Seven of the Democratic presidential candidates, including one of those doing well in the polls, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have stated their opposition to the Helms Amendment, which bans the use of U.S. taxpayer funds for abortion overseas, the National Catholic Register reported.
Allowing taxpayer dollars to fund abortions overseas was also recently included on the wish list of a coalition of abortion groups and was added to the Democratic Party platform in 2016.
The Helms Amendment, enacted in 1973 soon after abortion was legalized, states that "no foreign assistance funds may be used to pay for the performance of abortion as a method of family planning or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions."
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who leads most polls for the Democratic nomination, is among those candidates who has not commented on the Helms Amendment, although he backed it while in the Senate.
Democratic candidates oppose the amendment, even though 75% of Americans are against taxpayer funding of abortion abroad, according to a Marist poll conducted earlier this year.
DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society research associate Melanie Israel explained this is probably due to the increased presence and power in the party of abortion advocacy groups.
Americans United for Life chief engagement officer Tom Shakely said Democrats were making a sharp break against long-established bipartisan bans on taxpayer-funded abortion due to a minority extremist view, saying, "It has been the American consensus for nearly a half-century, and it's a sign of the needless extremism of our time that some politicians believe that trashing the Helms Amendment and spending precious American tax dollars to promote abortion internationally makes any fiscal or ethical sense."
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