Reintroduces Bill to Expand Prohibitions Funding for Abortions

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) today reintroduced the American Values Act,  to prohibit U.S. foreign assistance from funding the performance or promotion of abortion services overseas.

“Tax dollars should never be used to perform or promote abortion services in the U.S. or abroad. Unfortunately, pro-abortion groups tirelessly work to exploit loopholes and overturn long-standing pro-life provisions of law,” said Risch. “I’m proud to reintroduce the American Values Act to prevent Idahoans’ dollars from paying for abortions across the globe. One of my top priorities as the Republican leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is protecting the rights of unborns everywhere.”

If enacted, this legislation would:

• Clarify existing prohibitions on the use of U.S. foreign assistance to pay for the performance or promotion of abortions, forced sterilizations, or biomedical research relating to abortions or forced sterilizations shall apply to all assistance under the Foreign Assistance Act;
• Permanently enact long-standing appropriations restrictions on the use of foreign assistance funds to lobby for or against abortion;
• Permanently enact long-standing appropriations restrictions on the provision of foreign assistance funds to organizations that support or participate in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization; and
• Permanently enact long-standing appropriations restrictions on the use of funds made available to the Peace Corps to pay for abortions.

Full text of the  American Values Act can be found  here.

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