U.S. funding bill mixed bag on pro-life, biblical gender, religious liberty

 By Diana Chandler - Posted at Baptist Press:

Published March 25, 2024

WASHINGTON (BP) — The latest Congressional spending package allows federally funded gender transitions and essentially bypasses current restrictions on government-funded abortions, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) told Baptist Press.

“At the ERLC, we were glad to see that baseline pro-life provisions were retained in the second minibus that was passed last week,” ERLC Policy Associate Allison Cantrell said. “However, other provisions, such as those prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars from funding abortion-related travel and ‘gender transitions,’ were excluded as a result of appropriations negotiations.

“We continue to encourage members of Congress to consider the role federal funding plays in subsidizing these harmful industries and look forward to engaging with appropriators on the FY25 budget.”

Protections for pre-born life, religious liberty and biblical gender are among ERLC’s prime concerns in the bill that offers certain protections while overlooking other concerns.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill, which President Biden signed into law March 23, is an umbrella for six appropriations bills including Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education; the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Relations Programs; Financial Services and General Government; Defense, Homeland Security and Legislative.

Enabling abortions, the bill maintains for certain federal personnel funding for abortion-related travel, paid leave to obtain an abortion, and family planning funding for institutions that also fund abortions.

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