Chris Smith: “Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday this House voted 416 to 1 to defend the Vatican from a vicious campaign of anti-Catholic…”

“Mr. Chairman, on Tuesday this House voted 416 to 1 to defend the Vatican from a vicious campaign of anti-Catholic bigotry by major pro-abortion organizations. The list of groups who seek the Vatican's ouster from the U.N., which includes the International Planned Parenthood Federation based in London, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Pathfinder, to name a few, reads like a Who's Who list of groups lavishly subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. Many of these groups, Mr. Chairman, aggressively promote abortion on demand in foreign countries. Members will recall that about 100 countries around the world protect the lives of their unborn children from the violence of abortion. If only the family planners would stick with family planning alone, we would not be here arguing this issue today. I think we should make no mistake about it, this debate is about fat subsidies to the abortion industry. This debate is about how Congress dispenses grant money. This is grant money, I say to my colleagues. There is no entitlement spending involved here. This is grant money. This is discretionary funds. We have an obligation and a duty, I would respectfully submit, to put conditions on if we feel that it is warranted, and many of us, hopefully the majority of us, will feel that it is indeed warranted. Mr. Chairman, abortion is violence against children.”