Legislation introduced to re-instate Mexico City Policy

Legislation was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday that would effectively re-instate the Mexico City Policy, which President Obama rescinded on Friday.  The Mexico City Policy prevented U.S. taxpayer dollars from being given to international organizations that provide or actively promote abortions.  The measure, H.R. 708, was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Bart Stupak (D-MI), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and would “restrict assistance to foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortions.”

H.R. 708, like the Mexico City Policy, makes exemptions for pregnancy terminations when the life of the mother is in danger and in the cases of rape and incest.  The authors of the legislation are currently seeking additional co-sponsors.