ARE ABORTION CLINICS INFRASTRUCTURE?
WASHINGTON – As hundreds of thousands of pro-life Americans prepared to March for Life in Washington, D.C., Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) and Senator James Lankford (R-OK) are requesting a Government Accountability Office investigation into the use of tax-exempt bonds to finance abortion clinics.
“These tax-exempt bonds are designed to build up a community by supporting infrastructure, not tear down a community by subsidizing the willful termination of innocent life,” said Congressman Pittenger. “Who in their right mind would consider an abortion clinic to be infrastructure? We intend to stop this egregious misuse of tax-exempt bonds.”
“The nation is divided on the issue of abortion, but the government should not compel taxpayers to pay for abortions or subsidize abortion facilities,” added Senator Lankford. “This is an egregious waste of government money and an injustice against innocent human life that should end right away.”
Congressman Pittenger and Senator Lankford are aware of several examples of tax-exempt, taxpayer-backed bonds being used to finance abortion clinics, including the use of a tax-free $15 million municipal bond to renovate Planned Parenthood’s national headquarters. Over $20 million in tax-exempt bonds were used to finance abortion clinics in Florida, Illinois and Massachusetts.
“State and municipal bonds are meant to finance schools, bridges, roads, and other necessary infrastructure,” wrote Congressman Pittenger and Senator Lankford in their request to the GAO. “Some cities and states have offered these tax-exempt bonds to abortion providers in order to build abortion clinics or related facilities. Every time one of these tax-exempt bonds is issued, there is a federal tax liability which is not paid.”
Congressman Pittenger and Senator Lankford are asking the GAO to report on:
· Instances in which state and municipal (local and county) bonds have been used to finance abortion clinics.
· The total federal tax liability involved in issuing these bonds.
· Which states have used these bonds.
· The impact of the bond on each abortion provider.
Congressman Pittenger is author of the No Abortion Bonds Act (H.R. 4131), which outlaws the use of tax-exempt bonds for abortion clinics. More than 90 bipartisan Members of Congress have joined Congressman Pittenger as co-sponsors.
CONGRESSMAN PITTENGER ON BORN ALIVE ABORTION SURVIVORS PROTECTION ACT: “WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?”
WASHINGTON – Congressman Robert Pittenger (NC-09) joined House Republicans to pass the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (H.R. 4712), which requires appropriate medical care be given to babies who survive abortion procedures.
“What have we become as a nation that we must pass a law to stop abortionists from stuffing living, breathing babies into biohazard bags and tossing them in the trash?” asked Congressman Pittenger. “My body, my choice? What about the body of the baby? What about the baby’s choice? Those who defend killing a baby born alive have lost the capacity to love.”
The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act:
· Requires any health care practitioner present to exercise the same degree of medical care to preserve the life and health of the child as would be given to any other baby born alive at the same gestational stage.
· Allows anyone who intentionally kills (or attempts to kill) a baby born alive to be charged under federal murder laws.
· Stipulates that the mother of the child born alive may not be prosecuted under this law.
More than 60 million innocent babies have been killed through abortion since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision 45 years ago this month.
That “ignoble decision” was marked by Congressman Robert Pittenger last week as he addressed the U.S. House of Representatives in preparation for the March for Life.
“Who would know the mind of God regarding these 60 million precious souls, that life may have been given to them, by God, for the cure of cancer, or Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s, or many other diseases,” Pittenger noted. “God is merciful, but we must recognize our own responsibility and affect for our own actions.
“This week, we have the opportunity to outlaw the diabolical practice of killing babies who survive an abortion, something incredibly barbaric, by passing the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act,” Pittenger continued. “I also urge my colleagues to join me in support of the No Abortion Bonds Act, legislation I introduced to block Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers from using tax-exempt, taxpayer-backed bonds to finance their abortion clinics.
“Ours is a great cause, greater than us, greater than this generation, it is a battle for the very soul of what we stand for as a nation,” he concluded.
