100 days with pro-abortion Biden

President Joe Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night in the mostly empty House chamber. Speaking to the sparse crowd of 200 masked people, the president touted progress during his first 100 days in office in battling COVID-19 and rebuilding the economy and proposed plans for addressing poverty and expanding education. In his conclusion, Biden challenged his fellow Americans to continue fighting for the survival of the democracy: “Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us—created equal in the image of God—have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility?”

But despite this life-affirming language, Biden has taken swift action to undo many of the pro-life victories of the previous administration. Some of the actions Biden listed further endanger the lives of unborn children by offering unprecedented federal support to the abortion industry at home and overseas.

“We fully expected the Biden administration to come in with a radical social agenda to undermine unborn life,” said Connor Semelsberger, director of federal affairs for life and human dignity at the Family Research Council. But he said he was surprised how swiftly Biden implemented that agenda: “There’s just … so much against life so quickly in such an unprecedented way.”

The Family Research Council last week released a detailed list of Biden’s actions and personnel appointments that threaten life, family, and religious freedom. Since Jan. 20, Biden and his administration have taken 10 actions that undermine the dignity of the unborn.

Just two days after his inauguration, Biden issued a statement affirming the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion and calling on Congress to codify the ruling into law. The next week, he repealed former President Donald Trump’s expanded Mexico City policy that kept federal dollars from funding international organizations that support abortion. The same executive order removed the United States from the pro-life Geneva Consensus Declaration and signaled his intention to start undoing the Title X rule change that prevented family planning dollars from funding abortion businesses.

The same week the Food and Drug Administration scrapped safety precautions on distribution of the abortion pill, Biden’s Health and Human Services Department published a proposed rule that would not only bring abortion groups back into the family planning program but also require other recipients of Title X funds to refer for the procedure. These departments under Biden—headed by pro-abortion champions such as Xavier Becerra—are a far-cry from the life-friendly staff under Trump, suggesting the pro-life movement can expect little support from them going forward.

According to Semelsberger, by far the biggest blow came in March, when the Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package into law with cooperation from Congress. More than $459 billion of that money is missing standard protections such as the Hyde and Helms amendments, meaning that recipients could legally use the funds for abortions and pro-abortion lobbying. “That is by far—dollar amount—higher than anything we’ve ever seen before, let alone in a president’s first 100 days,” Semelsberger said.

Much of Trump’s pro-life legacy won’t last because it came in the form of easily reversed executive actions rather than through the legislative branch. But the nation continues to see the fruit of his constitutionalist judicial appointments as they uphold pro-life state laws. Semelsberger also pointed to the Geneva Consensus: Although the United States withdrew from that international declaration, the 33 remaining countries will continue to advocate for pro-life policies. And in at least one state, the Trump administration approved a waiver that will allow the Texas government to direct Medicaid funding away from Planned Parenthood for a few more years.

But Biden will only continue his attacks on life in the coming months, likely by scaling back regulations that have protected the conscience rights of medical staff and organizations that don’t want to support abortion. The administration has already stated its intent to repeal the exemptions in the Obamacare contraception mandate, which would force groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor to provide contraception in insurance plans. Semelsberger also expects Biden to continue former President Barack Obama’s legacy of promoting abortion overseas and undermining state provisions that restrict funding of abortion businesses.

“It’s disheartening to people of faith … that someone who claims to uphold ideals of the Christian faith can be not just an abortion advocate but might go down in history as the biggest abortion advocate we’ve ever seen,” said Semelsberger, commenting on Biden’s Catholic background. “So if the first 100 days is a sign of what’s to come, we would expect that to be true.”