March 29, 2024

Abortion ‘Blueprint’ Would Strip Fundamental Rights

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People at the March for Reproductive Freedom protest against the state’s new abortion law in Montgomery, Ala., May 19, 2019. (Michael Spooneybarger/Reuters)

Abortion for anyone, anytime, anywhere — and you’ll pay for it.

In 114 pages, over 70 groups recently laid out a legislative agenda in their “Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice” that is, in a few words, focused on one goal: abortion anywhere, anytime, for anyone — at any cost.

These groups — Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Abortion Federation, Population Council, Catholics for Choice, People for the American Way, et al. — are not content with the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton. They want more: more access, more acceptance, more money, and greater control. In truth, they want your tax dollars to pay for abortion; they want local doctors, hospitals, physician assistants, midwives, and nurses to perform or refer for abortions; they want your children to have easy access to one without your knowledge or approval; they want your children exposed to information promoting abortion — early and often; and they want to see the U.S. promulgate and push abortion and its availability around the globe.

Not content with New York–style laws that go far beyond codifying Roe v. Wade, these groups have ambitious goals that seek to entrench abortion as a right that is forced on the American public — as well as other countries around the world — regardless of personal or religious beliefs.

Their demands include, but are not limited to:

* “Comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care services — including abortion — must be covered at no or low cost.”

* “To ensure that every individual has the means and tools necessary to make their own health care decisions in line with their own beliefs, the religious or personal beliefs of others must not be used to deny or restrict coverage of sexual and reproductive health care.”

* “Guaranteed access to qualified sexual and reproductive health care providers.”

* “The President must only put forward and the Senate must only confirm executive nominees who have a demonstrated positive record on reproductive health, rights, and justice.”

* “Foreign policy must prioritize and integrate sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

* “Congress should invest and the President should propose at least $1.66 billion for international family planning and reproductive health programs, including $111 million for UNFPA.”

The “Blueprint” is a wish list and includes four pages summarizing 37 pieces of legislation that these groups would like to see passed. The vast majority of the legislation would, either directly or by extension, expand the right to abortion, require taxpayer funding of abortion, and violate both conscience-protection rights and the religious freedom to oppose abortion on demand.

For example, one bill listed in the summary is the “Women’s Health Protection Act” (a more accurate title for this radical bill would be the “Abortion Without Limits Until Birth Act”). The bill, if enacted and upheld by the federal courts, would invalidate nearly all state limitations on abortion, including waiting periods and women’s right-to-know laws. It would invalidate state laws to protect pain-capable unborn children after 20 weeks fetal age — and would require all states to allow abortion even during the final three months of pregnancy based on an abortionist’s claim of “health” benefits, including mental health. It would also invalidate nearly all existing federal laws limiting abortion.

This “Blueprint” is a stranglehold on all that we hold dear: the right to life, the right to free speech, and the right to practice our individual faiths unhindered. In their attempt to enshrine the right to abortion, the legislative agenda these groups propose would strip us of our most fundamental rights and demand our payment — through our tax dollars — to do so.

Over 70 organizations. Their hubris is astonishing. But if you think none of this could happen, remember that many of these groups are whispering sweet nothings in the ears of the top Democratic candidates for president. One of these candidates may be a presidential election away from making this “Blueprint” a reality.

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Laura Echevarria
National Review

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