Abortion isn’t health care. But try telling that to the Left. After President Trump pulled the plug on the millions of dollars our government sends to abortion groups overseas, liberals pitched a predictable fit. They called it “dangerous,” “uncompassionate,” a path back to “coat hanger medicine.” As usual, liberals have all the makings for a good soundbite. The only problem is the truth is missing. Believe it or not, America is making the same amount of money available to international family planning today as yesterday. The only difference is, those dollars will be redirected to organizations whose only answer to women’s health care questions isn’t taking the life of an innocent unborn child. Instead, they provide the comprehensive care that so many of the world’s women desperately need.

Still, that didn’t stop House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) from blasting Trump for “[returning] us to a disgraceful era that dishonored the American values of free speech and inflicted untold suffering on millions of women around the world.” The only people who are suffering in this world are the ones who were swept up in the culture of death paid for by America’s biggest export under Obama: abortion dollars. If anything, Donald Trump has done millions of women a favor by giving them the benefit of honest, legitimate health care providers that haven’t been caught up in a net of scandal, fraud, deception and medical manipulation. While liberals howled over the phony crisis Trump’s decision created, pro-life groups cheered the first major brick laid in the wall separating taxpayers from abortion.

“I think the reinstatement of this policy is not just something that echoes that value, but respects taxpayer funding as well, and ensures that we’re standing up not just for life of the unborn, but for also taxpayer funds that are being spent overseas to perform an action that is contrary to the values of this president.” The day had been a long time coming for tireless champions like Rep. Diane Black (R-TN), who hopes this is just the beginning. “With this compassionate executive order, President Trump has turned the page from a sad chapter in his predecessor’s legacy and has already started to make good on his promises to the millions of pro-life Americans that helped him ascend to this office.” And unlike past executive orders, this one applies not just to the State Department’s programs but all federal agencies.

For the new administration, it wasn’t just the right decision, it was the popular one. In a new Marist poll released [Monday], Americans overwhelmingly support President Trump’s move to defund abortion groups — even more so abroad (83 percent). Among some of the key findings:

“Almost six in ten Americans expressed ‘moral objections’ to abortion, including 59 percent of political Independents, 63 percent of African-Americans, 62 percent of Latinos, and even 40 percent of Democrats. Half of Millennials said abortion was ‘morally wrong.’ Half of respondents said abortion ‘does more harm than good’ to a woman’s life in the long-term, including more Millennials (44 percent) who said it does than who said it improves a woman’s life (40 percent).”

What’s more, the survey found that just because someone is “pro-choice” doesn’t mean they’re anti-restriction. “Seventy-four percent of Americans — including 54 percent who identify as pro-choice — are in favor of ‘significant restrictions’ on abortion.” And that crosses all racial and political lines. In that case, people everywhere should have been thrilled with the House’s passage of the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act [yesterday]. The victory is an enormous one — not just for Americans, but for the unborn.

If Republicans succeed, pro-lifers would make the Hyde Amendment permanent across government lines. Gone would be the days of the messy budget fights, where this same provision had to be debated on every bill. While the House passed this bill in the last session, conservative leaders finally sent the bill to the Senate with a pro-life president looking on. You can help them push it across the finish line! Contact your senators and urge them to finish the work the House started.

Originally published here.

With Pompeo, CIA Shows Signs of Intelligence

There are no easy jobs at the top tiers of government, but new CIA chief Mike Pompeo will have one of the hardest. [Monday], the Kansas congressman finally won his confirmation to the agency by a vote of 66-32, filling one of the key vacancies on national intelligence. But for the CIA, these have been tumultuous times. Most are hopeful that Pompeo, who’s been a good friend to FRC, will provide the strong leadership the agency needs during these tumultuous times. After a few conversations, Morrell said he has “come to admire” the Kansan, who served as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, graduated first in his class at West Point, and went to Harvard Law School.

During his time as a congressman, he was a consistent FRC Action “True Blue” legislator, promoting the values of limited government, respect for human dignity, and strong support for religious freedoms. Rep. Pompeo understands his position as CIA director would be to “present[ing] factual intelligence and sound judgments to policymakers, including this committee.” At a time when our nation is threatened from every side, Pompeo’s sound judgments are just the kind we need. We congratulate him on his new position and look forward to a safer, more secure America with him at the helm of the CIA.

Originally published here.

The Bible Verses FFRF

It may be the Good Book, but it’s getting a bad rap in West Virginia. After 78 long years of offering an elective Bible class in Mercer County, a single parent is threatening to end a tradition that’s lasted generations in the district. In typical Freedom From Religion Foundation fashion, the cultural bullies fired off a letter threatening a lawsuit if the course isn’t suspended.

“This program advances and endorses one religion, improperly entangles public schools in religious affairs, and violates the personal consciences of nonreligious and non-Christian parents and students,” the group alleges. Maybe if the course were required the organization would have a complaint. But Mercer County has been careful to make the class elective, giving any student who’s uncomfortable with the idea the option to opt out. Even that isn’t good enough for the intolerants at FFRF, who called the curriculum “the equivalent of sectarian Sunday school instruction.” So far, the district hasn’t decided how to respond.

But members of the community are more than happy to. Craig Hammond, a lay leader, says it would be a shame for Mercer County to cave without a fight. “I do know how beneficial the classes were,” he said, “not from a religious perspective, but it’s a great reference to world history. It’s always been very focused on it from a historical and literary point of view.” Rev. Gary Moore agreed. “It’s not that all of this is forced on anybody to do it,” he told local reporters. “It has been a much needed part of our curriculum for many years.”

This is just one more example of what gave rise to the November election results. In this case, one parent is choosing to deny her child the ability to know God. And because she’s fearful that her child will be exposed to the Bible that undermines the ideology she’s promoting, she tries to force her view on everyone else. I agree that no one should be compelled to attend such a course — but no one should be able to force others not to attend either. This is an optional course, similar to what I helped Louisiana adopt almost 20 years ago.

And it isn’t as if these classes are rare. There are 1,280 school districts across the country that allow this optional study of the Bible as literature, according to the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools. This is just another small-time bully from the anti-Christian crowd picking a fight with a local school district that it assumes doesn’t know any better. Maybe someone ought to remind these religious censors that the Bible wasn’t just a part of the curriculum in America — it was the curriculum until liberals got involved.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.