By Kristan Hawkins
National Review
Senate Republicans should agree with their House colleagues that it’s time for Planned Parenthood and abortion vendors to go fund themselves.
Do Republicans really mean what they say? We’re about to find out. A budget debate in Congress has stripped away all pretenses. It has left us confronting a simple truth: Your values are best expressed in how you spend money. That means abortion is still a federal issue — because taxpayers are still funding it. Those who commit acts of abortion and who sell appalling — sterilizing — gender “treatments” are demanding to stay on the payroll.
If Republicans really do what mean what they say, then it’s obvious what they must do. It’s time for the GOP to tell Planned Parenthood and all abortion vendors to go fund themselves.
This shouldn’t be hard for the GOP. For decades, the party has talked about the pro-life values held by most of its voters. For decades, it has fundraised on the issue. For decades, it has enjoyed the enthusiastic support of a grassroots army of volunteers. To keep faith with pro-life voters and decades of commitments, it’s time to turn campaign words into legislative deeds.
Which is why Students for Life Action has issued a clarion call to the GOP in Washington, D.C. — and to twelve U.S. senators, in particular. We are demanding that these elected officials choose to redirect taxpayer — i.e., our — money away from abortion vendors, including Planned Parenthood. The Hyde Amendment, while important, is not enough: Money is fungible, and we are still propping up abortionists, who use our resources to keep the lights on and pay personnel while marketing their profitable and deadly “services.” This way, women and children will be cared for by medical professionals who are committed to ensuring that every patient leaving the building remains alive and well.
Access to reconciliation during a budget process is a rare gift. Because Republicans hold the White House, Senate, and House, it’s theirs for the taking. It was purchased with scarce resources and countless manhours as voters labored to elect new leadership. It’s time for Republican politicians to pay them back.
Groups like Students for Life Action (of which I am president) rarely consider big spending bills as part of the scorecards we use to judge politicians’ commitment to our causes. But we will score the “Big, Beautiful” budget bill. I explained why in a letter to members of the U.S. Senate:
We ask Republicans in Congress to be just as committed to protecting Life and taxpayer resources as Sen. Chuck Schumer and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were to forcing pro-abortion votes and spending. The Democrats’ rank and file did not compromise on abortion, and billions have been spent on funding companies that kill our children. The GOP caucus should not compromise in defense of LIFE.
If the GOP is not motivated by ideals, perhaps it can listen to political common sense. Republicans will get no love at election time after funding their political enemies. Don’t expect a grateful adversary.
As part of a national month of mobilization leading up to the Senate’s self-imposed July 4 deadline for its version of the budget, Students for Life Action will focus on federal and district visits to a dozen members. The scores of these twelve senators on their Pro-Life Generation Report Card reveal that some are better friends of the pro-life cause than others.
While Senators Collins and Murkowski have been least likely to show concern for babies in the womb, the survival of the party, as a leader on life, with a moral voice, matters. Everyone in the party suffers if the base becomes demoralized. Nationwide, many have faithfully worked and prayed for this moment. Their continued support for this rare opportunity to make a historic change in health-care spending matters. Voters matter.
But those senators currently on the list (and more may be added) are the ones who appear to be prioritizing other budget priorities that, for them, may be more important than taking advantage of this unique moment.
To friends — and, when necessary, foes — our message is the same: Use the reconciliation process to advance the U.S. House version of the bill, with the language that cuts out abortion vendors in favor of full-service providers.
Our list, along with the rankings of individual members on our pro-life scorecard, is as follows (in alphabetical order):
Senator Shelley Capito (W. Va.): B-
Senator Susan Collins (Maine) F
Senator Ron Johnson (Wis.): B
Senator Mike Lee (Utah): A
Senator Mitch McConnell (Ky.): B+
Senator Lisa Murkowski (Alaska): F
Senator Rand Paul (Ky.): B-
Senator Rick Scott (Fla.): A+
Senator Dan Sullivan (Alaska): C
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (S.D.): A
Senator Thom Tillis (N.C.): B+
Senator Todd Young (Ind.): C
There will be no place to hide for those who don’t take advantage of this historic opportunity. No public posturing will explain any failure to prioritize redirecting funds away from those who profit from cutting away or drugging away young life and future fertility.
If these senators respond to nothing else, they should remember this: Planned Parenthood kills 402,200 babies annually. If taxpayer — again, our — dollars continue to be complicit in this, these senators will be to blame. The buck stops with them, and not, for example, with the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, an unelected bureaucrat who killed a previous effort to redirect tax dollars to life-saving care. Voters sent GOP members of the Senate and House there to do what they promised.
The right thing to do in the “Big, Beautiful” budget bill is to prioritize cutting loose abortion vendors like Planned Parenthood, in favor of full-service care. If your “health care” kills or sterilizes people on purpose, you’re doing it wrong. If Republicans can’t see that, then we’ll learn that they don’t really mean what they say after all.
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