership meeting in the form of increased and visible lobbying of our lawmakers to protect our taxpayer dollars from funding child-killing.
During our three days of meetings and fellowship, we also signed a joint letter thanking President Trump, along with members of his administration, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, to thank them for concrete actions taken to protect the unborn.
The new administration has been at the helm for just over a month, but its pro-life accomplishments are numerous and far-reaching. They include undoing most of the damage Joe Biden did during his four years in office.
Among the accomplishments of President Trump:
Removed a website promoting abortion that Biden initiated;
issued executive orders confirming that life begins at conception and that there are only two sexes;
pardoned 23 pro-life activists unjustly convicted for protesting at abortion businesses;
signed an executive order reinstating the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance” (Mexico City Policy), which prohibits taxpayer funding of overseas abortion providers;
issued an executive order enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which bars the use of federal funds for elective abortions domestically;
delivered a video message during last month’s March for Life in D.C. and sent Vice President JD Vance to address the March crowd from the rally stage;
announced plans to limit enforcement of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, arguing that it has been used to target pro-life activists unfairly;
issued a statement endorsing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act;
rejoined the “Geneva Consensus,” a coalition of nations who defend the right to life and assert that there is no international right to kill babies in abortions;
appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services and tasked him with studying the harmful effects of the abortion pill mifepristone,
and reversed a Biden-era policy that funded travel for military personnel seeking abortions, ending taxpayer-funded abortion-related travel.
That was a record-breaking month, and pro-life leaders like myself wanted to make sure we acknowledged the actions and properly thanked the man behind them. Some in the movement who in the past did not give President Trump the trust and support he deserves are admitting that they are pleasantly surprised now. Others still seem more intent on criticizing him on divisive points than keeping the discussion on the points where the President and the American people have a strong consensus – like ending late-term abortion and abortion funding.
But the many pro-life leaders gathered in Florida earlier this month pledged that we would continue to work together with President Trump and his Administration “to strengthen and advance any and all protections for these youngest and most vulnerable members of the human family.”
The letter closed with the assertion, “America will be great again to the extent that we protect our first and most basic right, the right to life.”
Prolife Leader Frank Pavone is the National Director of Priests for Life and President of Prolife Vote.
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