Press Release - President Donald J. Trump is Standing Up for the Sanctity of Life

AN IGNOBLE EXCEPTION: The United States is one of a few countries to allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

• The United States is one of only seven countries that allow for elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy; two of the other countries are North Korea and China.
• Research shows unborn babies feel pain as early as 20 weeks to such a degree that anesthesia is routinely administered to unborn babies undergoing in utero surgeries and premature infants of the same age undergoing surgery.
• In the United States, taxpayer funding subsidizes 900 health care plans that cover abortions, according to the Charlotte Lozier Institute.
• Under the previous administration, States were allowed to outlaw pro-life health insurance with impunity.

AMERICANS SUPPORT PRO-LIFE POLICIES: Public support for pro-life policies remains high according to recent polling.

• A recent Marist-Knights of Columbus poll shows the majority of Americans, 56 percent, believe abortion to be morally wrong.
• More than three in four Americans support restrictions on abortion.
  • Even six in ten of those who identify as pro-choice support restrictions on abortion.
• 63 percent of Americans support a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Even the majority of pro-choice Americans, 56 percent, support banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
  • Public support for banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy has grown by four percent in the last year.
• Six in ten Americans oppose using taxpayer money to fund abortions.
• The majority of Americans, 52 percent, believe that, in the long run, having an abortion does more harm than good to a woman's life.
• Nearly half of all Americans, 47 percent, believe life begins at conception, and 62 percent believe it begins within the first three months of a pregnancy.

COMMITTED TO PROTECTING LIFE: President Donald J. Trump has shown his steadfast commitment to preserving the precious gift of life and defending religious liberty.

• President Trump is the first sitting President to address the March for Life live via satellite.
  • Vice President Mike Pence addressed the March for Life in 2017, becoming the first sitting Vice President to do so in person.
• Today, the Department of Health and Human Services is announcing a proposal to revise its conscience regulations to protect President Trump's promise to enforce Federal conscience and religious freedom protections. The proposed conscience provisions include:
  • Restricting taxpayer funds, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, from being used by entities with discriminatory policies or practices,
  • Protecting Americans who have religious or moral convictions related to certain health care services,
  • Recognizing that Americans should not be discriminated against for their religious or moral beliefs when participating in certain health services.
• Just after taking office, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, which protects $9 billion in foreign aid from being used to fund the global abortion industry.
• President Trump cut off taxpayer funding for the U.N. Population Fund, which colludes with China's cruel program of forced abortion and sterilization.
• President Trump signed H.J. Res. 43 into law, overturning a midnight regulation by the Obama Administration, which prohibited States from defunding certain abortion facilities in their federally-funded family planning programs.
• President Trump has expressed strong support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which would stop late-term abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, when science tells us that an unborn child can experience pain.
• President Trump's Administration issued guidance to enforce the requirement that taxpayer dollars not support abortion coverage in Obamacare exchange plans.
• President Trump's Department of Health and Human Services just announced the formation of a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, tasked with ensuring that laws that protect religious freedom and conscience rights are appropriately enforced.