Dear Mr. President,
Thank you for your bold pro-life leadership and for prioritizing the protection of pro-life policies in budget negotiations. In particular, thank you for your letter to Speaker Pelosi on January 18, 2019, pledging to veto any legislation that would weaken or eliminate federal pro-life policies, including both longstanding pro-life protections, such as the Hyde and Dornan Amendments, and your Administration's important pro-life achievements.
As members of the pro-life majority in the United States Senate, we will join you in rejecting any "poison pills, additional new riders or other changes in policy or conventions that allow for higher spending levels, or any non-appropriations measures" that would undermine Federal pro-life policy in violation of the Bipartisan Budget Agreement for fiscal years 2020 and 2021.
Specifically, we object to anti-life poison pill riders in the House-passed appropriations bills, which:
· Undermine the longstanding Dornan Amendment by allowing the District of Columbia to fund elective abortions using local funds
· Block the expanded Mexico City Policy (82 Fed. Reg. 8495), also known as "Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance", and permanently bar future administrations from reinstating it
· Block the Title X Protect Life Rule (84 Fed. Reg. 7714) while increasing Title X funding
· Block the final rule protecting statutory conscience rights in health care (84 Fed. Reg. 23170)
· Bar convening of an ethics advisory board to review research involving human fetal tissue
· Earmark Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants for Planned Parenthood while increasing funding
· Earmark increased funding for the United Nations Population Fund
· Earmark increased funding for international family planning/reproductive health programs
We will strongly oppose each of these anti-life poison pill riders and will work to ensure they are not inserted into any appropriations bill before the Senate, either in committee or on the floor.
We look forward to working together with you to uphold our shared commitment to sustain both your Administration's pro-life initiatives and longstanding pro-life protections in Federal law.
Respectfully,