(CFAM) — Samantha Power, Biden’s nominee to head the U.S. Agency for International Development, could weaponize U.S. foreign assistance to promote abortion and the LGBT agenda.
If Power makes abortion and LGBT issues conditions of U.S. foreign assistance, as is anticipated, it may put faith-based groups in a difficult position. Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others with moral objections to these policies may no longer be able to partner with the American people in delivering aid to the poor overseas.
International abortion groups who stand to benefit financially from U.S. funding for abortion praised Biden’s selection of Power.
“We congratulate Ambassador Power on this well-deserved nomination and we look forward to working with her to advance SRHR (sexual and reproductive health and rights) for all through U.S. foreign assistance,” said CHANGE, an international abortion industry lobby group focused on channeling U.S. foreign assistance to abortion groups.
President Biden introduced Power as a “voice of conscience and moral clarity” when he announced her as his pick to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development. Power was a journalist turned human rights activist before her nomination as Ambassador to the United Nations under the Obama administration.
Power aggressively promoted LGBT rights as Ambassador to the United Nations. While she did not openly promote abortion, in 2015 she helped ensure that the UN Sustainable Development Goals included “sexual and reproductive health,” a term often used interchangeably with abortion. And she has privately expressed support for abortion since leaving government.
During her tenure at the United Nations many diplomats expressed their annoyance and frustration with Power, especially her aggressive promotion of LGBT issues.
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“We used every tool in our toolkit” Power said at a Human Rights Campaign event in 2016, when describing her efforts to promote LGBT issues around the globe.
“When countries wouldn’t take our calls, we buttonholed them in the General Assembly Hall, at the Security Council, or even in the bathrooms.”
As the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development Power will wield a $20 billion annual budget. Her staff will have wide discretion to impose conditions on U.S. foreign aid recipients, including requiring that they comply with LGBT demands and possibly even abortion.
Faith-based groups and others with moral objections to abortion will likely be barred from partnering with the American people in helping the poor overseas, unless Power agrees to respect the Helms Amendment or at least crafts conscience protections in U.S. foreign aid mechanisms. The Helms Amendment is a complete ban on U.S. funding for abortion and against forcing anyone to perform abortions. It has been interpreted in this way since it was first adopted in 1973.
It is uncertain if Powers will be against the Helms amendment or other restrictions on funding abortion abroad in federal law.
When the Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law to ensure abortion clinics were held to the same standards as other medical clinics last year, she tweeted her support for the decision.
“Good for #SCOTUS to uphold clear precedent. The #Louisiana law in question here was impossibly restrictive. If it had been allowed to stand, there would have been one doctor in one clinic able to perform abortions for the entire state,” her tweet reads.
LifeNews.com Note: Stefano Gennarini, J.D. writes for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. This article originally appeared in the pro-life group’s Friday Fax publication and is used with permission and its views may not represent LifeNews.com.
