Democrats Angry Over Cuts in Abortion Funding

By | 2026

The purple haired Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro, ranking Democrat for the House Appropriations Committee.

WASHINGTON DC, May 15 (C-FAM) At a recent hearing on State Department funding, Democrats were extremely angry at not getting their way on funding for abortion and gender ideology.

This is “forced birth followed by neglect. That is not pro-life. That is policy-induced suffering, and we are already seeing the consequences,” said Congresswoman Lois Frankel (D-FL) the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that drafted the 2027 foreign aid bill.

The foreign aid bill under debate provides $47 billion in funding for U.S. foreign operations. And it safeguards the Mexico City Policy prohibitions on U.S. money supporting abortion overseas. Frankel falsely claimed the policy, “means more women and girls will die because they are not able to access the services they need,” and that in response, “we are forcing women and girls into pregnancies they are not ready for and then turning our backs as their babies suffer and die.”

Frankel’s dissent to the pro-life guardrails was joined by a choir of her female colleagues, including calls for a reinstatement of funding to the controversial UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which has been complicit in forced abortions overseas.

“This bill prohibits UNFPA because you do not support family planning services; you cut off the efforts,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the purple-haired ranking Democrat for the House Appropriations Committee. Republican drafters reduced family planning funding to $461 million—a 20% reduction. DeLauro said the cut in funding would cause “15-year-olds who, in some instances, are forced to deliver a child.”

DeLauro defended UNFPA’s maternal health programs, including reproductive health kits that include manual vacuum aspirators used for miscarriages and abortions in refugee tents, and abortion pills. UNFPA’s abortion activities make it ineligible for U.S. multilateral funding under the longtime U.S. policy, even if Congress appropriated funding to the agency.

Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) proposed an amendment to overturn President Trump’s Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Rule, restore funding levels for family planning, and reinstate funding for the UNFPA.

“I know this Administration wants more American exports, but radical, anti-abortion, anti-human rights policies should not make the cut,” said Meng. The amendment failed by a vote of 24-31.

Meng’s actions at the hearing are consistent with her recent bill introduced last month to legislatively prohibit the expanded Mexico City Policy. The bill would block President Trump’s Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance policy, nullifying the expansive restrictions on abortion, gender ideology, and DEI that apply to over $40 billion in assistance.

Meng’s bill is a direct response to long-standing provisions that Democrat lawmakers oppose and fought against in the appropriations debate. It currently has twenty-two co-sponsors, and in the current Congress, little chance of passing. The Senate companion bill is sponsored by abortion-friendly Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

The 2027 foreign aid bill also prohibits funds for Biden-era executive orders on gender and DEI, including banning pride flags, programs on critical race theory, and prohibiting sex-rejection procedures.

Congresswoman Madeleine Dean (D-PA) offered an amendment to restore those funds, saying the Trump Administration’s policies are “extremely harmful” and will expand an “extremist agenda” at the expense of children and families’ lives. The Dean amendment failed 25-34. In a recent subcommittee hearing, Dean falsely claimed that UNFPA has nothing to do with abortion.

The foreign aid bill includes all long-standing pro-life protections, including Helms, Kemp-Kasten, Tiahrt, and Siljander. The bill has now passed the House Appropriations Committee. Consistent with the Trump Administration’s actions to protect women and girls from harmful gender ideology, it likewise removes “vague references to gender.”

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter