Washington D.C., Jan 19, 2010 / 04:09 am
A delegation of international pro-life leaders will attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday to show support for American pro-lifers and to voice their opposition to the U.S. government’s “aggressive” pro-abortion foreign policies.
The leaders, from Africa, Europe, South America, Asia and Oceania, will speak at Human Life International’s (HLI) Jan. 22 “The Fight for Life Around the World” conference at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington, D.C. before joining hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates in the annual March for Life.
"America's March for Life is now the world's March for Life," commented Joseph Meaney, Director of International Coordination for HLI. “It has become the world's pro-life protest because of the aggressive promotion of abortion and population control that is now official policy of the United States, thanks to the administration of President Barack Obama.”
Dr. Ligaya Acosta, HLI Regional Coordinator for Asia and Oceania, noted that the March for Life marks both the anniversary of the pro-abortion Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and also falls near the anniversary of President Barack Obama’s reversal of the Mexico City Policy, which barred U.S. taxpayer funds for international organizations that promote or perform abortions.
The Mexico City Policy came into effect under President Ronald Reagan. It was suspended under the Clinton administration but reinstated by President George W. Bush. Because of President Obama’s policy reversal, the U.S. Congress was able to allot $700 million for international abortion-promoting groups.
Acosta said the funds are used to promote “abortion and other assaults on life in my own country of the Philippines, in Africa, in China... all over the world where 40 million babies are killed every year. It is wrong and we are here to tell him and Congress to stop paying to kill our children.”
Emil Hagamu, HLI's regional coordinator for English-speaking Africa, said the U.S. government was “arrogant” for “trying to tell us how many children we should have.”
“President Obama is of Kenyan descent. How can he do this to his own people?” he asked.
Raymond DeSouza, HLI's coordinator for Portuguese-speaking nations, charged that the “aggressive policies” of the U.S. are hurting the country’s image abroad “even if they help America appeal to the cruel international elites who want to run everything.”
He compared tying international aid to abortion to holding a nation hostage. The policies tell people that “children are bad,” which translates into “hopelessness for the future.”
“This is a terrible violence against the families and children of the developing world," DeSouza charged.