Family advocates are concerned about legislation that would promote abortion overseas through the creation of an Office for Global Women's Issues.
The bill to create the office, H.R. 2410, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, passed the House and now moves on to the Senate for a vote.
Justin Aquila, legislative liaison for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was out of step with the majority of Americans when she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the Obama administration is "entitled" to advocate for abortion anywhere in the world.
"Reproductive rights are not a human right," Aquila said. "And her efforts undermine some of the good work that an organization like this could be doing, looking out for the real issues that affect women, such as poverty."
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, agreed that the new office, if created as now conceived, runs counter to what's good for women.
"At precisely the same time as President Barack Obama continues to assiduously assure Americans, including graduates at Notre Dame University last month, that he wants to reduce abortion at home and abroad," Smith said, "his administration is aggressively seeking to topple pro-life laws in sovereign nations -- a clear, deeply troubling contradiction."
Smith also pointed out that even Planned Parenthood's Guttmacher Institute admits that in most countries, after abortion is legalized, the incidence of abortion rises sharply for several years.
"Contrary to what President Obama says about reduction," he said, "the numbers go up."
Congress has the choice to rein in the pro-abortion ideology by demanding abortion neutrality in the language creating the Office for Global Women's Issues.
— Roger Greer
