Senate Ignores Pro-Life Concerns: Votes to Pay U.N. Debt - FaxNotes

June 24, 1999



Senate Ignores Pro-Life Concerns: Votes to Pay U.N. "Debt" While Rep. Chris Smith is working to gain support in the House for a rider conditioning payment of U.N arrearages on passage of a rider protecting U.S. taxpayers from having to foot the bill for agencies that lobby foreign governments to weaken their pro-life laws, the Senate passed a package that would pay the bulk of the huge amount demanded by the United Nations with nary a word about pro-life concerns. Last year, the $25 million requested for the United Nations Fund for Population Activities was denied because pro-life Senators were rightfully concerned about the coercive population control policies in communist China. Furthermore, Rep. Smith succeeded in attaching his rider in the House, causing President Clinton to veto the bill, even though he was eager to pay off the U.N.. He simply would not sign a bill that contained even a mild pro-life provision. This year, according to a Reuters report (6/22/99), the United States must pay at least $250 million of the back dues by the end of the year or lose its seat in the General Assembly. Our vote in the Security Council would not be affected. According to the U.N., we "owe" $1.6 billion for "peacekeeping" and other regular dues, two-thirds of the $2.9 billion owed by all member states. Many in Congress think this is outrageous, given the fact that we have born most of the burden of U.N military actions abroad, in addition to the critical need for U.N reforms. Reuters reports that "the bill calls for a series of U.N. reforms worked out in a compromise between Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and the bill’s author, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms." The reform most needed at the U.N. is to get them out of the population control business. Although Senators are ignoring pro-life concerns in this area, Rep. Smith and pro-life leaders in the House have not yet considered the issue. Please contact your congressman and ask him to support Rep. Smith’s rider preventing payment of U.N dues unless federal funding of agencies that promote abortion abroad is prohibited. Guatemala One of the countries that deeply resents U.N. population controllers’ efforts to corrupt its society through so-called "family planning" programs, Guatemala, has adhered to the proposal to establish March 25 as the "Day of the Unborn." The text of Agreement Number 21-99 of the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala acknowledges that "the State guarantees human life from conception, in keeping with the American Convention on Human Rights, of which the Republic of Guatemala is a signatory . . ." The agreement states that the declaration of March 25 as the "Day of the Unborn" will "be widely publicized in all national and private educational centers, coupled with campaigns for life, respect for oneself and for others." Argentine president Carlos Menem requested the political leaders of Latin America, Portugal, Spain and the Philippines to support this initiative. (ZENIT News Agency, 5/24/99) Michigan A bi-partisan group of state senators has introduced legislation protecting the conscience rights of Michigan citizens who want abortion-free health care coverage. The three-bill package, SB 645-647, by Senators Beverly Hammerstrom, Dave Jaye and Phil Hoffman, would eliminate elective abortions as a standard covered benefit in health care plans and would require those wanting such coverage to request and pay for abortion coverage in a separate policy rider. Abortion is a standard benefit in most health care plans. Senator Hoffman, sponsor of SB 647, suggested the onus should be on abortion proponents to request such coverage. "This whole situation is backwards. If abortion is supposed to be a matter of "choice," then shouldn’t people who want abortion covered have to choose it? Right now, those who don’t want it are forced to pay for it. These bills don’t deny anyone the ability to get abortion coverage. They simply have to ask for it in a separate rider, and be willing to pay a separate premium, too." (Joint Press Release, 6/10/99)